Strengthening rule of law-compliant criminal justice responses to terrorism focus of OSCE training seminar in Ashgabat

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.

In her message to the seminar’s participants, Natalya Drozd, the Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, said: “The complex nature of terrorism requires efficient approaches to investigation, which includes collection and sharing of relevant information among all agencies involved.”

“This seminar marks an important milestone in the activities of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat in the area of promoting the rule of law. Apart from the GCTF memorandum, it also builds on prior related work by the OSCE in Turkmenistan. This included efforts towards a whole-of-society approach to addressing violent extremism, on countering the use of the internet for terrorist purposes, as well as this year’s high-level regional conference on countering terrorist financing and organized crime.”

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).