GCTF Plenary Meeting: Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group

Welcome Remarks by the IIJ’s Executive Secretary Steven Hill
Global Counter-Terrorism Forum
Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group
Plenary Meeting
Malta, 27 April 2023

As a GCTF inspired institution, the IIJ greatly values our continued collaboration with the GCTF. We thank the Co-Chairs Italy and Nigeria for your confidence in selecting the IIJ as the implementing partner for this Plenary Meeting of the GCTF Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group.

The IIJ is pleased to have helped assemble a diverse group of state representatives, international organisations, academics and subject matter experts, and members of civil society. We extend our appreciation to the IIJ’s host country, Malta, for its constant support to the IIJ.

We are also pleased to have welcomed several international institutions, including representatives from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Global Center on Cooperative Security, and Siracusa International Institute.

This meeting focused mainly on two GCTF memoranda: the Rabat Memorandum and the Hague Memorandum.

The IIJ is a non-political organisation with a mandate from the 13 members of our Governing Board of Administrators to build the capacity of criminal justice practitioners. Our work is technical, practical, and practitioner-focused. In this regard, we welcome the intention of the Co-Chairs to identify and address the needs of practitioners.

The IIJ’s work is centered on the implementation of the GCTF documents. These documents feature prominently in IIJ courses, workshops, and other activities. The three IIJ directors who lead this work were present at the event.

Our IIJ experts moderated the panel sessions in the meeting. They specialise in a wide range of topics including addressing homegrown terrorism; mutual legal assistance and extradition; countering the financing of terrorism; global central authorities initiative; and delivering foundational courses for investigators and judges handling terrorism cases.

We also presented an update on the EU-funded Counter-Terrorism Human Rights Engagement Platform (CT PHARE) on a survey focusing on the implementing of various GCTF recommendations and other documents.

The IIJ looks forward to attending the GCTF Coordinating Committee meeting next week. We are grateful to GCFT Co-Chairs, Egypt, and the European Union, for the assistance in the preparation of panel discussion focused on the needs of African practitioners.

We also thank GCTF Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Countering Violent Extremism Working Groups for inviting the IIJ to moderate a panel during their side event on addressing the challenges related to the reintegration and rehabilitation of foreign terrorist fighters and their associated family members.