S

ix southeast Asian countries have agreed to establish a technical agency in the region to strengthen cooperation among national agencies in protecting witnesses and victims of transnational crime.

The agreement was made by six countries '€” Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Papua New Guinea, during a meeting on strengthening regional cooperation on witness and victim protection in Kuta that concluded Wednesday.

Abdul Haris Semendawai, chairman of Indonesia'€™s Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) who chaired the meeting, said that the technical regional agency or organization would facilitate sharing and exchanging of information and knowledge, as well as seeking technical assistance and training for national agencies on witness and victim protection.

'€œWe have just started building a regional network to cooperate on this issue by issuing a joint statement, which '€” among others '€” recommends the establishment of a technical regional organization to strengthen the cooperation,'€ he said after the meeting.

Further plans on the establishment of the technical agency would be discussed in the next meeting, which as yet has not been scheduled.

In the joint statement, the countries also shared similar views about the urgency to revise and adopt national measures and mechanisms for effective protection for witnesses and victims of transnational organized crime from potential retaliation or intimidation.

They also affirmed the necessity to adopt measures to establish physical protection for witnesses, including relocation and non-disclosure or limitation on the disclosure of information about their identity and whereabouts, as well as provide evidentiary rules to permit witness testimony to be given in a way that ensures the safety of witnesses.

Abdul said the countries also stated the importance of establishing procedures to provide access to compensation and restitution for crime victims and providing physical, medical, psychological and social recovery for witnesses and victims.

'€œThe countries are all aware that the rights of these victims and witnesses have not been adequately recognized, and are aware that victims and witnesses and others who aid them are unjustly subjected to threats, harassment, loss, damage, injury and that they may suffer hardship when assisting in the prosecution of offenders,'€ he said.

This meeting is a follow up from a last year'€™s international meeting in Nusa Dua, in which countries agreed to establish regional networks to identify possible areas of collaboration to promote international cooperation on witness and victim protection.