G8 ministers vow stronger cooperation to combat crime, terrorism

Jun 13, 2008, 11:16 GMT

Tokyo - Justice and home affairs ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) vowed Friday to combat terrorism not only committed by organizations but also 'radicalized' individuals through stronger cooperation.

The ministers also sought improvements in developing nations' legal systems to better tackle cross-border crime.

'We are deeply concerned not only about acts committed by terrorist organizations but about the increasing tendency throughout many countries for individuals with no affiliation to terrorist organizations to become radicalized and subsequently perpetrate terrorist acts,' the members states said in a declaration released after a three-day meeting in Tokyo.

Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian and the United States expressed concerns over information available on the internet that could instigate crimes.

'Due to the development and spread of modern information and communications technologies, such as the internet, it has become increasingly easy to access and disseminate violent extremist ideas,' the declaration said.

Concerning information technology, the ministers also agreed to step up cooperation to eradicate crimes involving child pornography, especially with private entities to monitor the internet.

Japanese Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama called on the G8 states, which consist of seven of the world's leading economies and Russia, to assist other nations to improve their legal systems with the help of legal experts trained to tackle cross-border crime.

'To fight organized crime and terrorism, not only the G8 developed countries but all the other countries need to have sufficient capacity to deal with them,' Hatoyama, one of the meeting's co-chairmen, said at a press conference.

The declaration also touched upon the need to tackle drug crimes amid increasing production and trafficking of synthetic drugs, which are 'notoriously difficult to assess,' the declaration said.

The justice and home affairs ministers were finishing their meetings as the G8 finance ministers began two days of meetings in Osaka. Both groups were meeting ahead of the G8 summit July 7-9 on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.