Mr. Maarten Noordzij LL.M MSc is a Dutch senior public prosecutor, specialized in human trafficking and migrant smuggling, and has a profound knowledge of international judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

Maarten’s professional experience includes working as a as Public Prosecutor on high impact crime, (transnational) organized crime at the district court of Amsterdam (2011-2013) and at the Joint Court of Justice in the Dutch West Indies (2013-2017). He was an assistant professor in Criminal Law, criminal procedural law, international criminal law and criminology at the VU University in Amsterdam (2004-2009).

Maarten combines cross-disciplinary academic scholarship with hands-on practical experience. He holds an honours LL.M. degree in criminal law from the VU University in Amsterdam and an honours MSc degree in criminology from the VU University in Amsterdam. The latter with a profile in “Criminal Law Enforcement in Practice”. This profile focuses on how organizations within the criminal justice system actually function and the possibilities of measuring their performance.

He is an advisor/trainer for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime since 2016, and was involved in various capacity building missions in the Caribbean, Latin-America, North Africa and South Asia regions to strengthen the judicial response of the countries involved (and to enhance international cooperation) on human trafficking, migrant smuggling and money laundering. He is the lead consultant for Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the STARSOM project to counter trans regional migrant smuggling and to strengthen cooperation between judicial authorities on an international level.

He participated as a training specialist in in the EU Border Assistance Mission to Libya (EUBAM Libya) that aims to deepen the knowledge and expertise of key members of the Libyan Judiciary and Law enforcement to combat migrant smuggling.

Maarten provides for training in the area of human trafficking and migrant smuggling for law enforcement officers, public prosecutors and judges on behalf of the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), the Study Centre for the Dutch Judiciary (part of European Judicial Training Network), The Academy of European Law (ERA) and the Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC). He drafted various training modules, handbooks en E-learning modules in this respect. He is also involved in the Human Trafficking Field Lab (HTFL) of the Harvard Kennedy School.

He is currently a member of the team of experts at EuroMed Justice Program of Eurojust and is supporting this Program as Senior Expert in international cooperation in criminal matters. In this capacity, he is delivering presentations and drafting a handbook on joint investigations, parallel investigations, and spontaneous exchange of information in the Euro-Mediterranean region.