Bilateral cooperation 'needed to curb human trafficking'

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Nusa Dua, Bali

Indonesia must enhance its efforts and work on a bilateral basis with other countries to curb the transnational trafficking of women and children, a senior official said at an international conference in Nusa Dua, Bali.

"It would be better if the government cooperates with those countries whose nationals are directly involved (in human trafficking) on a bilateral basis. A bilateral cooperation would be far better than a multilateral cooperation, because several regulations have yet to be ratified," Agency for National Legal Development (BPHN) head Romli Atmasasmita said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 43rd Asia-Africa Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO).

Representing over 30 countries from the two regions, 150 delegates are participating in this year's AALCO.

He said legal cooperation among Asian and African countries was still very weak, and no commitment existed to discuss concrete cooperative measures to be taken against regional trafficking of women and children.

"Working groups in Asia and Africa must embark on a campaign to synchronize their national legal systems if they want to make laws against human trafficking. First, they should have a common vision," said Romli, who presented a paper on "International Cooperation on Combating Human Trafficking in Women and Children: A View from Indonesia", at the AALCO talks.

Among the key issues on which the countries should establish a common vision is extradition procedures for perpetrators and repatriation procedures for victims of the crime.

Romli said countries of Asia and Africa should learn from the European Union (EU), which has a speedy extradition process. The EU system, he said, would make it easier for countries to cooperate toward curbing human trafficking.

He was pessimistic about the outcome of the meeting because Asian and African countries were not united in their efforts to tackle crimes like human trafficking and terrorism.

The five-day conference, which was opened by President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday and will end on Friday, aimed to discuss the latest developments in transnational crimes, effective international law instruments, anticorruption efforts, maritime law, trafficking in women and children, and the Israeli occupation of Palestine.