13/02/2025
The international conference, organised through the European project CT JUST, focused on the need to combine traditional forms of cooperation with innovative techniques.
The Director of CT JUST, senior judge José María Fernández Villalobos, and the Director General of Legal Cooperation of the Arab League, Dr. Maha Bakheet, talk during a break in the conference
The conference ‘International Judicial Cooperation in Countering Terrorism: Challenges and Future Prospects for Action’ brought together representatives from 19 countries of the Arab League and various institutions of the European Union and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This meeting brought together more than 50 delegates from the countries, institutions and international organisations concerned.
The participants agreed on one essential idea: international judicial cooperation must be based on respect for traditional forms of cooperation, but at the same time rely on new mechanisms of informal cooperation to speed up processes. Direct communication, coordination between judicial and police authorities in the countries of the two regions, as well as widespread adherence to international cooperation platforms were the essential elements that were repeatedly put on the table.
The conference, hosted by the Arab League and promoted and organised by the CT JUST project in the framework of its initiative ‘The CT JUST Stream on Operational Justice’, marks a turning point in the technical cooperation relations between the League and the European Union. It is the first time that such a high-level technical meeting has taken place with such a high degree of institutional commitment. From the Arab side, and in coordination with CT JUST, the technical and academic organisation was provided by the Arab Centre for Legal and Judicial Research, a technical and advisory body to the Council of Ministers of Justice of the Arab League.
Institutions such as EUROJUST and mechanisms such as the Joint Investigation Teams, responsible for decisions on how to issue letters rogatory, arrest warrants and investigation requests, have gained unanimous consensus among participants. The promotion of traditional and proven mechanisms, such as central authorities and liaison magistrates, was also endorsed by the League, the EU and delegates.
CT JUST, through its technical mandate and the work of the magistrates José María Fernández Villalobos and Julián Cabrero López, director and key expert respectively, provides support to EU institutions in the promotion of their operational strategies. In doing so, it promotes a tangible benefit to judicial and law enforcement institutions in Member States and third countries. This is the essence of ‘The CT JUST Stream on Operational Justice’ initiative.
