Since 2011, UNODC has been employing Governments in South Asia to bolster counter-terrorism efforts at the nationwide and regional levels. In a string of regional workshops, UNODC has brought jointly policy-makers and criminal justice officials from the region and experts from across the world to communicate experiences and practices in a variety of aspects critical to an adequate response to terrorism. The workshops dealt with the international lawful framework against terrorism, the benefit of the Internet for terrorism purposes, the design and undertaking of witness protection policies and agencies, as well as the need for victim assistance programmes.
In March 2015, UNODC jointly with the Executive Directorate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTED) and the Governments of South Asia maintained a workshop for South Asian countries on ‘Strengthening International Collaboration in Criminal Matters with a Focus on Terrorism Cases’ in Kathmandu, Nepal. The workshop obtained together high-level experts and officials from all eight SAARC countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka who donated and shared their experience in their daily work in the scope of international and regional cooperation in criminal matters.
Experts from INTERPOL and the Commonwealth Secretariat offered their respective cooperation mechanisms, such as the Commonwealth London and Harare Schemes, including casework and live models. Each country delegation delivered the workshop participants information on their existing national legislative frameworks and tools for international cooperation with a particular emphasis on mutual legal assistance and extradition. While acknowledging the demand for such formal mechanisms, workshop participants also stressed the importance of establishing and using ways of informal cooperation.
The workshop was enjoyed by the participants as an opportunity to interact with their counterparts from many nations and institutions, specify a channel of communication and build trust among themselves to facilitate future cooperation. It also functioned as a platform for reflection as to the identification of possible openings and required amendments to existing frameworks.
The workshop was executed under the UNODC Global Project titled: “Strengthening the legal regime against terrorism”, with financial help from the United States of America. This training exemplifies UNODC’s unwavering commitment to South Asia’s counter-terrorism framework by assigning legal professionals with indispensable analytical instruments. The workshop ended with a post-evaluation to assess the efficacy of the training and the distribution of credentials, marking participants’ improved capabilities in analysis and research.
The resounding victory of this inaugural workshop on supporting the analysis and research capabilities of anti-terrorism prosecutors via advanced data analysis tools like Power BI represents a crucial stage forward in the fight against terrorism. By providing legal professionals with the talent to make data-driven decisions, UNODC not only improves prosecutorial efficacy but also paves the way for a more knowledgeable and effective legal system in South Asia.
