International cooperation is key in the fight against transnational organised crime

Peru has hosted the 33rd Ordinary General Assembly of the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors (AIAMP) with the aim of strengthening cooperation in the fight against transnational organised crime.

The central theme of the assembly was the fight against crime, with a particular focus on illegal mining, drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, cybercrime and corruption.

In this context, the European Union’s COPOLAD programme took part in a session during which it presented an assessment and guidelines on drug trafficking and the environment, drawn up by the programme in collaboration with AIAMP, which were subsequently approved by the Assembly.

The development of this assessment and these guidelines was prompted by the way in which public prosecutors’ offices are investigating this type of damage and the difficulties they face in effectively linking drug trafficking investigations with potential environmental offences. On this basis, practical guidelines were drawn up to strengthen investigations, the collection and preservation of evidence, and coordination between prosecution services specialising in drugs and the environment.

Following its approval, the next step will be to move from the guidelines to practical application. Work will begin on their implementation in Peru and Colombia, with a view to continuing to develop more operational tools for investigation and evidence-gathering.

Furthermore, the Assembly has paved the way for the establishment of an Ibero-American Network of Prosecutors Specialising in Asset Recovery and an Ibero-American Protocol on Early Cooperation.

In this case, it is the EL PACCTO 2.0 programme that is supporting the Assembly in the work it carries out with the AIAMP across various areas of activity through its specialist networks.

Ahead of the Assembly, EL PACCTO 2.0 has organised a series of dialogues on European Union–Latin America (EU–LATAM) cooperation, bringing together prosecutors from Latin America with EU institutions such as Eurojust and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, with a view to further advancing the consolidation of these cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding that are currently being signed.

In recent years, nine working agreements have been signed between Latin American public prosecutors’ offices and Eurojust, and eight between those offices and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Furthermore, efforts are being made to create synergies at an operational level, which is resulting in joint cases and operations between institutions on both continents.

At the AIAMP General Assembly, emphasis was placed on the need to dismantle the economic power of criminal organisations and to consolidate a joint technological and legal framework to transcend national borders, which can be achieved through international cooperation.