L

aw enforcers in Southeast Asia are being urged to avoid the use of violence in criminal investigations amid concerns about heavy-handed tactics employed by security forces in the region.

Dozens of law-enforcement practitioners convened in Semarang, Central Java, this week to attend a workshop on nonviolent investigative techniques held by the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

Sixty-five participants from the police, penal institutions and other law enforcement-related agencies in the region convened on the sidelines of the AICHR’s annual meeting to learn about nonviolent techniques that help to serve their communities.

“We all want to eliminate crimes and so law enforcers try to collect information through investigations, [but there are a few challenges in the field],” said Dinna Wisnu, the Indonesian representative to the AICHR, on Wednesday.

For one, law enforcers are still prone to using torture and violence, and using inhuman approaches during the legal process — encouraged and made worse in part by social and political pressures, she said.

To address this lack of understanding, the AICHR schooled participants in alternative investigative techniques that deliberately avoid torture and acts of violence, introducing standard operating procedures in dealing with noncompliant detainees or prisoners.

The workshop also took participants to visit the Class IIA women’s penitentiary in Semarang to see the techniques implemented in a real setting.

“A lack of laws and procedural regulations contribute to more violent acts during a criminal-investigation process. In the meantime, what we want is for detainees to be able to rejoin their communities as better persons once they are released — and they can do so as a result of the treatment they receive behind bars,” Dinna said.

According to an AICHR press release issued at the conclusion of the event, state representatives to AICHR and the law-enforcement participants agreed on several points, including an acknowledgement of the fact that not all countries in the region have particular regulations and definitions on torture in the criminal-investigation process.

They were, however, able to agree on several points, including defining harmful acts, understanding the extent of inadequate or inhumane prison conditions, and countering discrimination against women and children, as well as people from other ethnic or religious backgrounds, AICHR said.

The National Police’s general crimes operation subdivision head Adj. Sr. Comr. Muslimin Ahmad admitted that some law enforcers did resort to violence when collecting information from suspects in an ongoing investigation.

“There are indeed six phases of police inquiry techniques, from the verbal approach to the use of hands [to beat suspects] and the use of objects,” he said.

“However, now we have found better ways to question them so [violence] is not needed.”

Nowadays, Muslimin said, any police officers found committing acts of violence could be punished.

Law and Human Rights Ministry official Lilik Sujandi urged detainees who experience violence to report it to the ministry’s regional offices.

The workshop comes amid allegations levelled against security forces in various ASEAN nations, including the Myanmar military’s heavy-handed crackdown on the Rohingya, and extra-judicial killings that have found legitimacy in the Philippines’ war on drugs. (tjs)