Nigeria and Italy have co-chaired the seventh plenary of Global Counterterrorism Forum’s (GCTF) Criminal Justice and Rule of Law (CJ-ROL) Working Group at St. Julian, Malta.
 
The organisers said the meeting welcomed presentation of priority areas captured in the group’s work plan for 2022 to 2024.
 
They also said the gathering provided guide for execution of activities, even as members were afforded opportunity to discuss collaboration and synergies with other GCTF working groups and initiatives.
 
The CJ-ROL Working Group focuses on critical role played by criminal justice sector in combating terrorism and demonstrates GCTF’s commitment to rule of law based on human right-compliant approaches.
 
GCTF said: “The plenary strengthened Nigeria and Italy’s commitment to supporting the forum’s good practices and recommendation documents promulgated by the working group and explored practical outputs.”
 
“The GCTF Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group, co-chaired by Italy and Nigeria, is dedicated to supporting the development of effective criminal justice systems within a rule of law framework and fully respecting human rights. It aims to ensure that persons, who plan, perpetrate or support terrorist acts, are brought to justice.”

Coordinator, National Counterterrorism Centre (NCTC), Rear Admiral YEM Musa (rtd), who represented Nigeria at the event, said the administration of criminal justice and terrorism-related cases could neither be efficient nor effective if the rights of victims are not protected.
 
He cited witness protection, observing that lack of protection for witnesses had resulted in dismissal of cases involving heinous crimes by courts following refusal by witnesses to testify for circumstantial fears.
 
According to the coordinator, Nigeria signed the Witness Protection and Management Act on May 23, 2022 into law to specifically address the challenge.
 
Nigeria first co-chaired the CJ-ROL Working Group with Switzerland in 2018 and developed the Abuja Recommendations on Collection, Use and Sharing of Evidence for Purposes of Criminal Prosecution of Terror Suspects, which was endorsed at the 2018 GCTF ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly.
 
It also co-organised the first expert meeting of the working group for development of a set of recommendations on Rule of Law-Based Administrative Measures in the Counterterrorism Context held in The Hague, The Netherlands.
 
Musa said since its inception, the CJ-ROL Working Group has accomplished a lot through development of recommendations and good practice memoranda such as the Rabat Memorandum on Good Practices for Effective Counterterrorism Practice in the Criminal Justice Sector.
 
Also, the working group’s The Hague Memorandum on Good Practices for the Judiciary in Adjudicating Terrorism Offence has been compiled to assist judges to effectively adjudicate cases that involve terrorism, while respecting the rights of parties.