Name: Dewi Agha Putri & Irsan Efendi

Institution: Universitas Padjadjaran

Country: Republic of Indonesia
Committee: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Topic Agenda: Road to Enforcement Enhancement:
ASEAN Legal Cooperation in Extradition

“The increasing transnational organized crime in the region needs a strong legal cooperation between
ASEAN countries. Therefore, Indonesia will encourage the creation of extradition instrument in ASEAN.” -
Retno Marsudi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia
Background
Recognizing the urgency of law enforcement in the ASEAN region relating to the increasing of complex
nature of crime, especially the transnational organized crime, Indonesia believes that the extradition treaty is
one of the crucial law instruments to ensure the accountability of crime committed. However, in this matter,
ASEAN does not have a common extradition treaty which regulates the implementation of extradition within
the whole region, even though ASEAN managed to endorse “Model ASEAN Extradition Treaty” in 2018.
Regarding the extradition practices, ASEAN still relies on bilateral extradition treaties which are not readily
available in several ASEAN member states. In place of the non-existent extradition treaty, ASEAN member
states can only rely on the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (MLAT) that doesn’t
function to extradite criminals. Understanding the loopholes of the aforementioned ASEAN extradition
practices which can be utilized by the criminals to seek safe heaven, Indonesia believes that the actualization
of the Model ASEAN Extradition Treaty is urgent. In order to create a comprehensive legal guideline within
the ASEAN Extradition Treaty, Indonesia believes that we need to put the existing extradition law
instruments and the implementations into consideration as best practices, including but not limited to the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Past Actions
Indonesia has been practicing extradition through bilateral treaties with Malaysia, Thailand, and the
Philippines based on Law of the Republic of Indonesia No.1 Year 1979 on Extradition [ CITATION Rep79 \l
1057 ]. The treaties provide clear extradition procedures, thus Indonesia with its partners ensure the law
enforcement of all extraditable crimes committed in their respective jurisdictions. In 2012, Indonesia passed
the Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 5 Year 2012 on Ratification of the ASEAN Convention on Counter
Terrorism. Through the law, Indonesia agrees on combating terrorism and including terrorism as an
extraditable offence[CITATION Rep09 \l 1057 ]. Moreover, Indonesia has been committed to multilateral
framework regarding extradition through the ratification of United Nations Convention against Corruption
(2003) by Act No.7 2006 and the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (2000) by
Act No. 5 of 2009 that highlights the importance of international cooperation as a critical means of
eliminating safe heaven for criminals. These conventions also create binding obligations between States
Parties to cooperate on the number of issues, including extradition in relation to offences covered by the
Convention and its protocol. To date, Indonesia has been actively participating in supporting and realizing
the ASEAN Extradition Treaty.

Possible Solutions
Emphasizing the importance of legal cooperation in extradition to enhance law enforcement in ASEAN, the
Republic of Indonesia proposes the following:
1. Encourages the completion of the ASEAN Extradition Treaty
Noting in mind that crime committed need to be held accountable to enforce the rule of law and maintain
the regional security, Indonesia believes that the extradition treaty is an important instrument. However,
in this matter, ASEAN doesn’t have any regional extradition treaty which hampers the law enforcement
effort and its member states remain to rely on bilateral treaties which are insufficient since the bilateral
 treaties in several ASEAN Member States are non-existence. Moreover, the existing international
instruments such as UNTOC as a basis for extradition is not enough to enforce the rule of law because
the extraditable offences are limited to the transnational organized crimes [ CITATION UNO04 \l 1057 ].
Therefore, the urgency of the completion of the ASEAN Extradition Treaty arises in order to strengthen
the law enforcement of the region and eliminate safe heaven for criminals. In the effort of completion of
ASEAN Extradition Treaty, Indonesia recalls upon every member state for further discussion by
involving each state’s relevant representative, such as but not limited to the Law Ministers.

2. Emphasizes the Importance of Harmonization of the ASEAN Extradition Treaty with the Existing
Extradition and MLA Instruments
The current ASEAN Model Extradition Treaty can be considered as progress, yet it's not comprehensive
enough since several important elements are not included (i.e. the elements of fiscal offences and human
rights consideration) or not further emphasized (i.e. the definition of political offences). Indonesia
believes that harmonization with existing extradition and MLA instruments is needed, namely ASEAN
MLAT, UNTOC, UNCAC, and ACCT. Moreover, we can also observe the existing regional extradition
treaty, such as the Inter-American Convention on Extradition. Throughout the review and comparison
process, Indonesia believes that the harmonized ASEAN Extradition Treaty will include and emphasize
the elements of a steady definition of extraditable offenses which include fiscal offenses, a more
perceivable definition of political offense, involvement of ASEANAPOL in joint investigation, and the
human rights issues in extradition. This harmonization aims to ensure the ASEAN Extradition Treaty can
align with the key principles of extradition practices and generate the effectivity of extradition
procedure.

3. Supports the Extra-Regional Cooperation between ASEAN and the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) regarding Extradition
Recognizing the lack of experience in regional extradition practice, Indonesia believes that cooperation
between ASEAN and UNODC is important. Since the UNODC has Regional Programme for Southeast
Asia and the Pacific which concerns about the law enforcement, prosecution, and judiciary, we believe
that UNODC is a relevant body and we can conduct this cooperation under the framework. The UNODC
also provides Manual on Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition which consists of procedures and
practices from all around that proves its expertise on extradition matter. Through this extra-regional
cooperation, dialogue can be conducted by involving seniors officials from both UNODC and ASEAN,
law ministers of ASEAN Members States, and other relevant or interested parties in order to exchange
information, best practices, and enforce collaboration between law enforcement institution. From this
cooperation, we expect recommendations and assistance from the UNODC which will be beneficial for
ASEAN in developing its legal cooperation regarding extradition.

4. Recommends the establishment of Regional Judicial Network as Legal Infrastructure in

Supporting ASEAN Extradition Treaty.
Acknowledging the remaining challenges in ASEAN extradition practices, such as insufficient
information to legal systems and tradition in ASEAN countries and the complicated process for
incoming and outgoing extradition requests. Understanding the aforementioned challenges, the Regional
Judicial Network is important in complimenting the ASEAN Extradition Treaty implementation in
accordance to the ASEAN Political-Security Community 2025 [ CITATION The16 \l 1057 ]. The
Regional Judicial Network will assist ASEAN member states by providing database for information
needed in the process of extradition and legal assistance, for instance the information of contact points,
glossary of terms, and legal and procedural for the granting of request of each member states. This
program will be conducted under the ASEAN Law Ministers Meeting (ALAWMM) which will involve
the role of ASEAN Legal Information Network System (LINKS), ASEANAPOL, and ASEAN Law
Association (ALA). We believe the judicial network will be beneficial for extradition practices in
 ASEAN since we have seen the success of such regional judicial network, for instance, the Hemispheric
Information Exchange Network for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition of the
Organization of America [ CITATION UNO12 \l 1057 ].

References
ASEAN. (2006). Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. Kuala Lumpur.
ASEAN. (2018). ASEAN Leaders' Vision for A Resilient and Innovative ASEAN. Singapore.
ASEAN. (2018). Endorsed Model ASEAN Extradition Treaty by the 10th ALAWMM. Vientiane.
Republik Indonesia. (1979). Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 1 Tahun 1979 tentang Ekstradisi.
Jakarta.
Republik Indonesia. (2009). Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 5 Tahun 2009 tentang
Pengesahan United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. Jakarta.
Republik Indonesia. (2012). Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 5 Tahun 2012 tentang
Pengesahan ASEAN Convention on Counter Terrorism. Jakarta.
UNODC. (2004). United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols
Thereto. New York.
UNODC. (2012). Manual on Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition. New York: UNODC.
UNODC; Australian Government. (2010). ASEAN Handbook on International Legal Cooperation in
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