Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM
To the 2011 Annual Security Review Conference
(Vienna, Austria, Hofburg Congress Center, 29 June – 1 July 2011)
An active law enforcement cooperation and operational interaction is one of the basic components of the activity within the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM (see Annex 1). This activity is based on the Agreement on Cooperation among the Governments of the GUUAM Participating States in the Field of Combating Terrorism, Organized Crime and Other Dangerous Types of Crimes of 20 July 2002, the Protocol to the Agreement of 04 December 2008, and the Agreement on Establishing GUUAM Virtual Centre on Combating Terrorism, Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking and Other Dangerous Types of Crime (VLEC) and GUUAM Interstate Information Management System (IIMS) of 04 July 2003.
Corresponding to main international conventions, resolutions, protocols and other documents, the counter-terrorism activity within the GUAM is aimed at practical cooperation and counteracting to the threats.
The National Inter-Agency Groups and VLEC/IIMS national segments were created in the GUAM member states. For its part, the VLEC and IIMS were created in the context of implementation of the Framework GUAM – USA Program on Facilitation of Trade and Transportation, Securing Border and Customs Control and Combating Terrorism, Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking.
Regular meetings of the GUAM Working Group on Combating Terrorism, Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking (WGCTOC) are held every half a year.
Four Working Sub-Groups function within the WGCTOC:
- on Terrorism (WGS-TER);
- on Drug Trafficking (WGS-DT);
- on Trade-in-Persons and Illegal Migration (WGS-TIP);
- on Corruption and Money Laundering (WGS-CML).
A new Working Sub-Group on Law Statistics (WGS-STAT) is to be created soon.
Specific issues of counteracting to the threats of terrorism and other crimes are also on the agenda of meetings of representatives of Border Guard Services and the Steering Committee of the GUAM Trade and Transportation Facilitation Project (TTF).
The GUAM’s activities in the field of law enforcement, border and customs control is intensified during last years.
An uninterrupted connection and information exchange, including at operational level, on combating terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, trade-in-persons and illegal migration are ensured within the GUAM. The information exchange is also aimed at verification of vehicles and documents, examination of commercial agents’ activities, search, identification of persons and confirmation of their identity, examination of validity of official documents, verification of stolen or lost fire arms etc.
The Working Sub-Groups on Drug Trafficking and on Trade-in-Persons and Illegal Migration develop and carry out regular joint operations of the GUAM member states law enforcement agencies under the nickname “Narcostop” and “Perekhvat [Interception]”. In general, annually the GUAM member states law enforcement agencies conduct a number of joint operations and joint measures.
The implementation of the Framework GUAM – USA Program’s projects also includes modernization of the National Information Analytical Centers (NIACs) of the GUAM member states (2010) as well as the installation of encryption equipment.
In summer 2011 the Cryptographic Protection System at apparatus-programming level is to be put into operation within the GUAM IIMS, which qualitatively increases operational and other capabilities of the GUAM member states’ interaction, including information exchange and conducting joint operations.
It provides not just a reliable protection of classified law enforcement data, strengthens institutional capabilities of the GUAM member states’ law enforcement agencies, and harmonizes GUAM’s standards, but also brings GUAM to a principally new level of international cooperation in combating terrorism and international crime.
Accordingly to the agreements within Working Groups and Sub-Groups, adopted by the GUAM Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs, counteraction to cyber-terrorism and technogenic terrorism, including chemical, bacteriological and radiological threats, is defined as perspective and highly important directions of the development of law enforcement cooperation. Relevant practical aspects and common measures were considered during the GUAM Working Sub-Group on Terrorism’ regular meeting in May 2011. These directions are also regarded as a field of cooperation both between the GUAM member states and other countries and international organizations.
An initiative to create a Nuclear Criminal Expertise Regional Network begins fulfilling within a Project of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU) for GUAM countries.
The GUAM also develops counter-terrorism and law enforcement cooperation with other international organizations, including, the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC/TPB), in the framework of the OSCE, the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Terrorism (CODEXTER), the OECD Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN) etc.
In particular, in 2009 and 2010 the UNODC/TPB with the GUAM Secretariat organized and carried out two sub-regional workshops for the GUAM member states on preventing nuclear terrorism and on enhancing international legal cooperation related to terrorism, including the drafting of request for extradition and mutual legal assistance. Besides representatives of the GUAM member states, national experts from the United States, Germany, France, and other countries as well as international experts from the CODEXTER, Eurojust, IAEA, INTERPOL, OSCE/ODIHR participated in the workshops.
In 2011 the OECD Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs conduct a joint Anti-Corruption project for GUAM countries, aimed at supporting capacity building for detection, investigation and prosecution.
The GUAM sees possibilities to strengthen cooperation in border control, in particular, with the purpose of securing the GUAM transport corridor, on checking vehicles at the border cross points, on checking of travel and other documents, and on risk analysis. Putting into operation the Cryptographic Protection System creates new capabilities in this field within the GUAM proper. We also see potential in implementing with the engagement of the resources of the GUAM, USA, the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, and the Eastern partnership Flagship initiative “Integrated Border Management”.
We would like to pay a special attention to further development of activity of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT), which aims not only at global, but also at regional cooperation.
Under actual conditions a necessity for joining efforts and practices of counter-terrorist and disaster management agencies becomes more and more obvious. In particular, it was underlined during the GUAM Working Group on Emergency Situations (WGEMRG) meeting on February 2011 and reassured by the GUAM Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs. To our point of view, organization of joint inter-agency trainings and other measures, especially regarding technogenic terrorism threats, is to be on the agenda. The fulfillment of these tasks demands coordinated international efforts, too.
The Secretariat of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM in Kyiv
June 2011
Annex 1
