EL PAcCTO 2.0

EL PAcCTO 2.0 aims to fight organised transnational crime using an integrated approach to reinforce the rule of law, citizen security and stability, both in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Europe.

The fight against transnational organised crime requires cooperation between institutions, across borders, and regional and international cooperation at all levels within justice and security institutions.

The initiative is the EU’s flagship programme underpinning EU-LAC cooperation in fighting transnational organised crime. Its ambitious programme builds on the previous work of EL PAcCTO 1.0, which delivered positive results and created excellent relations with Latin American partners. The second phase is running from November 2023 to December 2027, with a total budget of €58.8 million.

The last EU-CELAC Summit (July 2023, Brussels) reinforced the commitment of both regions to strengthen cooperation initiatives in the field of citizen security and social justice, by further enhancing the EU-LAC Partnership on Justice and Security. El PacCTO 2.0 is a key element to develop this partnership. It will also contribute to the fulfilment of Sustainable Development Goals 5, 15, 16 and 17.

The programme is aligned with, among other things

• The New Agenda for Relations between the EU and LAC
• The Team Europe Initiative on Justice and Security with Latin America and the Caribbean
• The EU Strategy to tackle organised crime 2001-2025

Strengthened collaboration of Latin American and Caribbean justice and security institutions, and increased opportunities for strategic dialogue and cooperation with the EU on justice and security

The design and development of public policies and reinforced high-level law enforcement and judicial cooperation between LAC and the EU is key for the success in the fight against organised crime. A multi-regional dialogue will be built based on two major initiatives: the Policy Cycle on Security, reflected in the Latin American Committee on Internal Security (CLASI), and the Shared Policy Cycle on Justice between Latin America and the European Union.

EL PAcCTO 2.0 will support threat analysis structures; sectoral dialogues with penitentiary authorities, legislative powers, or AMERIPOL (Police Community of the Americas), as well as dialogue with existing regional structures.

Reinforced justice and security institutions to fight organised crime

The rule of law is one of the most important shared values between the EU and the LAC region. EL PAcCTO 2.0 will consolidate stable and direct relationships between European and LAC justice, law enforcement and penitentiary institutions, applying human rights and gender approaches, and involving civil society. Measures include

• strengthened specialisation including strategic planning and inter-institutional coordination
• reinforced operational and intelligence capacity
• improved cross-border access to evidence
• harmonisation of the international framework and standards regarding judicial specialised tools
• wider judicial sector reforms addressing the independence, efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of judicial institutions
• improved prison and overcrowding management systems and enhanced prison intelligence

The programme will help to develop and implement public policies opted by the regional and bi-regional dialogue through

• the fight against organised crime-related corruption and criminal infiltration in public bodies and institutions
• reinforcement of common procedural standards
• enhancement of regulatory and operational frameworks for asset recovery and the fight against money laundering
• strengthened human rights standards and gender responsiveness approach in the justice and security agenda

Enhanced capacity to investigate and prosecute main areas of activity of organised crime

EL PAcCTO 2.0 will tackle the activity of poly-criminal organised criminal groups but will also focus on different thematic crimes, which require specialised expertise: the fight against drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, environmental crimes, cybercrime, human trafficking and trafficking in cultural goods. This approach will allow  for deepening of the technical work, and the inter-institutional coordination and specialisation between justice and security institutions.

The programme's support to tackle different criminal markets will be operational and based on concrete investigations, resulting in the dismantling of criminal groups and the confiscation of their assets, and allowing for the collection and analysis of information.

Concretely, EL PAcCTO will aim to

• consolidate collaboration between law enforcement networks (CibEL@, Jaguar, ELIPSIA, UELLA, LYNX, ARCO and the bi-regional anti-narcotics operational working group) and the Ibero-American Association of Public Ministries (AIAMP) prosecutor’s specialised networks
• facilitate multi-regional operational cooperation with participation of LAC and EU regional networks and actors, including EUROJUST and EUROPOL
• support EMPACT’s (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats) operational actions involving LAC institutions
• provide operational support to specialised units, task forces, joint investigation teams and other relevant instruments to dismantle high-risk criminal networks