LEICA - Logo of LEICA

About

Funded by European Union

About

Project Objectives

The overall objective of LEICA project is to build law enforcement capacities in Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,  Uzbekistan), to enhance security both on a national and regional level. In other words, the overall objective of LEICA is to partner with Central Asian countries in order to prevent and to counter terrorist activity.

 

Beneficiaries

 

One of the key tenets of LEICA’s approach is to ensure long-term sustainability, which will be achieved by exercising ownership of the project implementation, and by ensuring that the beneficiaries take ownership of the change process from the very outset of the project, until its completion and finally benefit from strengthened working relations both at the regional level and in a peer-to-peer cooperative dynamic with relevant counterparts in the EU and its Member States.

Key beneficiaries of LEICA:

  • Police forces and Ministries of Interior
  • Financial Intelligence Units
  • Security & Intelligence Services
  • Counter Terrorist Units
  • Investigation Units
  • Specialized Intervention Units
  • Prosecutors
  • Forensic Laboratories and crime scene investigation units
  • Border Guards units
  • Penitentiary Administration
  • Parliamentary assemblies of Central Asia
  • Ministries of Foreign Affairs
  • Parliamentary Committee on Defense, Security issues
  • National Human Rights Commissions of Central Asia
  • Ministries of Justice
  • Judiciary Organs

 

Outcomes and Results

 

Main Outcome or Result is therefore setup as Improved law enforcement responses to terrorism in Central Asian countries in compliance with international Human Rights standards and the Rule of Law.

LEICA aims to achieve significant progress on three main outcomes and expected results (ER) as follows:

OUTCOME 1:

Strategic and operational exchanges on CT between the European law enforcement community and their Central Asian counterparts are enhanced

  • ER1 - Operational exchanges related to concrete CT cases between the European law enforcement community and their Central Asian counterparts are enhanced.
  • ER2 - Existing CA initiatives, organizations, law enforcement agencies (LEA) and Judicial Authorities interconnected with LEICA to enhance the regional and international cooperation and to maintain the sustainability.
  • ER3 - Shared knowledge between EU MS LEAs and CA LEAs in selected topics.

OUTCOME 2:

Central Asian law enforcement and judicial authorities’ capacities to address the terrorist threat in compliance with International Law, Human Rights and the Rule of Law are strengthened

  • ER1 - Improved implementation of conventions, protocols and resolutions in relation to terrorist activity into national legislation of each partner country.
  • ER2 - Improved cooperation between judicial authorities and law enforcement agencies and improved quality of evidences collected, storage and analysis for the prosecution of FTFs and enhanced skills of LEA officers and judicial authorities’ staff.

OUTCOME 3:

Cooperation at a regional level between Central Asian law enforcements agencies that address problems associated with terrorism is increased

  • ER1 - Cooperation at a regional level between Central Asian law enforcements agencies that address problems associated with terrorism is increased.
  • ER2 - Enhanced skills of LEAs officers in cross-border on-line investigations.
  • ER3 - Reinforced capacities in regional strategic threat/risk assessments, and in sharing operational information between law enforcement and judiciary authorities.
  • ER4 - Initiated political dialogue among CA countries setting up the conditions for a Central Asian Agreement in the fields of law enforcement and counter terrorism based on existing dialogues.
  • ER5 - Best practices shared at the regional level – cross border investigators.

 

Project Purpose

 

The purpose of LEICA project is to improve the capacities of key government agencies in Central Asia in their fight against terrorism, by providing technical assistance at national level based on In-depth Needs Analysis of each country, as well as thematic trainings at regional level. The purpose can be broken down into the following components:

  • Enhanced regional and international counter-terrorism network and capacity in fighting Central Asia jihadists and militants.
  • Enhanced national capacities for prevention of radicalization in prisons and safe return of children and women of foreign terrorist fighters.
  • Developed regional framework for mitigation of terrorist threats.
  • Measures to reinforce the intelligence and information exchange between Judicial and Law Enforcement Authorities.
  • Enhanced capacity for the Investigation on Internet.
  • Reinforced existing practice in financial investigation related to financing terrorism.

 

Project Duration

LEICA launched since 1st of September 2020 and will last for 48 months, until 31st of August 2024.