On 23 March 2021 a seminar was organised within the framework of the EU-CoE project HELP Radicalisation Prevention, Judicial Response to Terrorism & International Cooperation in Criminal Matters. The seminar was funded by the European Union's Justice Programme (2014-2020).
The seminar focused on international cooperation in times of COVID-19, providing an opportunity for justice professionals to discuss recent developments and challenges to this area during the pandemic.
Eva Pastrana - Head of the HELP Unit- welcomed 122 participants, professionals of diverse profiles (judges, prosecutors, lawyers, prison and probation staff, psychologists, representatives of national and international institutions) from 23 countries. She emphasised the EU and CoE cooperation on the Seminar topics.
Eva Massa- HELP Project Coordinator- presented the project and highlighted the increase of transnational crimes in the last few years, as well as the new criminal trends as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic (fake and counterfeit of medical products, fraud and scam schemes). These are global problems that require a global response.
The seminar included presentations by experts in the area, who gave an update on international cooperation from the perspective of different international organisations.
Counter-terrorism Division of the Council of Europe- provided an overview of key emerging terrorist threats in the last couple of years and onwards, which will be discussed in greater detail in the CDCT Report on emerging terrorist threats that will come out at the end of 2021. Some of these threats include changes to terrorist organisation structures, rise of violent extremism attacks (e.g. far-right and far-left groups); future return of foreign fighters; the massive use of internet and social media; radicalisation in prisons; changes to terrorism financing; and the impact of COVID-19, on terrorist propaganda and terrorist operations. Ongoing and future work of the CDCT in developing standards to counter these threats was also presented.
Judge José de la Mata - Member of Eurojust and former judge at the Special Criminal Court in Spain- analysed the short and long-term impact of COVID-19 in transnational issues, such as terrorism and radicalisation (increase in the reach of narratives to an online captive audience; limitations on some operational activities; diversion of counter-terrorism resources to aid the pandemic response and recovery). He highlighted the need to invest in trust and in informal networks, as well as the need to improve the coordination of judicial responses and investigations, including how judicial authorities respond to conflict of jurisdictions.
There was a presentation of the three HELP online courses related to the project: 1) International Cooperation in Criminal Matters (Salvador Cuenca- European Public Prosecutor´s Office), 2) Radicalisation Prevention (Eva Massa) and 3) Managing Foreign National Prisoners (Nick Hammond & Petra Pavlas - Europris). All three courses are available in different languages.
The seminar concluded with an interactive session that sought participants´ contributions, allowing for discussion and exchange of ideas regarding the obstacles to international cooperation, the need for further training at national level and the benefits of networking in order to communicate with counterparts in other jurisdictions.
A document with conclusions from the seminar will be drafted and circulated in due course.
Further information on HELP courses is available on the HELP online platform.
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