Combating cross-border crime more effectively

Much anticipated themes

"This new criminal course consisted of 4 themed sessions, each lasting one week. 3 of the sessions had already been offered separately in the International Department's catalogue in the past. The session entitled "Third State and European Union Member States - How to Cooperate?", on the other hand, was specially designed by a French judge and an Italian judge," explains Émilie Breyne, who is in charge of the project at the ENM's International Department.

The themes chosen reflected some of the current priorities in the criminal field, shared by the ENM's international partners: "Terrorism and economic and financial crime are two areas of crime for which the School is regularly asked to provide ad hoc training," explains Valérie Culioli, member of the judiciary and Project Officer with the ENM's International Department.

Multi-disciplinary training

57 judges, prosecutors, police officers, gendarmes and advisors from their national Ministries of Justice, from 18 countries (Japan, Benin, Spain, Egypt, Qatar, Cameroon, Chad, France, United Kingdom, Tunisia, Italy, Lebanon, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany and Malta) were able to dialogue with key players in the criminal justice field: judges and prosecutors, investigating officers, members of public authorities specialised in the different themes covered, lawyers and even journalists.

"Beyond the themes covered in themselves, this course is an ideal opportunity for fostering inter-professional exchanges," says Valérie Culioli.

A face-to-face course

On the programme of these 4 face-to-face sessions: themed presentations, case studies, a visit to the Judicial Court of Paris, etc. "Better combatting of transnational crime means providing the specialised actors with practical tools and, of course, enabling them to meet so that operational international exchanges are then facilitated," emphasises Florence Gilbert, member of the judiciary and Project Officer with the International Department of the ENM.

Feedback from trainees who followed the entire cycle

"Of the 4 sessions organised, the one on organised crime particularly interested me, since I deal with mafia crime and drug dealing in Japan. I learned a lot about the French system by attending that session" - Yoshihito Hotta, prosecutor with the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Hiroshima (Japan).

"All the topics covered were important and interesting, but the session on "the fight against organised crime and judicial cooperation" really seemed to me to be the basis for all the other themes, due to the techniques and tools it allowed us to address" - Ferry Armand Mpinda, investigating judge in Bertoua (Cameroon).

The cycle makes its re-appearance in the 2022 catalogue

"The feedback given by the participants at the end of the course was enthusiastic: they thought that the training would be useful to them in their professional lives and they approved of the practical approach and the chance to discuss the different legal and judicial systems", said a pleased Émilie Breyne.

Not all the participants followed the entire cycle: "the biggest success in terms of the number of participants was the session on "The Economic and Financial Investigation", which shows that this issue is a priority for our foreign partners," she adds.

The entire criminal cycle will be repeated from 19 September to 22 October 2022 and for the next edition, the international department will propose to the session directors that they coordinate the different programmes.

A new criminal law training cycle offered by the International Department