11/12/2025
For four years, the CT JUST project has been working in the Middle East, the Maghreb, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. At the closing ceremony, its most significant achievements in the fight against terrorism in these regions were presented.
Brussels hosted the closing ceremony of the European CT Just project, which Spain and France have been working on for four years to strengthen the prevention and fight against terrorism.
During this time, the project has established working groups in the four geographical areas in which it has been working: the Middle East, the Maghreb, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, with the participation of 49 countries, facilitating the exchange of best practices in the fight against terrorism.
CT JUST has carried out 174 activities involving more than 1,500 participants with the aim of increasing the capabilities of specialists throughout the entire counter-terrorism criminal justice chain to contribute to the dismantling of terrorist networks. The project has worked to strengthen the weakest or missing links in the criminal justice chain, from police investigation, through the development of judicial procedures, the collection and custody of evidence, to mechanisms for dealing with victims.
The closing ceremony brought together more than 100 people from over 25 countries involved in the project to discuss the achievements, lessons learned and how to maintain what has been done and is working. As mentioned by the magistrate and director of the CT JUST project, José María Fernández Villalobos,
“terrorism and organised crime require a global response. International cooperation, both judicial and police, is essential for the effectiveness of the entire criminal justice chain. This response must necessarily be guided by the rule of law and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights.”
For her part, Irena Moozová, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice (DG Just), stressed that ‘this collaboration remains a priority on the European Union’s agenda, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to the fight against terrorism’. And to conclude
To conclude, Francisco Tierraseca, Director of FIAP, emphasised that: ‘Technical projects such as CT JUST expand the operational scope of European agencies, such as Eurojust, and Member States by preparing and connecting the terrain in which these actors must operate. They are part of the same ecosystem that allows the Union to act as a credible partner in security matters and committed to its values’.
The project has been involved in several lines of work, achieving great success in each of them:
New trends detected in all regions of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Europe, as well as new modus operandi of female terrorists, have been analysed. This has revealed a shift in the profile of women from victims to perpetrators, where the role of the faithful wife who accompanies her husband to the combat zone and the father of her children is overshadowed by the role of front-line terrorist, She has been transformed into a new figure, a resurgent recruiter with great skills in social media and a swift executor of terrorist activities, as well as a mother and indoctrinator of future martyrs and jihadists.
This has led to collaboration with specialists from the Spanish National Police to strengthen the role of women in law enforcement and to intensify investigations into foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs).
For example, when a woman has to be interrogated, the fact that it is a female police officer who establishes the relationship with that FTF can be an added value, as contact with another woman can convey a greater sense of calm.
A working group has also been set up to create the Sphinx network, a regional initiative that has been launched in the four regions involved in the project, with the aim of working on what is known as the judicialisation of intelligence. Work has been carried out with intelligence, police investigation and judicial professionals to find out how to proceed and how to improve the information handled in the preliminary phase of the judicial investigation. It is important to know how to handle the information gathered in the investigation so that it is fully valid in court once the judicial process begins.
In addition, specialised training has also been provided on the use of digital investigation to combat terrorism in Jordan. Crisis management capabilities in Tunisian institutions have been improved, and simulation exercises have been carried out to strengthen the anti-terrorist crisis management of the member states of the Arab Interior Ministers Council (AIMC).
All this work has helped to strengthen regional cooperation and trust between judicial and police institutions in each of the regions where it has been carried out.
In addition, CT JUST has facilitated direct judicial cooperation between Eurojust and the League of Arab States (LAS) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the fight against terrorism and has provided operational support to European actors in the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf region by opening bilateral channels, promoting cooperation frameworks and strengthening institutions.
Through CT JUST, an institutional relationship has been established between Eurojust and the LAS to work together to strengthen ties and promote visibility and the conclusion of agreements between the agency and the various central authorities of the Arab League member states. In addition, specific cooperation agreements between Eurojust and the central authorities of Iraq and Egypt have been promoted.
