International Relations

It was founded in Brazil in 1954 as the Interamerican Association of Public Prosecutors. After the incorporation of Spain and Portugal, it became the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors.

AIAMP aims at strengthening mutual co-operation, solidarity and professional development relationships among its members in order to build up common strategies with a view to tackle the core problems Public Prosecutors have to face  - mainly those relating to the fight against organised crime (drug trafficking, terrorism and trafficking in human beings) and to the treatment and protection of victims and witnesses – and to facilitating the relations and the communication with Public Prosecution Services that are not members of the Association.

AIAMP is composed of 21 Ibero-American Public Prosecution Services: Argentina; Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Equador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguai, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Uruguai and Venezuela.

The AIAMP articles of association were approved in October 2007 during the 14th General Assembly held in Madrid.

Together with the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Ibero-American Countries (COMJIB) and the Ibero-American Judicial Summit, the AIAMP was responsible for the setting up of IberRed – the Ibero-American Network for International Legal Co-operation is a co-operation tool oriented towards the optimization of the judicial assistance in civil and criminal matters and to the strengthening of the co-operation relations among the countries composing the Ibero-American Community of Nations.

Following the meetings held in Strasburg (2000) and in Bucharest (2001), the European Prosecutors General agreed upon creating a European Conference of Prosecutors.

On 5 September 2001, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe welcomed the initiative and authorised its Secretariat to gather the Conference Co-ordination Bureau.

Taking note of the key role played by the Public Prosecution Service within the criminal justice and of the relevant contribution of Prosecutors in the judicial co-operation area, the Committee of Ministers decided to institutionalise the European Conference of Prosecutors General by creating the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors in 2005.

By institutionalising this consultative body, the Committee of Ministers recognised the need to closely involve Public Prosecution services/PPS of the Council of Europe Member States, with a view to promoting the principles shared by the laws of the Member States and to developing common systems and practices in the fight against crime.

The mission of CCPE is to issue opinions regarding the functioning of the Public Prosecution services, to promote the implementation of Recommendation Rec (2000)19 on the role of public prosecution in the criminal justice system and to collect information on the functioning of Public Prosecution in Europe.

It is further incumbent on CCPE to organise the European Conferences of Prosecutors General on themes with common interest to the member Public Prosecution Services. 

The Consultative Forum of Prosecutors General and Directors of Public Prosecutions of the Member States of the European Union was established in 2010 within Eurojust, a body of the European Union/EU aimed at reinforcing the fight against serious organised crime.

The main goals of the Consultative Forum are to:

— allow the Prosecutors General and the Directors of Public Prosecutions of the EU to share experience and best practice in investigating and prosecuting serious organised crime, as well as in judicial co-operation in criminal matters and the use of mutual recognition instruments;

— discuss any relevant EU legislative and policy initiatives, assess their impact on the work of prosecutorial authorities, and address common conclusions to the EU institutions;

— actively contribute to the development and implementation of the EU Internal Security System

In order to pursue its goals, after holding several meetings, the Consultative Forum has discussed and drawn conclusions on matters of relevance to prosecutorial authorities, which were disseminated as EU Council documents, such as the fight against corruption and crimes affecting the EU’s financial interests, the European Investigation Order, the Directive on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings, judicial co-operation in freezing and confiscation, victims’ rights, the setting up of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the future of Eurojust.

Based on the existence of special bounds among the 7 Portuguese-speaking countries due to historical background and to the similarity of their legislations and common problems, under the auspices and the initiative of the Prosecutor General of the Portuguese Republic, the I Meeting of Prosecutors General of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries took place in Lisbon in 1989. The objectives were the enhancing of co-operation and relation between the Prosecutors General’s Offices with a view to exchanging experiences, discussing and debating common legal issues  and the respective justice systems, establishing mechanisms and setting up legal instruments for settlement namely in the area of the prosecution and administration of justice.

During the 5th Meeting (Luanda, 1999) was decided to set up a Standing Secretariat for the organisation and follow-up of future Meetings, and expressed the wish to count on the presence of the East-Timor representation in the following meeting, which occurred in the 7th Meeting (Lisbon, 2002), which the Prosecutor General of the Republic of that country attended as an observer.

The 9^th Meeting (Brasilia, 2011) approved the Meeting Rules of Procedure, which was defined as a privileged forum for discussion and Exchange of experiences aimed at strengthening the institutional relations and the legal co-operation among the CPLP.

During the 11^th Meeting (Luanda, 2013) was approved a Memorandum of Understanding among the Prosecutors General’s Offices of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.

Established in 2001, the European Partners against Corruption (EPAC) operates as an informal network that currently gathers more than 60 police supervision bodies and anti-corruption authorities from European Council States.

Parallel thereto operates a formal network of contact points, the European contact-point network against corruption (EACN), which was set up by a 2008 European Council decision.

Together these two networks represent fora for exchange of information and experiences, as well as transnational co-operation platforms with a view to develop common strategies and best practice and high professional standards.

Established in 2009, this network aims at strengthening co-operation and promoting Exchange of experiences among Prosecutors General of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the EU countries.

As a rule, its meetings occur simultaneously with those of the Conferences held by the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union, an association established in 2004 with the support of the European Commission and which operates as a forum for discussion of issues of common interest and Exchange of experiences, through which the European institutions have the opportunity to request opinions from those Supreme Courts.