Rethinking Judicial Cooperation between Africa and Europe
- Autores: Chervine Oftadeh, Annalisa Pauciullo
- Localización: Eucrim: the European Criminal Law Associations' fórum, ISSN 1862-6947, Nº. 3, 2019 (Ejemplar dedicado a: The External Dimension of JHA and PIF), págs. 194-198
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
In 1993, France appointed the first liaison magistrate in Italy to improve judicial cooperation between the two countries. Since then, various European, American, North African, and Middle Eastern countries have created liaison magistrate posts worldwide, but this tradition does not exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. Such deployments could be particularly useful, however, considering the challenges European countries face as regards judicial cooperation with West and Central African countries in the field of transnational organized crime. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has tackled these challenges by supporting the deployment of two Nigerian prosecutors to Italy and Spain since 2018, in order to strengthen judicial cooperation in the field of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants. This innovative approach has contributed to shortening the channels of communication between jurisdictions; to better understanding respective legal, institutional, procedural frameworks as well as the nature and type of criminal networks; and to building trust between prosecutors and law enforcement officers from different countries. Despite the encouraging results of this cooperation, further political support, adequate funding, and collaboration from all stakeholders, as well as strengthening of regional cooperation mechanisms, will be key to achieving sustainable results in the fight against human trafficking and smuggling of migrants in West and Central Africa and Europe.
