International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law Launched in Malta

The International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law was launched in Malta during a ceremony at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Valletta on Wednesday 18 June. The mission of this institute, which is supported by the Global Counterterrorism Forum and will collaborate closely with the United Nations and other international and non-governmental organisations, is to provide rule of law-based training to lawmakers, police, prosecutors, judges, corrections officials and other justice sector stakeholders on how to address terrorism and related transnational criminal activities within a rule of law framework. More broadly, it will work to strengthen criminal justice systems and build regional judicial, police and other criminal justice practitioner networks to promote justice, security, and human rights. The IIJ will place a particular focus on countries seeking to develop rule of law-based approaches to addressing security challenges such as terrorism and other transnational criminal activities. At the meeting, founding members and partners signed the Valletta Declaration on the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law Foundation. ICCT’s Research Fellow Dr. Bibi van Ginkel signed the Declaration on behalf of ICCT, which is one of the founding partner and has supported the new Institute in the development of its curriculum together with the Global Center for Cooperative Security (GCCS) and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). Van Ginkel said "ICCT looks forward to working with the IIJ on further developing instruments, tool kits and training programs. The theme of justice and rule of law is of the utmost importance, and therefore we wish it all the success". After the official opening, the first two-day training activity took place, which brought together prosecutors and investigators from countries in the Sahel and Maghreb to explore how to strengthen the criminal justice response to terrorist facilitation networks in these regions. As a founding partner, ICCT will continue to support the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law as it develops future trainings and events.