The Council of Europe initiated the inception phase of the project ‘Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters’ following the signing of an agreement between the EU and the Council of Europe in December 2020.
A number of inception meetings have been conducted with the project’s stakeholders, including the Ministry of Justice, Directorate General for Foreign Relations and European Union Affairs as the lead and main beneficiary institute, as well as with other beneficiaries of the project, including the Justice Academy of Turkey and the Union of Turkish Bar Associations. The meetings aimed at presenting the project objectives and planned activities, identifying the state of play, discussing possible modifications to the activities, and agreeing on the workplan and timeline for implementation.
The meetings confirmed that the project provides a sound roadmap to increase the quality of outgoing requests for international judicial cooperation in criminal matters and the efficiency of processing. The project further seeks to ensure long-term sustainability by supporting the development of a Central Monitoring System and ensuring initial and continuous training of the judicial authorities in international judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
The inception phase of the project will conclude with a soon to be held first meeting of the project’s Steering Committee and a Launching Conference. The implementation of specific activities will commence following the approval of the project workplan by the Steering Committee.
International judicial cooperation in criminal matters is essential to countering the challenges of cross-border organised crime, cybercrime, human trafficking, and terrorism, among others. The project aims at providing support in this area, by enhancing the overall system and capacities of Turkish authorities to accelerate judicial proceedings and conduct effective international judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
The ‘Improving International Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters’ project is co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.
