United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased reliance on the Internet across the world.
The widespread lockdowns and travel and social distance related restrictions have meant that people are increasingly spending more time online. While the Internet offers countless benefits, it can also be exploited by terrorists and criminals.
To address these challenges, UNODC is committed to developing specialized legal knowledge and assists requesting Member States to strengthen their criminal justice response to terrorism.
More recently, UNODC’s Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB) delivered an online training on countering the use of the Internet and social media for terrorist purposes and sharing of electronic evidence across borders on UNODC’s Counter-Terrorism Learning Platform on 22-24 February. The participants were made up of 30 student judges from the Algerian National Judicial Academy.
The event encouraged discussions on the current state of threats and needs in the fight against online terrorist recruitment, training, terrorism financing and other related crimes committed through the Internet. Participants identified the current level of preparedness, challenges and gaps that need to be effectively addressed from a criminal justice and rule of law perspective.
The workshop enabled participants to enhance their knowledge on implementing international instruments and good practices to prevent and counter these crimes. It also aimed to strengthen cooperation among jurisdictions by utilizing UNODC tools, namely the Practical Guide for Requesting Electronic Evidence Across Borders.
Furthermore, during the event, experts shared their substantive expertise and collaborated with junior trainee magistrates on real case scenarios, which allowed participants to put in practice their newly acquired skills and knowledge.
The training was delivered under the framework of UNODC/TPB’s project on strengthening the legal regime against foreign terrorist fighters in the Middle East and North Africa region which is funded by the European Union.
