July 10, 2025 (BISHOFTU, Ethiopia): The IGAD Security Sector Programme (SSP) has successfully conducted a Regional Workshop on enhancing the knowledge, skills, and application of regional and international legal instruments in addressing transnational security threats. The purpose of the meeting was to enhance and build the knowledge, skills, and application of the law enforcement sector of IGAD Member States in national, regional, continental, and international legal regimes/instruments related to transnational security threats (TSTs). In addition, it sought to give special attention to the regional cooperation and coordination mechanisms within these legal instruments to be institutionally conducive to intelligence and data sharing.
The workshop also reflected further on the international legal instruments for cooperation in fighting transnational security threats, including terrorism, organised crime, and maritime insecurity; and it looked at the best practices for implementing judicial cooperation, mutual legal assistance, and extradition, as well as other forms of cooperation and informal networking.
This Regional Workshop brought together members of parliaments, the judiciary, and high-level officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Office of the Attorney General/Prosecutors’ Office, and the Ministry of Interior/Police Service from all IGAD Member States.
This workshop agenda intensively covered the overview of terrorism, maritime security, and transnational organised crime in the IGAD region, international legal regimes in counter-terrorism, counter-terrorism legal framework drafting techniques and procedures, African Union legal framework and model law on terrorism, IGAD counter-terrorism approach, IGAD mutual legal assistance and extradition conventions, public engagement in countering terrorism and transnational organised crime, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and its three complementary protocols, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, and Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, among others.
The Head of IGAD SSP, Mrs Nejat Abdulrahman, delivered the keynote speech and expressed her sincerest gratitude to the Government of Ethiopia for hosting this important event. Mrs Nejat, in her remarks, reiterated that “the global battle against transnational security threats cannot be waged by one nation alone, it must be a collaborative effort founded on legal interoperability, confidence, and shared responsibility.” Furthermore, she addressed the workshop’s high-level officials by saying “you are judges, prosecutors, police, and policymakers placed at the intersection between law and security. You strive to safeguard not only borders but also lives, rights, and pluralistic values in society.”
The delegates of Member States actively engaged during the three-day workshop by examining the relevant regional and international legal instruments, their national legal frameworks, challenges, and opportunities in their alignment, domestication, and implementation for effective preventive and counter strategies to the security threats that they face. At the end of the workshop, delegates came up with a policy brief that highlighted their country-level status, recommendations, and action plans for further engagement.
The IGAD Security Sector Programme (SSP) was established pursuant to the regional peace and security strategy to address Transnational Security Threats (TSTs). The overall objective of IGAD SSP is to promote and strengthen regional and national capacities to better predict, prevent, and counter TSTs and thereby contribute to regional peace and stability in the IGAD region. As part of its effort to assist IGAD Member States in combating the existing, evolving, and emerging TSTs, the IGAD SSP has been continuously working with Member States to implement regional and international legal instruments through the promotion of the various respective frameworks within the context of the IGAD region. It also facilitates the drafting and adoption of various regional normative frameworks that help in mitigating security threats at the regional level and within Member States.
The workshop was generously funded by the European Union Fund through the African Union Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).
