At the end of the day, the group recommended, inter alia, support for transformative reforms in the defense, security and justice sectors, investment in training political and administrative actors on the impact of drug trafficking and consumption on governance and society, revitalize the National Coordination Council to combating Drugs and other coordination mechanisms to better monitor and combat related transnational phenomena such as money laundering, corruption and cybercrime.

The meeting was promoted by the Guinea-Bissau authorities with the support of the United Nations Integrated Office for the Consolidation of Peace (UNIOGBIS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). This was the first of a series of strategic and technical meetings that will culminate in a National Conference in the last quarter of 2018 involving national and international partners to support the Guinea-Bissau Sovereign Organs to update a comprehensive national plan for prevention and combating organized transnational crime.

This will aim to combating phenomena such as drug trafficking, money laundering, trafficking in persons and goods, trafficking in natural resources and their abusive export, and cybercrime which have a very negative impact on the country’s stability, on its governmental structures and population.

Participants also recommended better control of the financing of political parties, especially during the electoral period, strengthening the capacity of government, police and judicial actors to improve their capacity to respond to drug trafficking, to criminalize conduct that incites illicit enrichment, and to update and implement the national drug control plan. Strengthening the capacities of defense and security forces at border posts as well as the judiciary and governance and inspection structures are essential for effective combating of organized crime.

The conclusions also include proposals such as the reinforcement of a national observatory which would, inter alia, enable statistics on organized crime, including drug trafficking and human trafficking, to be obtained, while recommending adherence to international conventions on cybercrime such as the Budapest Convention and the African Union Convention.

In the closing ceremony, Antero Lopes, Director of the State of Law and Security Institutions Support Service, focused on supporting the fight against drug trafficking and organized transnational crime ("CDTOC"), stated that "the recommendations are pragmatic, focused, realistic and implementable - some even refer to the materialization of mechanisms that are already provided by law but have never been put into operation. "

"The goal is to free Guinea-Bissau and for all from this label once, unjustly circulated in various international media, of which Guinea-Bissau is a narco-state. Guinea-Bissau is not a narco-state, Guinea-Bissau is a victim of drug trafficking, "said the UN official.

Olívio Pereira, who co-chairs that group, representing the Government, said he was very pleased to note that "Guinea-Bissau has the right staff to take responsibility and fight these phenomena and that their work should be supported."

UNIOGBIS and UNODC will work with the Sovereign Organisms to incorporate the recommendations into the joint work plans on Governance under the Partnership Framework between the Government of Guinea-Bissau and the UN (UNPAF).

The recommendations of the Workshop will be published shortly.