LCCT II - Support project to combat terrorism in Tunisia

• The security hub for the fight against organised crime and terrorism security (PS – Pôle sécuritaire), a Ministry of the Interior body. The security hub coordinates information, strategic analysis and the circulation to the authorities of a monthly State report on the terrorist threat. Its mission is to gather, process and analyse all the information relating to terrorism and organised crime from several Tunisian ministries.
• The judicial hub for the fight against organised crime and terrorism (PJ – Pôle judiciaire) is in charge of dossiers linked to terrorism matters. The judicial hub is the Tunisian authorities’ anti-terrorist public prosecutor’s department and is attached to the Ministry of Justice. It is made up of representatives of the public prosecutor’s office, examining magistrates, criminal judges for the courts of first instance and appeal judges.
• The Tunisian National Guard (GNT – Garde Nationale Tunisienne), key actor in the Tunisian security apparatus. A robust force present across the country which is in a position to significantly contribute to the efforts deployed in Tunisia to guarantee the country’s stability in the face of the terrorist risk.
• Prisons and Rehabilitation Department (DGPR – Direction Générale des Prisons et de la Rééducation). Created in 1971 this institution is part of the Ministry of Justice and is charged with enforcing the prison and rehabilitation policy, ensuring the security of prisons and rehabilitation centres and helping sentence enforcement judges enforce prison sentences.

The EU's global strategy on security approved in June 2016 identified terorism as one of the major threats to the EU. Conclusions from European Council meetings on 9 February 2015 and more recently 19 June 2017 emphasised the importance of strengthening consistency between internal and external measures to combat terrorism. This project therefore responds to the Tunisian security challenges and recommendations formulated by the EU on counter-terrorism.

The action we propose is based on the solid experience acquired during the first phase of the LCCT project (2016-2018) and on the cumulative experience of various projects that we have implemented in the region. The project will therefore aim to strengthen the Tunisian authorities’ capacities in the fight against terrorism and contribute to preventing extreme violence.

Following the three years, we would like to have achieved the following aims:

• Strengthen the security hub’s competences in the area of information analysis and threat assessment;
• Perfect investigation techniques for officers of the judicial police and judges;
• Build the Tunisian National Guard’s operational capacity;
• Improve DGPR provisions for the management of prisoners incarcerated for terrorism-related charges.

The acquisition of materials is also planned in the framework of this project.

• Participation of the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior in EUROPOL’s annual conference in The Hague in April 2019.
• Two mission in Tunis were led by the DGPR with a view to designing a training of trainers programme for prison directors.