In May 2022, the IIJ, in collaboration with the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) convened a four-day online workshop on ‘Criminal Justice Approaches to the Linkages between Terrorism and Core International Crimes’. The workshop, generously supported by the Government of Switzerland, brought together 50 practitioners from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Mali and Niger to discuss the GCTF’s Memorandum on Criminal Justice Approaches to the Linkages between Terrorism and Core International Crimes, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Crimes, Human Trafficking, Migrant Smuggling, Slavery and Crimes against Children.
The objective of this workshop was to gain a better understanding of how terrorism is inextricably linked to a wide range of other criminal activities, and how counter-terrorism efforts require practitioners to be aware and rely upon, all the legal tools at their disposal. This will allow governments to end impunity for terrorist offences, hold terrorists accountable for the full range of crimes they have committed, develop ways to repair harm, restore dignity for victims, as well as to prevent these serious crimes in the future.
The workshop provided an opportunity for criminal justice practitioners from the Francophone African Countries to continue the important discussion on the Criminal Justice Approaches to the Interlinkages between Terrorism and Core International Crimes, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Crimes, Human Trafficking, Migrant Smuggling, Slavery and Crimes Against Children. During this innovative workshop, practitioners were guided and asked to comment on a set of pre-recorded video presentations, as well as other training materials. Practitioners then applied the skills they learned to a case study in interactive break-out groups and plenary sessions. Practitioners expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this informative capacity-building programme. The IIJ and ICCT will hold the third iteration of this important workshop in the coming weeks for criminal justice practitioners in the MENA region.
For more information on this workshop, please contact Senior Legal Adviser, Buğra Erdem.
