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8th Regional Workshop for Judges Prosecutors and Police Officers in South Asia on Effectively Countering Terrorism
The three-day South Asian Regional Workshop for Judges, Prosecutors and Police Officers in South Asia on Effectively Countering Terrorism concluded successfully on 17 April 2014. The workshop was hosted by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), and organized by the Global Center on Cooperative Security in association with the Institute of South Asian Studies of the National University of Singapore (ISAS), with the support of the Governments of Denmark and the United States of America.
There were some 60 overseas participants including 3 Supreme Court Judges, UN officials, as well Resource persons from the US, UK, Australia, Singapore (ISAS), and Pakistan. Senior personnel from all these three legal branches from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan were present. The workshop was held at the Orchard Hotel, funded by the US and Denmark. ISAS hosted a dinner reception for the participants at WAVE HOUSE Restaurant at Sentosa.
Kick-starting the initial plenary session, the workshop broke into three working groups of judges, prosecutors, and police officers. Each group intensively deliberated on the basis of written agenda for three days. At the final day at the wrap-up plenary, representatives of each presented reports which were discussed interactively. Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury, Principal Research Fellow, ISAS who was the designated resource person for the workshop concluded eight ÔÇÿtake-awaysÔÇÖ at the closing session.
There was consensus that given common British roots of the legal tradition in South Asia, there was great scope for cooperation, starting from the level of practitioners in the field, working up to policymakers. New technologies required continued training for the legal machinery. The regional experiences can and should be collated, studied, and analysed and the best practices shared. There was need to update the Criminal Procedure Code, the Penal Code and the Evidence Act (Parliamentarians in due course would be involved) in response to changing needs. The UN should provide necessary technical assistance and support towards further capacity-building. The GCCS had prepared Certificates for all participants, which Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury, Principal Research Fellow, ISAS presented to all participants.
The next event, partnered between ISAS and the Global Centre is scheduled for early December. That session will focus on the civil society, as opposed to public officials, as in this one.
ISAsÔÇÖ role in this partnership was mentioned with gratitude by the UN Officials and the GCCS reps.
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