Thailand Institute of Justice, or TIJ, with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Courts of Justice and Ministry of Justice attended “The 15th ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meeting (ASLOM)” supported by Lao People's Democratic Republic, the host country, from 3rd to 6th December 2013 in Vientiane.
The purposes of the meeting were to foster dialogue among ASEAN Member States through the sharing of experiences and best practices on the rule of law and the criminal justice system; to strengthen institutional networks that support and coordinate evidenced-based research and capacity-building activities in the fields of rule of law, criminal justice, good governance as well as the promotion of culture of peace among the ASEAN Member States; and to lay a solid foundation for a possibility of convening of High-level ASEAN Conference or ASEAN Summit on the Rule of Law and Criminal Justice in the future with a view to promoting ASEAN’s interest in the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime prevention and Criminal Justice.
In this meeting, TIJ took part in drafting ASEAN Conference on the Rule of Law and Criminal Justice’s conceptual document. The discussion revolved around several topics such as:
- Assessing the State of the Rule of law: all ASEAN countries
- A Rule of Law Index for the ASEAN Region?
- Law-making and the Rule of Law
- Building a Human Rights Culture
- How independent is the “independent judiciary”?
As a result, this meeting has created a regional platform for the cross sharing of experiences and good practices on the overall development and coordination concerning the rule of law and criminal justice among ASEAN Member States. The meeting then was concluded with the agreement that Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) will be the focal point in hosting the High-level Conference on the Rule of Law and Criminal Justice in 2014, which can lead to the approval by the relevant mechanisms of the ASEAN Community in the future.
Updated: 23 December 2013
