Malta: ICITAP Senior Forensic Advisor Chairs Panel on Exploiting Forensic Evidence

On September 13, ICITAP’s Senior Forensic Advisor completed his participation at the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law’s (IIJ) inaugural delivery of a new course in Valletta, Malta on successfully prosecuting terrorism cases. Over forty participants from eighteen countries attended the course, including practitioners from Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Chad, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Inaugurated in 2014, the IIJ provides rule of law-based training to criminal justice on how to address terrorism and transnational criminal activities within a rule-of-law framework. The IIJ assists countries to strengthen the capacities of their criminal justice systems, develop more robust and efficient mechanisms for handling terrorism cases, and promote more in-depth knowledge of international legal principles and good practices for managing terrorism cases. Supporting criminal justice practitioners not only enhances the legitimacy of judicial systems, minimizes the risk of human rights violations, and promotes the rule of law, but also enhances broader counterterrorism policy efforts and serves as a deterrent to terrorism. ICITAP’s Senior Forensic Advisor facilitated a panel titled “Benefits and Challenges Associated with Exploiting and Using Forensic Evidence,” which featured presentations from forensic laboratory directors from Morocco and Kenya.