The Strategic Hub for Organised Crime Research (SHOC) at RUSI is thrilled to announce the establishment of a new multidisciplinary research and engagement network. The UK-EU Security and Criminal Justice Cooperation Network (JUEST) will work to engage with the design and implementation of the proposed EU–UK security and criminal justice treaty.
JUEST is run by researchers from the Centre for Evidence and Criminal Justice Studies (NCEJS), Northumbria University, the Aston Centre for Europe (ACE), Aston University and the Strategic Hub for Organised Crime Research (SHOC), RUSI.
The Network is open to researchers from all academic disciplines and public service professionals with a potential interest in the treaty. UK based academics will lead the Network, but professionals from other EU states, EAA countries and Switzerland are strongly encouraged to join.
“This is a unique opportunity to convene world-class researchers and influence progressive policy change in the EU–UK security landscape”, said Aurora Ganz, Research Fellow at RUSI and Project Manager for SHOC. “The first of its kind, the network will unite researchers of all political denominations, regardless of their interpretation of the 2016 Brexit Referendum, to influence the future of criminal justice and security in the region.”
Whilst the Network is politically neutral, researchers will be united by a common goal: encouraging the creation of a treaty capable of responding to a fluid security landscape in a cooperative manner. The broad remit of expertise needed to achieve such a treaty reflects the consensus amongst the convenors that security cooperation must move beyond the ‘usual suspects’, such as terrorism and organised crime, to include non-traditional security threats. Topics under consideration therefore include, but are not limited to:
1) Cross-border security arrangements;
2) Cooperation with Justice and Home Affairs agencies;
3) Defence cooperation;
4) Bilateral and multilateral exchange of information and operational cooperation in view of fighting transnational organised crime and terrorism;
5) Modern slavery and organised immigration crime;
6) Criminal offending relating to food, transport and building safety, and environmental protection;
7) Whistle-blowing;
8) Sharing information for employment processes for safeguarding purposes (to protect children and vulnerable adults); and
9) The continued cross-border recognition and sometimes (depending on jurisdictional structure) enforcement in criminal courts of orders made by family courts in domestic violence and child welfare cases.
Professor Tim J Wilson of Northumbria University, a convenor of the network, said that “JUEST will provide a single, free and easily accessible key to collective and academically impartial knowledge about the range and depth of the international cooperation that keeps individuals and communities protected against serious harm.”
The Network will encourage members to submit joint research bids and REF case studies relating to the proposed treaty. The group will run its first roundtable in September 2018. If you would like to be involved, please click here to find out more.
Alexandria Reid is a Research Analyst in the National Security and Resilience team at RUSI.
Main image credit: George Hodan.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of RUSI or any other institution.
