AKIPRESS.COM - Strengthening rule of law-compliant criminal justice responses to terrorism was the aim of a two-day seminar for over 30 Turkmen practitioners from relevant government agencies and the bar association which concluded on 25 July 2019 in Ashgabat.

Organized by the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat jointly with the Action against Terrorism Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department, the seminar focused on good practices detailed in the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s (GCTF) Rabat Memorandum. These cover effective terrorism prevention and prosecution measures, while emphasizing respect for human rights and other applicable international law.

Experts in the criminal justice field presented the legal parameters and practices developed in Germany, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom, as well as the technical assistance provided and good practices promoted by the OSCE in this area.

At the seminar, experts and participants discussed effective co-ordination mechanisms among domestic government agencies and the importance of international co-operation, particularly when addressing terrorism. The seminar also highlighted the need to ensure the protection of all parties involved in terrorism cases, as well as for the development of policies for an effective and human rights -compliant approach to the incarceration and subsequent reintegration of convicted terrorists back into society.

The event in Ashgabat was the tenth in a series, with seminars previously having taken place in Nicosia (2014), Skopje, Sofia, Tashkent (2015), Sarajevo (2016), Pristina, Nur-Sultan (2017), Issyk-Kul and Budva (2018).