Participants in the workshop.
It is often stressed that prosecution also constitutes prevention of terrorism. But how does that translate into concrete measures on the ground? One way is to promote regional cooperation among those that have to enforce the rules and go after the perpetrators.
The 10th Regional workshop for judges, prosecutors, and police officers in South Asia on effectively countering terrorism was co-organized by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Global Center on Cooperative Security, with the support of the Governments of Australia and the United States of America. A follow-up to nine previous workshops hosted on a biannual basis in different South Asian countries, the 10th workshop, held in Bangkok 19-21 October 2015, was a testimony to the persisting efforts of all involved to further strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation in the region.
An unconventional forum to ensure continuous dialogue among judges, prosecutors, and police officers, the workshops enable experts to share their experiences and explore specific issues that arise in the context of terrorism-related cases. Focusing on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), the 10th workshop gathered judges, prosecutors, and police officers from each Member State of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), representatives from ministries of foreign affairs from those countries, resource persons from other UN Member States, the SAARC Secretariat, and observers from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, as well as other relevant international agencies.
Workshop panel.
Participants were divided into four separate working group sessions for judges, prosecutors, police officers, and foreign ministry officials to examine issues around the investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of AML/CFT cases. The participants also reflected on challenges around regional counter-terrorism cooperation more broadly, the achievements of the UN-led process to date, priority topics, and the way ahead. In the stocktaking session, it was agreed that capacity-building initiatives such as this workshop provide an important platform for regional counterparts to share their experiences, lessons learned and good practices, and most importantly – to develop habits of cooperation.