Protection of Witnesses and Criminal Justice Officials Toolkit

The Protection of Witnesses and Criminal Justice Officials Toolkit, presented at the Twenty-Fifth GCTF Coordinating Committee Meeting in October 2025, operationalizes Good Practices 4 and 7 of the GCTF Hague Memorandum on Good Practices of the Judiciary in Adjudicating Terrorism Offenses. The development of this GCTF toolkit was led by Italy and Nigeria, Co-Chairs of the Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law Working Group and supported by the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law as implementing partner.

Background

At the Fifth Ministerial Plenary, the GCTF endorsed the Hague Memorandum on Good Practices for the Judiciary in Adjudicating Terrorism Offenses. These good practices were developed by the Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group and East Africa Capacity-Building Working Group (then the Horn of Africa Regional Capacity Building Working Group). To further enhance the protection of witnesses and criminal justice officials since the launch of the original Framework Document, Italy and Nigeria as the current Co-Chairs of the Criminal Justice and Rule of Law Working Group, began development of a toolkit.

The Toolkit

The Protection of Witnesses and Criminal Justice Officials Toolkit provides legal practitioners and relevant policymakers with actionable resources related to the protection of witnesses and criminal justice officials during trials. Grounded in a rule of law framework while respecting human rights while countering terrorism, the toolkit addressing challenges pertaining to obtaining qualitative and relevant evidence while protecting victims and witnesses in terrorism, organized crime, and other serious criminal cases in an international legal context.