Pacific Islands Legal Officers Network

Pacific Islands Law Officers' Network

Pacific Law and Justice News

The PILON Secretariat’s role includes providing an information and communications network for senior law officers of the Pacific, and to provide a focal point for liaison with regional and international organisations and law and justice mechanisms.  For these purposes the PILON Secretariat will be maintaining this law and justice news page in the Pacific for the benefit of members and observers. 

The PILON Secretariat would be interested to hear of any Pacific news in the law and justice sector for the purposes of hosting on this page.  Please send items pilon.secretariat@ag.gov.au to be considered for inclusion.

July – September 2008 

June 2008

News for July – September 2008

South Pacific Precursor Control Forum Legal Workshop
- 30 September 2008

The Attorney-General’s Office of Samoa and the Australian Attorney-General’s Department co-hosted the South Pacific Precursor Control Forum (SPPCF) Legal Workshop in Apia, Samoa on 30 September 2008. Participants from Samoa, Vanuatu, Nauru, PNG, Palau, Tonga, New Zealand and Fiji attended. Representatives from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police and the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre also attended.

The workshop built on the positive outcomes of the last two SPPCF meetings through further consideration of legislative and regulatory measures to prevent, investigate and prosecute precursor chemical diversion to combat the threat of amphetamine-type stimulants in the Pacific region. At the workshop, participants developed action plans for undertaking necessary reforms to address gaps and potential vulnerabilities identified in drugs legislation.

Participants also recognised the importance of regional compliance with the UN Drug Conventions and the necessity of adequate domestic legislation in combating the threat of illicit drug trafficking, illicit drug manufacture and the diversion of precursor chemicals.

Key topics discussed at the Legal Workshop were:

  • United Nations Conventions relating to illicit drugs
  • the Model Illicit Drug Control Bill developed by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
  • recent legislative reform initiatives undertaken in Samoa
  • developing a national drugs policy in Vanuatu, and
  • strategies and challenges for SPPCF member countries pursuing legislative reforms.

For further information about the Legal Workshop or the SPPCF please contact the Illicit Drugs Section, Australian Attorney-General's Department by phone on +612 6250 6814 or by email at pilon.secretariat@ag.gov.au

Samoa Attorney General’s Office – Legislative Drafting Update Newsletter Volume 1, Issue 3 – July to September 2008

The Office of the Attorney General of Samoa is now posting on the PILON website its three-monthly newsletter on legislative drafting issues in Samoa.  The newsletter includes information about new and upcoming legislation as well as events involving the Attorney General’s Office.

Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Conference – 2-4 September 2008

The PILON Secretariat attended the 37th Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP) Conference held in Apia from 2-4 September. It was the first time the PILON Secretariat had attended the Conference, which brings together the heads of regional police services and their delegates. The Conference theme for this year was ‘Navigating Future Currents Together’.

The first two days of the Conference involved presentations by police agencies, regional law enforcement secretariats (Oceania Customs Organisation, Pacific Immigration Directors’ Conference and the Pacific Islands Forum), the Australian Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) / PILON Secretariat and other police stakeholders in the region including RAMSI, Crime Stoppers and the Pacific Domestic Violence Project.  The Chiefs attended a private retreat on the final day.

The PILON Secretariat’s presentation sought to raise PILON’s profile with the Police Commissioners and to convey the message that PILON can play a useful role in addressing legal issues arising in law enforcement contexts in the Pacific. The PILON Secretariat looks forward to closer engagement with the PICP Secretariat on these issues.

AGD also gave a presentation about its new program of legal assistance to Pacific island countries as part of the new Pacific Police Development Program. AGD offers Pacific island countries assistance to review, develop and draft police and criminal justice legislation. AGD encouraged Commissioners to consult with senior law officers and to contact the Department about areas in which reforms are desirable. AGD also presented on the assistance offered by AGD’s Anti-Money Laundering Assistance Team, encouraging Commissioners to make greater use of proceeds of crime legislation. 

More information about the PICP Conference is available by emailing the PICP Secretariat at: picp@police.govt.nz.

Pacific states join forces against war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity – 14-15 August 2008

Ten years after the adoption of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Delegation in the Pacific and the Attorney General’s Office of Samoa co-hosted a regional seminar on the ICC in Apia from 14-15 August 2008. The seminar aimed to increase knowledge about the ICC in the Pacific region and encourage increased accession and implementation of the Rome Statute. Representatives from 11 Pacific island states attended, including the Minister for Justice from Papua New Guinea and high-level officials from Foreign Affairs, Justice and Attorney-General’s offices.

The Prime Minister of Samoa opened the event and Tuiloma Neroni Slade, former judge of the ICC and himself a Samoan national, was the keynote speaker. Other speakers included a legal adviser from the ICC Office of the Prosecutor and the Attorney General of Samoa. Delegates from the Cook Islands (the latest State Party to the treaty) spoke about their country’s experience of acceding to the Rome Statute and plans for implementation. An implementation workshop led by a panel of experts was held on the second day of the seminar, which resulted in a "Pacific Model law" being developed to implement the Rome Statute for the ICC.

This seminar was timely in light of the agreement by PILON delegates at the 26th PILON meeting in Rarotonga that states not yet party to the Rome Statute should consider accession. Further information, or papers from the seminar, can be obtained from the ICRC Regional Delegation by email at suva.suv@icrc.org.

Newsletters

June 2008

Dates and location of annual meeting announced

The PILON annual meeting is expected to be held in Vanuatu from 5-9 December 2008.  Invitations with further details about the meeting will be issued shortly.  Members may wish to advise the Secretariat of issues they wish to discuss at the meeting for inclusion on the agenda.

Forum Regional Security Committee Meeting

The PILON Secretariat attended the UNODC Counter-Terrorism Workshop on 2-3 June, the Counter-Terrorism Working Group on 4 June, and the Forum Regional Security Committee on 5 June in Suva.  The representative of the PILON Chair from the Cook Islands, Paul Lynch, and PILON Secretariat Coordinator, Doug Rutherford, presented at each of the meetings on behalf of PILON.  Forum Secretariat’s press release of the meeting.

Newsletters