RI Confirms Supports for UNODC's Membership of Bali Process

London (Antara Bali) - Indonesia has confirmed its support for UN Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) full membership of the Bali Process on human trafficking and smuggling and related transnational crimes.

Indonesian Ambassador to Austria Rachmat Budiman told Antara in London on Thursday that the change in UNODC's status from an observer to a full member was expected to increase UNODC and Asia-Pacific countries' contributions to the eradication of human trafficking and smuggling in the region.

Ambassador Budiman who co-chaired the side discussion during the 22th session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice's (CCPCJ) meeting in Vienna, Austria, from April 22 to 26, 2013, elaborated the topic of migrant smuggling: "To Increase Knowledge-Based Evidence - A Lesson from Asia," organized by UNODC in Geneva.

"Through this scheme, we have to emphasize cooperation involving countries of origin, transit countries and destination countries of human trafficking and smuggling crimes," he said.

"It would be difficult to solve human trafficking crime comprehensively without coordination and cooperation among member countries to focus on those three approaches," added Budiman. (*/M038)