Cooperation and coordination in the fight against drug trafficking is one of the priorities of the European Drug Strategy and, consequently, of the COPOLAD III Program funded by the European Commission. For this reason, COPOLAD III collaborates with the AIAMP Network of Anti-Drug Prosecutors (RFAI) in a guide of good practices on the performance of undercover agents in anti-drug operations that has been named as the “Palermo Guide”.
The objective of the “Palermo Guide” is to provide specific guidelines to the member prosecutors’ offices of the Network of Anti-Drug Prosecutors of Ibero-America (RFAI) for the use of the investigative tool known as “undercover operations”, in harmony with the international agreements signed by the countries and in accordance with the provisions of their respective legal systems.
Undercover investigations are those in which certain public officials or natural persons infiltrate criminal organizations or illicit activities in order to gather evidence on crimes committed or to be committed and their perpetrators. Due to its high level of responsibility with fundamental rights such as privacy, intimacy, inviolability of communications, among others, the use of these techniques is informed by a series of guiding principles, including those of legality, subsidiarity, proportionality and specialty.
Meeting in Palermo in honor of Judge Falcone
The Guide was presented at a 3-day event (May 22-24) in Palermo, Italy, organized by the European programs COPOLAD III and EL PACCTO, the Falcone and Borsellino program entitled, “Study and Coordination Meetings on International Drug Trafficking in Honor of Giovanni Falcone (May 22-24)”.
The support provided by COPOLAD III, and led by IILA, consists of carrying out a normative and operational diagnosis on the regulation and functioning of the special investigative technique of the undercover agent in Ibero-America, as well as concluding a protocol of action that gathers guidelines and directives that guide an effective execution of the same both at the domestic and international level.
Both products are aimed primarily at prosecutors and officials of the Public Prosecutor’s Offices members of AIAM. They have with competence for the investigation and prosecution of the crime of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and other related or related crimes.
Together with the RFAI and the networks Red de Trata y Tráfico de Personas and Red Especializada en Temas de Género – REG, work is also being done on a diagnosis and regional guidelines for the inclusion of gender aspects in drug trafficking investigations that include human trafficking.
