Spotlight: At the forefront of global training on terrorism and transnational crimes
ISS played a key role in establishing the new International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law.
Published on 03 July 2014 in
Impact
The Institute for security Studies (ISS) played a key role in establishing a new centre that will lead global training on terrorism and transnational threats. The International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ) was launched in Malta on 18 June 2014.
Anton du Plessis, Managing Director of the ISS, was a guest speaker at the launch. ‘This is potentially the most important development in the past five years to help end impunity for serious crimes,’ he said.
The IIJ will provide training to criminal justice officials and lawmakers, with a focus on North, West and East Africa as well as the Middle East. Courses aim to provide the skills to counter terrorism and transnational crimes using approaches that promote justice, the rule of law and human rights. The training will help improve investigations and prosecutions, cooperation among criminal justice officials, rights-based pre-trial detention and trials, and prison management and rehabilitation. The IIJ will be hosted by the government of Malta, in Valletta.
‘At a time when Africa and the world face a new wave of terrorist violence, we must learn from our mistakes. We cannot shoot ourselves out of this problem,’ said Du Plessis. ‘Effective and sustainable counter-terrorism responses must be legal, measured, and respectful of human rights’.
The ISS was one of three civil society organisations that contributed to the founding of the IIJ. The Valletta Declaration establishing the Institute was signed by 12 governments and international organisations including Algeria, France, Germany, the United States, United Kingdom, the African Union and the European Union, as well as the ISS, the Global Centre for Cooperative Security (GCCS) and the International Centre on Counter-Terrorism (ICCT).
The ISS also collaborated with the GCCS and the ICCT to produce a guide to curriculum design for the IIJ.
