UNODC/TPB Provides Technical Assistance to Iraqi Judges on International Cooperation to Respond to Terrorism-Related Threats in Baghdad

Within the Global Project on “Strengthening the legal regime against terrorism in Iraq”, The Terrorism Prevention Branch at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Cime (UNODC/TPB) with the support of The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) organized a national workshop in Baghdad, from 5 to 6 July 2017 on the “International legal framework to counter terrorism and good practices to strengthen international cooperation to respond to terrorism-related threats in Iraq”.

This activity marked the launching of phase four in the Iraq project led by UNODC. The main objective of this event was to support Iraqi judges who will be deployed in Mosul after its liberation from ISIL fighters.

The training was attended by senior Iraqi officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior, the Director General of the Judicial Institute (under the Ministry of Justice) as well as the chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Japan in Iraq and the regional advisor of UNODC/TPB in the MENA Region. Thirty (30) trainee Judges from Iraq participated in the training, benefitting from a wide range of expertise on the matter provided by UNODC/TPB experts from the headquarter in Vienna and the regional office in Cairo via Skype.

The two-days’ workshop started with an overview on the international legal instruments to counter-terrorism and relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions, then moved to discuss the Iraqi Legal Framework to counter terrorism. In addition to these topics, the international legal framework to counter financing of terrorism, the challenges facing states with FTFs Returnees from conflict zones, substantive and procedural rules in countering terrorist acts and their impact on national criminal laws, in addition to international judicial cooperation in terrorism related cases were also extensively discussed.

With the constant losses that terrorist organizations are suffering from, the need to intensify the efforts in combating terrorism, enhance the cooperation and ensure the effective implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions and international instruments in the framework of the legal regime against terrorism, is now more than ever. Both participants and experts expressed their satisfaction with the workshop and their wish that UNODC/TPB continues implementing specialized workshops, which will continue to take place under the same programme in different future activities.

This workshop was organized under UNODC/TPB programme generously funded by the Government of Japan.