Australia, Indonesia cooperate on combating human trafficking
27/8/2007 16:37
Australia and Indonesia will cooperate on combating people trafficking in
the Asia-Pacific region through a new cooperative partnership, Australian
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.
Downer said Indonesia has
agreed to join the Asia Regional Trafficking in People (ARTIP) initiative, which
is administered by Australia's international development agency,
AusAID.
ARTIP is a 21 million-dollar (US$17 million) initiative aimed at
stopping people trading in the Asia region, and was launched last year,
initially as a partnership with Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
"By
joining this initiative, Indonesia will receive assistance from ARTIP to target
and prosecute those who support or carry out the trade in people," Downer said
in a statement.
"Managed through a regional office in Bangkok, ARTIP funding
will support the operations of a specialized anti-trafficking unit in Indonesia,
regional workshops and a series of technical partnerships with Indonesian
criminal-justice personnel," he said.
ARTIP will also support Indonesia to
develop cooperative agreements with other countries of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ensuring that information exchange and
integrated law enforcement across the region is reinforced.
ARTIP is expected
to run until 2011, and may be extended to include Vietnam and other ASEAN
countries in the future, according to Downer.
Xinhua
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