UNODC HOLDS A FOUR-DAY WORKSHOP ON COUNTER TERRORISM IN

UNCLAS MASERU 000230 SIPDIS SIPDIS RANGOON FOR PATRICK MURPHY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL KDEM LT SUBJECT: UNODC HOLDS A FOUR-DAY WORKSHOP ON COUNTER TERRORISM IN MASERU: 09 - 12 MAY, 2006 ¶1. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is holding a four-day workshop on counter terrorism in Maseru from 9 to 12 May, 2006. The purpose of the workshop, requested by the GOL, is to provide counter terrorism training and legislative drafting skills to senior criminal justice officials and policy makers. The workshop is being presented in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat. ¶2. Opening the workshop on Tuesday, May 9, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Mokone Lehata, pointed out that the role of international organizations is to ensure that approaches taken by countries around the world under their domestic legislative and law enforcement regimes are coordinated to make collective international measures both efficient and effective. ¶3. He stated that Lesotho has seen the need to negotiate and accede to international legal instruments aimed at enhancing international cooperation. Lehata indicated that Lesotho is a party to the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols that address corruption, trafficking of women and children and smuggling of migrants. (NOTE: while Lesotho has signed the Convention, it has not taken significant steps domestically to combat human trafficking; there is no statute against trafficking, for example. END NOTE.) He added that Lesotho is a party to seven UN counter terrorism conventions and two African Union (AU) counter terrorism legal instruments. ¶4. Speaking at the same occasion, Kimberly Prost, Chief, Legal Advisory Section, Division for Treaty Affairs, UNODC, stressed that the focus of the workshop should be on how to better understand and implement the crime and terrorism prevention measures. ¶5. Ms. Prost was accompanied by Michael De Feo, Consultant, Terrorism Prevention Branch, UNODC and Anton Du Plessis, Terrorism Prevention Expert, UNODC. ¶6. COMMENT: The USG has sponsored seminars for members of parliament, civil society, and the financial sector on transnational security matters. (Also, post has submitted an ESF proposal to combat human trafficking.) We consider the workshop a positive reinforcement of training we have also provided to law enforcement and intelligence officials. PERRY