ILECUs – Strengthening the Rule of Law and Good Governance in South East Europe by further Promoting International Law Enforcement Coordination Units which Combat Transnational Organized Crime

The project aims at the sustainable improvement of national, international and regional cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime, which contributes to strengthening the rule of law and good governance in South East Europe. Beneficiaries of this project are the International Law Enforcement Coordination Units (ILECUs) which have been established in South Eastern Europe as well as the ILECUs that are going to be established in the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Georgia. An ILECU is a national coordination unit which incorporates/provides close connection with contact points for EUROPOL, INTERPOL, EUROJUST, the European judicial network, national judicial authorities, the Southeast European Law Enforcement Centre, foreign liaison officers, the Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry (SIRENE), customs authorities, border police, FRONTEX, OLAF and other law enforcement cooperation organisations.

The activities within the project aim at strengthening the cooperation of the ILECUs and further developing their standard operating procedures via the Heads of ILECUs network. The Heads of ILECUs network is an important tool for promoting crucial human rights issues such as data protection, protection of the rights of victims as well as offenders and for integrating these aspects into the quality standards of the daily work of the ILECUs. In order to further strengthen the cooperation of the ILECUs und support them in further developing their capacities and skills a Summer Academy for the staff members of the ILECUs will be held. The focus will be on building trust among the staff of the ILECUs by way of working together on concrete cases and exchanging good practices.

Furthermore, workshops and round tables will be implemented in Moldova to support the newly established ILECU in enhancing skills regarding data protection as well as gender equality. On top of that, the project partners plan to develop standards for the area of trafficking in human beings within the Police Equal Performance (PEP) strategy. PEP is a regional strategy for Central and South Eastern Europe aiming at improving the performance of police forces by applying the best practices available in policing and at enhancing the operational co-operation between police forces of the EU Member States and the Western Balkans. The vision of PEP is that cross-border operational co-operation in preventing and combating organised and serious crime becomes routine and follows common quality standards.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental an Human Rights (LBI-GMR) supports the Austrian police and the ILECUs network in identifying and applying human rights relevant issues in their daily work through offering baseline studies and trainings.