Pretoria - The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe is to attend the G8 Justice and Interior Ministers' Meeting in Rome, Italy.
This three-day meeting, which kicks off on Friday, will address some of the important security and immigration-related issues on the international agenda.
According to the department, the first day of the meeting will focus on the struggle against transnational organised crime through a common international strategy designed to combat Mafioso assets and to counter today's "multinational crime corporations".
On Saturday, the meeting will address the issue of migration, dwelling in particular on illegal immigration, on human trafficking and on immigrants' integration with society.
The last day of the meeting will be used to discuss the issue of urban security, the department said, adding that the decision to address this issue in a G8 context for the first time was sparked by increasing international sensitivity towards the relationship between the growing size of cities, security, and the quality of life.
"The debate will go on to focus on developments in the field of international terrorism, and on cooperation in that field.
"One of the crucial topics for debate will be the relationship between the struggle against terrorism and respect for the principles of a rule-of-law state," the department stated.
Other topics for debate will include various aspects of IT crime, and the tools required to combat the repugnant phenomenon of online paedo-pornography.
At the end of the meeting the ministers will be approving projects for operational cooperation in the field of security and they will be adopting a final declaration.
In the course of their working sessions the ministers will be benefiting from the technical input of the Roma/Lyons Group, which comprises the G8 experts in the areas of counterterrorism, law enforcement, high-tech crime, immigration, transport security and criminal legal cooperation.
The Roma/Lyons Group held plenary sessions in February and in April to prepare the operational cooperation projects which the ministers will be approving.
The experts will be holding a further working session in November to follow up on the guidelines spawned by the ministers' meeting.
