Cooperation between Italy and Niger: training course on aggression against criminal assets, funded by MAECI and coordinated by the Sant'Anna School
Cooperation between Italy and Niger is further strengthened with the launch of a new course as part of the training and assistance project aimed at the local judiciary, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and coordinated by the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, with the collaboration of the Niger Ministry of Justice and the Niger School of Magistrate Training. The course was held July 10-12, 2023 in Niamey, Niger. The new advanced training course covered the topic of attacking criminal assets in the context of countering international terrorism and organized crime.
Niger is a priority country for Italian cooperation, and this project aims to enhance the participants' skills with the strategic objective of strengthening the action of countering domestic and international terrorism and criminal organizations, with particular reference to the economic dimension of these phenomena and the mechanisms of aggression against criminal assets. The course called to participate the excellence of the "Italian System" in the subject: the academic world, represented by Marialucia Benaglia, research fellow at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies; the magistrates' world, represented by Alberto Perduca, former Public Prosecutor, with long experience in the aggression against criminal assets and in international judicial cooperation; and members of the Police Force, represented by Claudio Petrozziello, Colonel of the II Department of the Guardia di Finanza - an expert in anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, engaged for many years in national and international economic-financial investigations.
The high-level training course for Niger judicial actors sees the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies involved, following similar initiatives that took place between 2018 and 2022, in particular with the project "Strengthening the judicial systems of African countries through training (2022-23)". For the success of these activities, the support provided by the Farnesina and the Italian Embassy in Niamey, Niger, has always proved crucial.
"The course supporting Niger magistrates", comments the Italian ambassador in Niamey, Emilia Gatto, who took part in the closing ceremony of the course, "further consolidates the training and assistance activities that the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has been supporting for many years in the country, activities carried out with the decisive contribution of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa".
"The Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies is proud to contribute to this important technical cooperation project, which aims to strengthen the skills of magistrates in Sahelian countries in the fight against terrorism and organized crime", says Andrea De Guttry, scientific coordinator of the project and professor at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies. "We are convinced that through training and strengthening judicial institutions it is possible to promote the rule of law in a key area for the stability of the African continent and Europe".
