Strong impetus for judicial cooperation with Latin America after signing Working Arrangement

 

Eurojust will be able to step up the fight against globally operating organised crime groups (OCGs) as a direct result of a Working Arrangement with the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors Offices (AIAMP). The Arrangement enables Eurojust to establish new Contact Points with the AIAMP networks, which focus on combatting criminal activities such as drugs trafficking, cybercrime, environmental crime and migrant smuggling. This gives the Agency and national judicial authorities better access to specialised Latin American prosecution services.

The Arrangement was signed by Eurojust Vice-President Mr Boštjan Škrlec, Mr Jorge Abbott Charme, Prosecutor General of Chile, representing the current AIAMP Presidency, and Colombian Prosecutor General Mr Francisco Barbosa Delgado, for the incoming Presidency. The signature took place last Friday during the General Assembly of AIAMP in Cartagena, Colombia.

Eurojust Vice-President Mr Boštjan Škrlec stated: Large-scale criminal organisations are increasingly operating on a global level. This Working Arrangement is a major step forward for the judiciary in the European Union and Latin America to counter this phenomenon of intercontinental organised crime, which has such an extremely negative and undermining effect on our societies. We look forward to further enhancing our already good cooperation in the fight against these global criminal networks.

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AIAMP is the association which represents 22 Ibero-American Public Ministries and national Public Prosecutor’s Offices and was founded in 1954 in Brazil.

AIAMP has set up seven permanent specialised Ibero-American cooperation networks comprised of specialised public prosecutors from all the Ibero-American Public Prosecutor´s Offices:

• AIAMP Criminal Cooperation Network (REDCOOP)
• Network against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (REDTRAM)
• Cybercrime Network (CiberRed)
• Network of Anti-Drug Prosecutors (RFAI)
• Ibero-American Network of Prosecutors against Corruption
• Specialised Gender Network (REG)
• Environmental Protection Network

By establishing Contact Points with these networks and AIAMP, prosecution authorities in EU Member States and  Eurojust can gain direct access to fellow prosecutors in these domains in the 22 AIAMP partner countries.^* Two EU Member States, Spain and Portugal, as well as Andorra are part of AIAMP.

Eurojust already has 15 Contact Points with Latin American countries and also cooperates with IberRED, a forum for judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters that unites Ibero-American authorities, and which AIAMP helped establish along with the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Ibero-American countries (COMJIB) and the Ibero-American Judicial Summit.

The Working Arrangement with AIAMP includes provisions for the exchange of strategic information and the communication with Contact Points, as well as provisions for data protection.

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