EL PAcCTO 2.0
Duration: November 2023 to December 2027
EU Contribution: EUR 58.8 million (total programme budget)
Location: Regional programme covering Latin America and the Caribbean, including Trinidad and Tobago
Implementing partner: A consortium of EU Member State agencies: FIIAPP (Spain), IILA (Italy), Camoes I.P. (Portugal), the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Expertise France and Civipol (France)
Overview
EL PAcCTO 2.0 supports and fosters the strengthening of justice and security institutions and policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting an effective partnership with the European Union. By addressing the entire criminal chain and working with all justice and security institutions at national and regional level, the programme contributes to the fight against transnational organised crime and to enhancing the rule of law and human security. Building on previous actions, it collaborates with regional stakeholders and integrates the Caribbean region into its work, focusing on three areas: strategic high-level dialogues with a regional and bi-regional perspective; capacity building through institutional strengthening and specialisation; and operational cooperation to tackle organised crime organisations.
During the first six months of implementation, the programme reactivates institutional focal points, initiates contact with the Caribbean region, restarts previous lines of action, networks and policy dialogues, and strengthens coordination with other projects and initiatives.
Objectives
Objective 1 — Strengthened collaboration and dialogue. Strengthened collaboration of Latin American and Caribbean justice and security institutions and increased opportunities for strategic dialogue and cooperation with the EU. This includes fostering bi-regional dialogue on shared justice and security policies against transnational organised crime, and developing regional collaboration with leading initiatives and stakeholders such as AMERIPOL and CLASI.
Objective 2 — Reinforced institutions. Reinforced justice and security institutions to fight organised crime, applying human rights and gender approaches and involving civil society. This includes support for institutional building and specialisation, promotion of international cooperation and common procedural standards, enhancement of frameworks for asset recovery and the fight against organised-crime-related corruption and money laundering, and strengthened human rights and gender responsiveness across the agenda.
Objective 3 — Enhanced operational capacities. Enhanced operational capacities and coordination of justice and security actors to investigate and prosecute the main areas of organised crime, including drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, environmental crime, cybercrime, human trafficking and trafficking in cultural property, through multi-regional cooperation involving LAC and EU networks and actors, including EUROJUST and EUROPOL.
Policy Alignment
The programme is a key element in the development of an EU-LAC partnership on justice and security, following the mandates of the 2023 EU-CELAC summit. It advances the New Agenda to strengthen the EU's partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean, the Team Europe Initiative on Justice and Security, and the EU strategy to tackle organised crime.
Contribution to the SDGs
The programme contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality), Goal 15 (Life on Land), Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and Goal 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Geographical Scope
The programme supports Latin America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay) and the Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago).