In partnership with the Government of Indonesia, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) organized a regional expert meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia from 3 to 5 February 2020 about “Comprehensive and tailored strategies for the prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration (PRR) of persons allegedly associated with terrorist groups.”
The objectives of the meeting were to identify and discuss existing practices and challenges relevant to the development and implementation of comprehensive and tailored PRR strategies in the participating Member States of South-East Asia. Participants included Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.
Representatives of CTED and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) provided an overview of current approaches to the development of comprehensive and tailored PRR strategies at the global level, including with respect to the requirements of the relevant Security Council resolutions and the key findings of the expert group meeting on “Strategies for the prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration of persons allegedly associated with terrorist groups” held by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and CTED in Vienna, Austria in October 2019.
Discussions included the screening and risk assessment of persons associated with terrorist groups, “Bringing Terrorists to Justice” – PRR in a Criminal Justice Context,” Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Persons Associated with Terrorist Groups as Part of the Criminal Justice System,” and “Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Persons Associated with Terrorist Groups Outside the Criminal Justice System.” Participants also focused on gender-specific needs and vulnerabilities in PRR; the impact of gender-biased screening, risk assessments, sentencing, and the provision of rehabilitation and reintegration opportunities; and the role of misogyny as a predictor of radicalization, sexual violence, and human trafficking as acts of terrorism.
The participating States noted the need to introduce methods for the rehabilitation of convicted violent extremist offenders, but also noted that they lacked the necessary resources. Moreover, their prisons were often overcrowded. There was a need to build multi-agency teams that included corrections, parole and social services and to develop an appropriate legislative framework for rehabilitation and reintegration. The discussions also focused on the voluntariness of programmes, pre-release plans, aftercare support, and monitoring and evaluation.
During the meeting, the participants also developed national road maps identifying the main steps required to implement comprehensive and tailored PRR strategies. The information gathered at the meeting will feed into a compendium on PRR to be developed by UNODC, CTED and UNOCT/UN Counter-Terrorism Centre within the framework of the joint project entitled “Global initiative on the prosecution, rehabilitation and reintegration of suspected terrorists”.