Police Reform

International Conference in Strasbourg

The representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Tajikistan took part in the International Conference on “The Use of Special Investigation Techniques to Combat Terrorism and Other Forms of Organized Crime,” which took place in Strasbourg, France from 14 to 15 May 2013.

The organizers of the event were the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna, the Council of Europe, and the League of Arab States. The representatives of 48 OSCE participating states and 10 international organizations participated in the conference.

The international conference consisted of 6 sessions, where the main presentations were done by the representatives of organizations, such as the OSCE, UNODC, the League of Arab States, the Council of Europe, ODIHR, the UN Higher Commissioner on Human Rights, Committee on Combating Terrorism, UN Security Council, Google, European Association of Internet Providers, Dan Office in European Justice, etc.

Alive discussions of participants were followed after each presentation. The participants brought as a sample the best practices of police activities in Austria, England, Russian Federation, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Turkey, France and Germany.

The issues of respect for human rights and implementation of the rule of law while using special techniques for investigation of cases related to terrorist crimes were of special focus during the conference.

As a result of the conference, a resolution was adopted, which suggests the following:

• to compose a list of all special investigation techniques and methods, which are used in legislation and in practice of the OSCE participating states for comparison;
• to conclude bi-lateral and multilateral agreements in the field of international cooperation on the issues of using special investigation techniques and methods to combat terrorism and organized crime;
• to improve the knowledge of staff and practice of investigation agencies of the OSCE participating states regarding the newest technology by exchange of experience and knowledge;
• to allocate funds for improvement of special investigation techniques and methods to combat terrorism and organized crime by OSCE participating states;
• to develop a manual on best practices of the countries in this area and provide it to all participating states for their use;
• to strengthen international cooperation of the states in the field of counter terrorism and other forms of organized crimes.