2nd Meeting of EU and Latin American Justice Institutions

Organized by El PAcCTO - Program of Assistance against Transnational Organized Crime, the Meeting began today in Lisbon, 28 June, running until 30 June, in hybrid format, under the motto "Creating alliances between the two regions".

In her intervention, the Minister of Justice highlighted the important role that EL PAcCTO has played, since its creation, in the reinforcement of competencies and in the deepening of cross-border, regional and international cooperation, "meeting the needs of prevention and fight against organised crime".

The Programme is also an important opportunity to deepen different aspects of criminal policy and to create bonds of trust between the various criminal justice systems, said Francisca Van Dunem, which are essential for the proper functioning of cooperation based on respect for human rights.

"Cooperation is the only way to respond to organised crime, the various types of trafficking, corruption or cybercrime, and other crimes such as online child sexual abuse and violence against women and children," stressed the Minister of Justice.

It will be crucial to deepen the quality and speed up the response of Justice and to modernise and simplify international cooperation, so that it is possible to combat phenomena such as the counterfeiting of medicines, medical products and equipment on the internet, as well as the resurgence of racism, xenophobia and hate speech, fuelled by fake news and disinformation.

Renewing the support that the Ministry of Justice has given to EL PAcCTO, the Minister of Justice pointed out some ideas of areas to be deepened, in a next plan of activities of the Programme, such as the use of special investigation techniques, the use of electronic evidence in criminal proceedings, a detention order in Latin America or alternative measures to imprisonment and training in Human Rights for prison administration staff.

To respond to 21st century crimes and to protect citizens and institutions "we need to have criminal justice systems and police authorities that are capable and equipped with the necessary expertise in areas that complement each other, such as digital skills, police intelligence, mastery of modern investigative techniques, but above all that, domestically and internationally, coordinate and cooperate with each other", stressed Francisca Van Dunem.

"This is why we must continue to focus on regional and international cooperation, based on mutual trust and collective interest. The EL PAcCTO programme plays a decisive role in this context."

Besides the Portuguese Minister of Justice, the opening session of the II Meeting also counted with the presence of the Commissioner for Justice of the European Union, Didier Reynders (videoconference), the Secretary General of the Conference of Ministers of Ibero-American Countries (COMJIB), Enrique Gil Botero, the Portuguese Prosecutor General, Lucília Gago and the Director of Justice and Internal Affairs of the Council of the European Union, Serge de Biolley.

During the three days of this Meeting, the Minister of Justice of Panama, the Minister of Justice of Spain and representatives of the Ministry of Justice of France, the Directorate General JHA of the General Secretariat of the Council, the Directorate General Justice of the European Commission, EUROJUST will also participate, as well as representatives of the Public Prosecutor's Offices of various countries and the most relevant regional institutions, such as the Ibero-American Judicial Summit (CJI), the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors (AIAMP) and the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Ibero-American Countries (COMJIB).