Pubdate: Mon, 18 Apr 2005
Source: Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Copyright: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2005
Contact:  http://www.bangkokpost.co.th/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/39
Author: Bhanravee Tansubhapol
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

UN CONGRESS ON CRIME PREVENTION AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Effective Crime Fights Need Allies

The Many Shapes Of Transnational Crime Will Dominate Discussions For The 
Next Eight Days In Bangkok

One of the objectives of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's third war on 
drugs launched last week is the complete end of narcotics production in 
Thailand. But he can never attain this goal without the wide-ranging help 
of the international community.

This explains the effort to secure the support of friends at the 11th UN 
Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice opening today at the 
Queen Sirikit Convention Centre.

The congress, to continue for the next eight days, gives Thailand the 
opportunity to draw promises of support in curbing the rise of 
international crime: the trafficking in drugs, women and children; the 
smuggling of labour, contraband, oil, logs and firearms; contract killings; 
kidnappings; money laundering; and corruption.

"This meeting is important," said one Thai official who asked not to be 
named. "Transnational organised crime has become more pronounced since the 
last conference in Vienna in 2000."

The terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001, 
alerted authorities worldwide to the dangers of transnational crime and its 
links to international terrorism, and this become a key topic at all 
international meetings ever since.

Staff at the Attorney-General's Office say Thailand has not accepted these 
links, and even denies there is a terrorist aspect to the violence that has 
ravaged the southernmost provinces these past 15 months. But it has 
promised to cooperate with other states to combat terrorism and will 
encourage the ratification of the Transnational Organised Crime Treaty at 
this week's meeting.

Thailand has ratified five provisions of the treaty and is expected to sign 
the remaining seven before the end of the year.

Thailand will also use the meeting to call for international cooperation in 
controlling the precursors used in the production of illicit drugs such as 
methamphetamines. "Thailand is not the producer of precursors per se but it 
has been used as a transit route from neighbouring countries," according to 
an Office of Narcotics Control Board statement.

The passage of precursors through Thailand increases the availability of 
illicit drugs.

"We will encourage all participants to control the production and transport 
of precursors," said another state official who asked not to be named. 
Allowing the precursors will help fund further terrorist activities, he said.

Thailand will also seek cooperation in tracking drug dealers, and will call 
on countries at the meeting to issue legislation allowing the sharing of 
assets seized from transnational criminal gangs.

No one has come forward to claim the assets seized in the past, one of the 
officials said. "We will try to amend our laws and encourage other 
countries that do not have assets sharing provisions to adopt them in order 
to prevent drug sellers from laundering their money," he said.

To track and decommission the traffickers more effectively, Thailand will 
need countries with which it has extradition arrangements to help gather 
evidence.

Thailand has extradition treaties with 10 countries that allow for their 
nationals to be tried in Thai courts. They are the United States, Belgium, 
Indonesia, the Philippines, China, South Korea, Laos, Bangladesh, Cambodia 
and Britain. The treaty with Britain extends to Commonwealth states such as 
Malaysia, Australia and Canada.

Nutthawut Buaprathum, a legal officer with the private Centre for the 
Protection of Children's Rights, said Thailand should use this week's 
congress to ask all participating parties to transfer transnational crime 
suspects across countries whether they have extradition treaties or not

"Trafficking is a big issue and it needs international cooperation," Mr 
Nutthawut said. "It should be regarded as a problem common to the 
participating countries. Many cases Thailand is dealing with involve 
suspects fleeing to a country with which it does not have a treaty, such as 
Burma."

He also emphasised the importance of governments issuing and enforcing 
money laundering measures as they help disrupt the cycle of all forms of 
trafficking.

Many Burmese parents, Mr Nutthawut said, open a bank account in Chiang 
Rai's Mae Sai district to receive money from traffickers in return for the 
sale of their children.

This is able to happen because the Thai authorities have a hard time 
tracking transactions, he said. Middlemen make the withdrawal of money from 
these accounts much easier.

Also, often children sent back to their home country soon return to 
Thailand to seek other employment.

"'If the Thai government does not raise this issue [money laundering] 
during the meeting, it will not be able to stop trafficking," Mr Nutthawut 
said.

Viraphong Boonyabhas, director of Chulalongkorn University's Business Crime 
and Money Laundering Databank, said the government must accept reality and 
be open-minded in dealing with transnational crime.

Preventing cybercrime and terrorism is high on Mr Viraphong's agenda for 
discussion at the congress. He said he would present a paper on the money 
reward system used by Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office and discuss 
it with delegates from other countries to see if it is an effective means 
of tracking money laundering.

The academic felt the reward system encouraged corruption and so was not 
used very much by other states. Improved salaries for officers was a better 
alternative.

There also needs to be a look at how some politicians use the money 
laundering office to undermine opponents.

Thailand's presentation will touch on international cooperation on money 
laundering as many Asian countries are having trouble enforcing such a law, 
Mr Viraphong said.

The legal scholar said the Thai delegation was ready to field questions at 
the congress about the continuing unrest in the deep South and the killings 
at the Krue Se mosque and in Tak Bai last year.

"We will tell the participants the situation in the South is not the result 
of terrorism," he said. "Acceptance of terrorism would see money pour in to 
fuel such activities."

Thai officials hope the declaration to be issued at the end of the 
eight-day meeting will provide a framework for crime prevention and more 
cooperation in an effort to keep the situation from getting out of hand.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager