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Cablegate: Munich G-8 Justice and Interior Ministers Meeting

Published: Fri 25 May 2007 03:24 PM
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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251524Z MAY 07
FM AMCONSUL MUNICH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3959
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RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE
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RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0027
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0008
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 MUNICH 000325
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TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER KCRM KISL GM
SUBJECT: MUNICH G-8 JUSTICE AND INTERIOR MINISTERS MEETING
CONCLUDING DECLARATION
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SUMMARY
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1. The below text is the concluding declaration from the G-8
Justice and Interior Ministers Meeting held in Munich May 23-25.
The U.S. was represented at the meeting by Attorney General Gonzales
and Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jackson.
2. Begin text: During our meeting in Munich on 23-25 May 2007 at
the invitation of Federal Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries and
Federal Minister of the Interior Dr. Wolfgang Schaeuble, we, the
Justice and Interior Ministers and Prosecutors General of the G8
nations, as well as European Commission Vice President Frattini,
discussed important shared concerns in the field of justice and
interior affairs. We focused on current issues of counter terrorism
and integration policy, as well as issues related to transnational
organized crime, including effective mechanisms for enforcing
intellectual property rights.
We also discussed a number of other issues, in particular combating
drug cultivation and drug trafficking in Afghanistan and combating
the sexual abuse of children. In this regard, we have issued two
separate declarations, entitled "Afghanistan Counter Narcotics" and
"Reinforcing the International Fight against Child Pornography," to
which reference is hereby made.
Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble took part as a guest at our
meeting and used this opportunity to report on Interpol's current
projects.
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COUNTER-TERRORISM
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Despite concerted efforts to prevent terrorist attacks and dismantle
individual terrorist networks around the world, international
terrorism continues to present a global threat. In recent years, the
attacks in New York, Washington, Madrid, Moscow, Beslan, London and
many other places have revealed a new dimension of terror and
demonstrated that open, liberal societies are particularly
threatened. We must continue to devote all our energies to our
joint counter-terrorism efforts, increasing them wherever necessary.
Continuing the already comprehensive and rapid sharing of
information among security and law enforcement authorities will play
a prominent role; in view of the global nature of terrorist
networks, such information-sharing is crucial for effectively
protecting our citizens against attacks.
Because terrorists increasingly take advantage of modern
communications and information technology, we will further
strengthen our cooperation specifically in this field. Building on
current efforts in this area, we have agreed:
- to deepen our knowledge and experience concerning terrorist use
of the Internet;
- to further intensify the voluntary sharing of information in this
field and to better exploit the possibilities for international
cooperation in order to address terrorist use and misuse of the
Internet;
- to explore whether and how other institutions could support the
efforts of security and law enforcement authorities in combating
terrorist use of the Internet;
- to explore further cooperation in the matter of terrorist use of
other communications and information technologies and broadcast
systems;
- to continue to expand and strengthen the G8 24/7 Network of High
Tech Crime Points of Contact and to continue to promote its use in
our countries;
- to work towards criminalizing, within national legal frameworks,
specific forms of misusing the Internet for terrorist purposes.
Successful security policy must take action as early as possible,
i.e. before terrorist organizations are formed and concrete attack
plans are drawn up. We have therefore agreed to expand our
knowledge and experience of those processes by which some residents
of our countries become radical and violent, culminating in what is
known as "home-grown terrorism." We agree that lasting success in
countering processes of radicalization cannot be achieved by the
security authorities alone, but requires recourse to a broad
spectrum of measures, including those related to integration policy
and engaging civil society through outreach to youth and other
vulnerable groups. We have also addressed the issue of dialogue
with relevant communities in our countries and agreed to mandate
MUNICH 00000325 002 OF 005
national experts to share experiences in this field.
Domestic legal frameworks which enable the removal of foreign
nationals who pose a national security threat, including terrorist
suspects, may in specific cases provide a useful tool for States to
protect national security and comply with state obligations to
cooperate in the fight against terrorism, while fully complying with
all applicable international human rights obligations. We discussed
the difficulties faced by states in seeking to devise and implement
an effective and safe removals policy taking into account the need
to protect national security and the human rights of those who pose
a threat. We promote further sharing of experiences and analysis of
possible solutions between our countries on the basis of the work
recently performed by G8 experts in this field.
Furthermore, we must pay special attention to the security of
critical energy infrastructures which constitute the lifeline of our
market economy and society and therefore require special protection
against possible terrorist threat. The people in our countries
expect the supply of energy to function reliably and not be impacted
by terrorist attack. We have therefore agreed to continue and
intensify expert assessment of vulnerabilities and potential threats
to energy infrastructure and sharing of best practices for security.
At the same time, we reaffirm our commitment to strengthen the
protection of all critical infrastructures. We therefore ask the
Roma-Lyon Group to intensify the exchange of best practices between
our countries and to initiate comparable analyses with regard to
further critical infrastructures.
To deal even more effectively with terrorist threats in and from the
air, we have further intensified our cooperation in the area of
aviation security. For example, to follow up on the successful
conclusion of the Secure and Facilitated International Travel
Initiative (SAFTI) action plan, we have discussed further measures
to improve aviation security and developed recommendations and best
practices which will be provided to the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) as a basis for its further efforts.
With regard to the Interpol Lost and Stolen Travel Documents
Database we have agreed to provide 24/7 points of contact with
officials who can access domestic passport data and help resolve
positive "hits" that occur from real time connection to the Interpol
data base. This will make this tool even more effective in stopping
terrorists and criminals from exploiting lost and stolen documents.
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ENFORCING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
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Product piracy and counterfeiting damage the innovative capacity of
national economies. They deceive customers acting in good faith and
can even endanger health and life. Complex global criminal networks
are becoming increasingly involved with IP crime. For these
reasons, the fight against product piracy and counterfeiting is a
crucial element of criminal law, regulatory and economic policy as
well as consumer protection.
We agree that civil law can play a key role in these efforts. Where
consistent with national legal systems, states should consider
establishing legal regimes where right holders are able to pursue
the civil enforcement of their rights through expedited proceedings.
Such proceedings may be designed to ensure that right holders can
obtain court decisions solely on the basis of substantiated
submissions and without hearing the opposing party, or at a hearing
with an abbreviated notice period. As a rule, such court decisions
should be enforceable on the day of their issuance. At the same
time, opposing parties must be protected against the misuse of such
expedited proceedings.
Criminal enforcement also plays an important role in the protection
of intellectual property rights, particularly in the most egregious
instances of infringement. Criminal penalties commensurate with the
offence committed and with the degree of culpability must be both
imposable and imposed. Law enforcement authorities should be
sufficiently trained in issues of intellectual property protection.
Further, given the global nature of intellectual property crimes, we
agree that there must be effective methods for law enforcement
agencies to share information and to develop cooperative
investigations across borders in order to combat piracy and
counterfeiting offences. In this respect our experts have produced
"Principles and Recommendations for Cooperative Investigation and
Prosecution of Serious and Organized Intellectual Property Rights
MUNICH 00000325 003 OF 005
Crimes" and have identified national points of contact in our
countries to facilitate international cooperation in these cases.
We endorse this work and agree to continue and increase the
targeting of international intellectual property crime.
Given the important roles of civil and criminal enforcement, we
support the development of a plan to support developing and newly
industrialized countries that are interested in using civil and
criminal law to promote the effective enforcement of intellectual
property rights.
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COMBATING SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN
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We discussed together our efforts to combat the sexual abuse of
children committed by persons traveling from their country, ("home
country") to another country ("destination country"), to engage in
sexual activity with children. Unfortunately, many of the
destination countries lack adequate legislation or resources to
vigorously address this problem within their own borders.
Therefore, action by the home countries, including the G8 States, is
essential to effectively protecting children around the world.
As child exploitation and child sex tourism have been increasing
globally, many G8 States have enacted new laws against the sexual
abuse of children. As of today, all G8 States have extraterritorial
jurisdiction over child sexual exploitation committed by their own
nationals in other countries. Most G8 States can now prosecute
their nationals for child sex tourism, even where the conduct is not
a crime in the destination country.
We discussed the urgent need to promote the use of this authority to
prosecute child sex tourism. We agree that, regardless of the
abuser's nationality, that person must be held accountable, whether
in the home or destination country. We are releasing today a paper
produced by our experts that discusses experiences and lessons
learned in addressing these odious crimes, as well as tactics and
strategies designed to ensure that investigations and prosecutions
in these cases are successful. The strategies range from
establishing firm relationships with the authorities in the
destination countries to the best methods of collecting evidence for
use in court in the home countries. Preventive measures, such as
cooperation with the tourism industry to make sure that travelers to
common destination countries are aware of the reach of the criminal
justice systems in their home countries, and having home country
governments proactively promote public awareness and understanding
of the illegal nature of engaging in any sexual activity with
children whether at home or abroad, are also emphasized. We hope
that all states that may be countries of origin for traveling sex
offenders will undertake similar measures, since only with
widespread and concerted action will the fight against child sexual
abuse at the international level be effective.
The demand of sex tourists drives others to supply child victims.
Home countries have a critical role to play in preventing such
sexual abuse by stemming demand and ensuring that effective and
responsive measures are in place to fully investigate and prosecute
the commission of these crimes. When we succeed in stopping people
who travel for the purpose of having sex with children, we ensure
that fewer children will be forced into prostitution or other forms
of commercial sexual exploitation.
We therefore support the efforts recently made within the Council of
Europe to draft a comprehensive convention on the protection of
children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and we
encourage the States who participated in the negotiations to
contribute to the finalization and the adoption of the convention.
In our separate declaration entitled "Reinforcing the International
Fight against Child Pornography," we have committed ourselves to
improving our ability to prevent, investigate and prosecute such
serious crimes. We request that the Roma-Lyon Group facilitate
further dialogue among their experts on how to uncover and prevent
the spread of child pornography, including through cooperation with
Internet Service Providers
Furthermore, we have noted the concern that children are being
abducted for the purpose of sexual exploitation. We request the
Roma-Lyon Group to also gather expert knowledge regarding the
discovery and prevention of such crimes and to consider whether
MUNICH 00000325 004 OF 005
there are appropriate preventive measures to be taken forward.
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ASSET RECOVERY
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We welcomed the report of the Roma-Lyon Group on implementation of
our 2004 initiative on Recovering Proceeds of Corruption. As we
have repeatedly reaffirmed, international cooperation is a key
element of our efforts to combat corruption, and our States are
committed to support of the United Nations Convention against
Corruption and to translating its words into effective action. The
assistance we have provided through regional asset recovery
workshops is but one example, and our member States will continue to
offer assistance, individually or together, to states seeking
restraint or confiscation of assets illicitly taken from their
countries by corrupt officials. Today we also release several
papers our experts have prepared at our direction, including papers
outlining principles and procedural mechanisms to facilitate the
disposition and transfer of confiscated proceeds of grand corruption
and exploring means to overcome certain obstacles to asset recovery.
These papers and the Roma-Lyon Group report identify important
steps that we have taken, and experience we can offer, to facilitate
the recovery of corruption proceeds.
Countries with experience in combating corruption and incorporating
good governance mechanisms into their legal systems aid
international security by providing technical assistance to
countries in need of such experience. The UN Convention against
Corruption provides mechanisms that should be incorporated in
technical assistance efforts in combating corruption, and we support
the work being done by its Conference of States Parties and UNODC in
facilitating the delivery of such assistance. Organizations
operating at a regional level on implementation of UNCAC and other
governance issues, such as UNDP-POGAR and OECD can also play a
useful role. We call upon states to consider contributing to
intergovernmental initiatives of this nature. In order to maximize
the effectiveness of State contributions, we urge both donors and
the UNODC to take the necessary steps to ensure complementarity with
technical assistance under the UN Conventions on Transnational
Organized Crime and its Protocols.
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INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS
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In view of globalization and demographic developments in certain
parts of the world, the phenomenon of major, sustained migration is
likely to continue to grow in significance. Where integration is
unsuccessful, migration becomes a problem for the cohesiveness and
internal security of the host societies.
Successful integration depends on the will of migrants to
participate. They must make an effort to integrate, to learn the
language of their host country, preferably prior to their departure,
and to complete their education. At the same time, governments,
communities, the civil society as well as individual citizens of the
host country all have a role to play to facilitate integration.
Successful integration requires a will on the side of the host state
to welcome legal immigrants, to protect them from discrimination and
facilitate their inclusion in the economic and social fabric of the
host society.
We agree that managing migration processes can succeed only through
common efforts and cooperation with countries of origin and transit.
Coordinating development and migration policy more closely, for
example by utilizing the potential advantages offered by circular
migration, will help reduce irregular migration and limit brain
drain while contributing to development in immigrants' countries of
origin.
We are convinced that G8 is a useful forum to exchange information
on integration developments, to continue discussion on integration
issues of mutual interest, to explore possibilities and strategies
of joint efforts against illegal immigration in cooperation with
third countries, and to discuss different policies and experiences
of our countries concerning temporary migration. We have therefore
agreed to ask our experts to continue to address these issues. End
text.
3. This report has been coordinated with Embassy Berlin.
MUNICH 00000325 005 OF 005
4. Previous reporting from Munich is available on our SIPRNET
website at www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/munich/ .
NELSON
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