JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRES

 Despite considerable progress, South East Europe faces major challenges in the area of rule of law, which is fundamental for democratic societies and functioning of market economies. There is a strong international and regional dimension in combating organised crime. Borders are no obstacle to organised criminal groups. Hence, it is important that the SEE countries cooperate among themselves in tackling these challenges. In the fight against corruption, exchange of experience and information, as well as dissemination of best practices at the regional level is a useful complement to similar exercises at European and international level.
The need for regional cooperation is most evident in criminal issues, but is also manifest in a range of practical challenges that people face in their daily lives in the area of private and civil law, such as labour and family law, inheritance and property rights and mutual recognition of civil court decisions.

A range of regional activities and structures have been developed in the past years with varying success and impact. These include the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative Regional Center for Combating Trans-border Crime – SECI, Center/Southeast European Law Enforcement Centre - SELEC, the Police Cooperation Convention for South East Europe – PCC, the Southeast Europe Police Chiefs Association – SEPCA, the Southeast European Prosecutors’ Advisory Group – SEEPAG, the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative – RAI, and the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative - MARRI. Furthermore, donors have launched a number of actions aimed at strengthening the regional dimension of the rule of law. These include in particular the Prosecutors’ Network of the Western Balkans, creating direct linkages among the prosecutorial services, and the setting up of the International Law Enforcement Coordination Units - ILECUs, strengthening national platforms for international police and law enforcement cooperation.

Overall, regional police cooperation is relatively advanced, while prosecutors’ and judges’ cooperation is less so. In the areas of the fight against corruption as well as management of migration, there are only limited results of the mentioned initiatives. Cooperation in the areas of the protection of fundamental rights and of private and civil law is the least developed. National and regional activities are often fragmented and uncoordinated.


Regional priorities for 2011-2013


The core regional priority in the field of justice and home affairs is to fight organised crime, focusing particularly on economic and financial crime, smuggling of drugs and trafficking in human beings. Attention should also be given to the regional dimension of the fight against terrorism as well as the suppression of the financing of terrorism. Existing initiatives, such as SECI/SELEC, PCC and SEPCA, have a key role to play in tackling these issues. Bearing in mind that there are no regional structures on judiciary cooperation, improvement can be achieved through the exchange of liaison magistrates and the creation of a regional judicial network.
In the area of the fight against corruption, the regional priority is to improve sharing of good practices within the scope of the existing initiatives. Corruption must be addressed simultaneously, from both perspectives, the regional and the national. In this context, RAI activities need to be better targeted.

As regards migration, MARRI should build its capacity to assist its member states in assessing circumstances in countries and regions of origin for potential asylum seekers and refugees and address cooperation on migration (both legal and illegal) within the region. Cooperation in fighting illegal migration should be further strengthened. The proper implementation of readmission agreements should also be promoted.

Protection of fundamental rights  as well as cooperation in private and civil law matters, has to be developed, taking into account the growing freedom of movement of people, goods and services in the SEE. An efficient fight against organised crime and terrorism needs to take into account fundamental rights, notably rights pertaining to liberty and security, access to justice, right to a fair trial and to a due process, free legal aid, alternative dispute resolutions, assistance and redress mechanisms for crime victims.