1st Meeting of the Criminal Justice Forum for Asia and the Pacific

The 1st Meeting of the Criminal Justice Forum for Asia and the Pacific was held from 14 – 15 February 2022.

【Participating countries and organizations】
Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United States, Viet Nam, ASEAN Secretariat, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

All participants from foreign countries participated online, considering the global COVID-19 pandemic situation.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. FURUKAWA Yoshihisa, the Minister of Justice of Japan, delivered his opening remarks. Ms. Ghada Waly, the Executive Director of UNODC, also offered her message.

Mr. FURUKAWA Yoshihisa, the Minister of Justice

Ms. Ghada Waly, the Executive Director of UNODC

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”. As the Head of Delegation, Mr. TAKASHIMA Norimitsu, the Vice-Minister of Justice of Japan, delivered his statement.

Plenary Meeting

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). During the working groups, practitioners of the participating countries and organizations shared information and exchanged opinions under each theme of “Understanding how our Central Authorities work: Sharing key principles and good practice for effective mutual legal assistance” and “Challenges and development regarding prison management and the treatment of offenders under the COVID-19 pandemic”, respectively.

Working Group Session