From June 30 – July 2, 2014, CEELI Institute Executive Director Christopher Lehmann participated as an invited expert in the “Second Seminar on the Role of the Judiciary in Handling Counterterrorism and Other National Security Cases within a Rule of Law Framework,” held at EUROPOL Headquarters in The Hague, The Netherlands. The conference was organized by the Criminal Justice Sector and Rule of Law Working Group, of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF). The goal of this program was to complete work on the draft GCTF Hague Memorandum on Good Practices for the Judiciary in Handling Counterterrorism Cases within a Rule of Law Framework. The sessions were organized around the individual draft good practices, with each session involving brief presentations, from judges, magistrates, or other experts, followed by a moderated discussion.
The Hague Memorandum will build on the initial Good Practice Document, The Rabat Memorandum on Good Practices for Effective Counterterrorism Practice in the Criminal Justice Sector, which was approved by the GCTF plenary in June 2012 and has rapidly become one of the key international reference documents for the development of legislation, procedures, and practices designed to facilitate terrorism investigations and prosecutions. The Hague Memorandum will be intended to provide similar guidance to judges engaged in handling counterterrorism and national security cases.
Among the proposed good practices for the judiciary that are under consideration are the needs to provide special measures to protect victims and witnesses during the trial process, ensure courtroom and judicial security, develop appropriate legal frameworks or guidelines for the use and protection of evidence from intelligence sources and methods, and develop and articulate media guidelines for judges handling terrorism cases.
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