The UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the Government of Kenya, acting in cooperation with the Global Center on Cooperative Security and in accordance with Security Council resolutions 1373 (2001) and 2178 (2014), held a workshop on “Bringing Terrorists to Justice” from 22 to 24 October 2014 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, the second of its kind.
The three-day workshop focussed on the conversion of information into evidence in terrorism cases. It notably included an interactive case study, designed to promote the principle of early cooperation and coordination, in which participating police officers and prosecutors worked together to identify and follow-up on investigative leads and develop the elements for a successful prosecution (including the collection of admissible evidence) in the context of preventive terrorist offences.
Around 25 law enforcement and intelligence officers and prosecutors from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda explored a range of good practices to overcome the challenges of complex terrorism investigations, such as the use of inter-agency and cross-border cooperation to prevent and counter terrorism through the judicial process. Experts from CTED, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the African Prosecutors’ Association, the French judiciary, the Institute for Security Studies and the Global Center also participated.
The workshop was hosted by the Government of Kenya and implemented with the support of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand. The challenges addressed had been previously identified by participants in the First Regional Workshop for Law Enforcement Officers and Prosecutors in East Africa, held in Kampala in May 2013.