September 8th-12th 2009.At the invitation of Paraguayan government, the Secretariat of the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE for its acronyms in Spanish) and the Secretariat the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD for its acronyms in Spanish) participated in joint legislative technical assistance mission along with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC for its acronyms in English) and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED for its acronyms in English).

The members of the mission coordinated their activities through the Paraguayan Foreign Ministry, the National Point of Contact for CICTE, these activities consisted of business meetings with Senators and Representatives who are members of several commissions within the Parliament as well as with the President of the Supreme Court; the Attorney General; and the Director of the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering (SEPRELAD for its acronyms in Spanish). At the end of the visit a workshop was organized with the members of the Inter-institutional Commission of Paraguay who are responsible for the elaboration of legislative projects. This commission is comprised of officials from all three branches of government as well as the Attorney General’s Office.

The members of the mission gave presentations on the international legal framework against terrorism and its financing, included in the Inter-American Convention, Resolution 1373 of the Security Council and the International Treaties and Agreements of the United Nations; they performed a legal analysis of the national legislative process in force in Paraguay and they also provided technical features for the elaboration of a project to make the national legal framework compatible with the international obligations assumed by Paraguay.

The exchange of points of view among the members of the technical mission and the legislators and jurists of Paraguay permitted substantive progress in the preparation of the draft legislation of the country, in aspects of codification, jurisdiction and international cooperation for the prevention of terrorism and its financing, with emphasis on the protection of human rights.