On February 14, 2022, Mr. Nguyen Quang Dung, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam attended the first webinar of Criminal Justice Forum for Asia and the Pacific (Crim-AP). Leaders of the Department of International Cooperation and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters also participated.
The delegations of theSupreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam
attended thefirst meeting of Criminal Justice Forum for Asia and the Pacific
Attended the meeting were participants from 18 countries of the Asia-Pacific region. At the Plenary Meeting, Heads of Delegations of the participating countries and organizations delivered their statements related to the overall theme of “Implementing the Kyoto Declaration: Strengthening International Cooperation against Crime in the Asia-Pacific” in turn.
In his speech, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam, on behalf of the delegation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, thanked the Ministry of Justice of Japan (MOJ) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the unceasing efforts to organize the webinar in the extremely complicated context of the Covid-19 pandemic. On this occasion, Mr. Nguyen Quang Dung sent his best regards to the participants of the webinar around the world.
Since the Kyoto Declaration was adopted at the 14th United Nations General Assembly on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in March 2021, the world has been through a very difficult year. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to develop complicatedly, causing the world to suffer a lot of heavy losses in terms of human life as well as instability in socio-economic. Anti-crime activities of countries are also affected. People's safety is being threatened because criminals have been taking advantage of science and information technology to commit crimes. They commit crimes not only within the territory of a country or a region, but also transnational, especially cybercrime. The consequences of this crime for individuals, organizations and governments are increasingly serious and it's a challenge for each country.
To deal with the above difficulties, strengthening international cooperation in crime prevention is considered as a core activity and an ever more urgent task of countries in the current period. The establishment of a cooperation network between countries will facilitate the exchange of information, coordinate activities and strengthen the capacity of each country's law enforcement agencies.
The Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam, Mr. Nguyen Quang Dung emphasized that this webinar is an opportunity for countries to reaffirm their commitment to the Kyoto Declaration. Accordingly, each country must enhance responsibility and cooperation to achieve common goals in crime prevention and effective response to challenges in the current situation. Viet Nam has been, is and will be a responsible member of the international community, strictly abides by the regulations and has achieved initial successes in realizing its commitments. Vietnam is making efforts to narrow down and harmonize the differences between national laws and international laws through strengthening the signing of agreements with other countries. Recently, the Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam has successfully negotiated and signed a treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with Japan in November 2021. Viet Nam always affirms its commitments in the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), the United Nations Convention on the Prevention of Corruption (UNCAC) and actively works with UNODC as well as with law enforcement agencies of strategic partners.
As a new member of the Asset Recovery Interagency Network - Asia Pacific (ARIN-AP) and the South East Asia Justice Network (SEAJust), Viet Nam is committed to actively cooperating and supporting partners with the best efforts to join other countries to fight effectively against transnational crime. Not stopping there, Viet Nam is also constantly improving our national legal system and reforming the judicial system with the support of international colleagues in the face of new challenges.
The Deputy Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam believes that reaffirming the commitments of every countries at this important event will be a premise for mutual development, a global legal and political message and will be a guideline for law enforcement of each countries on the way ahead.
The delegatesfrom the Asia and the Pacificcountries speaking at the meeting
The 1st Meeting of the Criminal Justice Forum for Asia and the Pacific was held from 14 – 15 February 2022. After the Plenary Meeting, participants were divided into two working groups: one for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters (WG-MLA) and one for offender treatment and rehabilitation (WG-OTR).
The delegation of the Supreme People's Procuracy of Viet Nam worked in the group of criminal legal assistance with the following contents:
- Understanding how Central Authorities work, sharing key principles and good practice for effective mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
- Prepare request for mutual legal assistance and exchange contact, coordinate before submitting the official request.
- Handling requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters from foreign countries.