- We, ASEAN Ministers overseeing issues of transnational crime, met on 23 June 1999 in Yangon, Myanmar, to renew our commitment to combat transnational crime affecting our region and to agree on further ways to work together toward this end.
- We were deeply inspired by the words of H.E. Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, Secretary (1) of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar, which strengthened our determination to prevent, fight and eradicate transnational crime in our region.
- We warmly welcomed the admission of the Kingdom of Cambodia into ASEAN and its participation in this ministerial meeting.
- We recognised that the region had to deal with many forms of transnational crime, including terrorism, drug-trafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering, trafficking in persons and piracy. We noted with particular concern the increase of trafficking in women and children, drug-trafficking, trafficking in firearms and in stolen motor vehicles, illegal trade in cultural objects and natural resources, including flora and fauna, money laundering and other forms of financial crimes. We were equally concerned with the emergence of new forms of transnational crime, such as credit card fraud, phantom ship fraud, product counterfeiting and fraudulent travel documents.
- We fully acknowledged the potentially serious impact of transnational crime on the peace, prosperity and progress of ASEAN and on its social and moral fabric, which compounded the continuing effects of the financial crisis from which our economies were only now recovering. We recognised that transnational crime was becoming more organised, diversified and pervasive, and thus posed a serious threat to the political, economic and social well-being of all nations, including the ASEAN Member Countries. We expressed our determination to take all necessary measures to counter these crimes.
ASEAN Vision 2020 and the Hanoi Plan of Action
- We affirmed our support for the ASEAN Vision 2020 as "a concert of Southeast Asian nations, outward-looking, living in peace, stability and prosperity, bonded together in partnership in dynamic development and in a community of caring societies" adopted at the 2nd ASEAN Informal Summit in December 1997 in Kuala Lumpur. In particular, we expressed our determination to work towards the goal of a drug-free Southeast Asia and in building a region of agreed rules of behaviour and cooperative measures to deal with transnational crime as envisaged in the ASEAN Vision 2020. In this regard, we reiterated our commitment to the realisation of the Joint Declaration on a Drug-Free ASEAN signed by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in July 1998 and affirmed our resolve to eradicate illicit drug production, processing, trafficking and use in ASEAN by the year 2020.
- We shared the concerns raised by the ASEAN Heads of Government on transnational crime at the 6th ASEAN Summit in December 1998. We support their call to intensify individual and collective efforts to address transnational crime, including the promotion and strengthening of linkages among ASEAN institutional mechanisms to fight drug abuse and trafficking in order to eradicate drug production, processing, trafficking and use by the year 2020. We also support the Hanoi Plan of Action as the road map to achieve the ASEAN Vision 2020. We affirmed our full commitment to strengthen ASEAN collaboration and its regional capacity to effectively combat transnational crime as prescribed in the Hanoi Plan of Action.
ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime
- We adopted the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime, which encouraged ASEAN Member Countries to expand their efforts in combating transnational crime to the regional level and strengthen their regional commitment and capacity in this regard. This was in recognition of the fact that tackling transnational crime required concerted regional action in view of its global dimension and pervasive nature. These regional efforts would complement and contribute to the bi-lateral efforts undertaken by ASEAN Member Countries.
- The Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime would establish a cohesive regional strategy to prevent, control and neutralise transnational crime; foster regional cooperation at the investigative, prosecutorial, and judicial level as well as the rehabilitation of perpetrators; enhance coordination among ASEAN bodies dealing with transnational crime; strengthen regional capacities and capabilities to deal with sophisticated nature of transnational crime; and develop sub-regional and regional treaties on cooperation in criminal justice, including mutual legal assistance and extradition. The programme of activities would encompass information exchange, cooperation in legal and law enforcement matters, institutional capacity building, training and extra-regional cooperation.
- We agreed on the need to develop a work programme to expeditiously implement the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime. We directed the Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) to develop the work programme to carry out the Plan of Action.
- We adopted an institutional framework to enable us more effectively to direct and coordinate regional efforts against transnational crime as part of the Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime. In this regard, the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime would be the highest policy-making body on ASEAN cooperation in combating transnational crime and would meet at least once in two years. It would oversee activities pertaining to transnational crime of ASEAN bodies such as the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters, ASEAN Chiefs of National Police, ASEAN Directors-General of Customs, and ASEAN Directors-General of Immigration and Heads of Consular Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It would also cooperate and coordinate on matters related to transnational crime with other ASEAN bodies such as the ASEAN Senior Law Officials' Meeting and the ASEAN Attorney Generals' Meeting.
- The SOMTC was established to implement and coordinate policies and plans adopted by the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime. The SOMTC would meet at least once a year and would be assisted by the ASEAN Secretariat in initiating, planning, and coordinating activities, strategies, programmes and projects to facilitate regional cooperation in combating transnational crime. The ASEAN Secretariat would assist the SOMTC in exploring ways in which it could work closely with the Dialogue Partners, other countries, regional organisations and international organisations, including the United Nations and its specialised agencies, Colombo Plan Bureau, and the International Criminal Police Organisation (ICPO)-INTERPOL.
The ASEAN Centre For Combating Transnational Crime
- We agreed, in principle, to establish the ASEAN Centre for Combating Transnational Crime (ACTC) and noted the Feasibility Study on the Establishment of the ACTC. We directed the SOMTC to appoint a working group to prepare a full report on the establishment of the ACTC. The group would take into consideration the existing ASEAN initiatives, for example the ASEANAPOL (and its database) and ASOD.
- We envisioned the ACTC to bolster ASEAN cooperation in fighting transnational crime. The ACTC, through the use of modern information and telecommunications technology, would promote data sharing among the ASEAN Member Countries on criminals, methodologies, arrests, prosecutions, trials and convictions pertaining to transnational crime and would be a repository of information on national legislation, regulatory measures and jurisprudence of individual Member Countries. The ACTC would have research capabilities to conduct in-depth analysis of transnational crime activities, recommend appropriate regional strategies to fight these felonious activities and assist in the implementation of programme activities outlined in the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime.
- We expressed our appreciation to the Government of the Philippines for initiating the concept of the ACTC and welcomed its gracious offer to host the Centre. We requested the ASEAN Secretariat to explore the possibility of seeking the technical assistance of the Dialogue Partners and relevant international organisations in support of the activities of the ACTC.
ASEAN Cooperation with Dialogue Partners, International and Regional Organisations in Combating Transnational Crime
- We recognised that national and regional efforts alone would not suffice in effectively dealing with transnational crime and agreed to develop closer cooperation with the Dialogue Partners, other countries, regional organisations and international organisations, including the UN and its specialised agencies, Colombo Plan Bureau and the ICPO-INTERPOL.
- We requested the SOMTC with the assistance of the ASEAN Secretariat to identify the Dialogue Partners, regional organisations and international organisations, which were interested in undertaking cooperation activities with ASEAN in combating transnational crime as outlined by the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime. In order to enhance such cooperation, we encouraged informal consultations between the SOMTC and Dialogue Partners and relevant regional and international organisations.
Draft UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime
- We welcomed the drafting of the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and encouraged ASEAN Member Countries to convene informal consultations with a view to coordinating positions and promoting regional efforts during the negotiations.
Date and Venue of the Third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting On Transnational Crime
- We welcomed with appreciation the offer of Singapore to host the Third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting On Transnational Crime in the year 2001.
Acknowledgements
- We expressed our deepest appreciation to the Government and the People of the Union of Myanmar for the generous hospitality extended to us and our respective delegations, and for the excellent arrangements made for the Meeting. We also registered our appreciation to the ASEAN Secretariat for its valuable assistance.