Jakarta: Minister of Law and Human Rights, Yasonna Laoly, invited Asian-African countries that are members of the Asian-Africa Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) to become equal dialogue partners with other organizations at the global level.
Yasonna emphasized that AALCO is an inter-governmental organization in Asia and Africa which has great power to voice the interests of countries in the two regions in various fields.
"This forum is the right forum for Indonesia and other AALCO member countries to discuss important issues related to international legal policy and voice the interests of Asian and African countries at the global level," he said, at the Breakfast Meeting in Jakarta, Monday, October 2 2023.
AALCO is the result of the Asia-Africa Summit held in Bandung in 1955. A year later, this organization was officially founded and since then has been actively discussing issues of concern to its member countries in various fields such as international law, maritime law, trade law, and others.
Yasonna said the discussion of this issue was carried out through an annual forum held in AALCO member countries. The 61st AALCO Annual Session will be held in Bali on 16-20 October 2023.
"AALCO must be able to become an equal partner with other global organizations that have a strong bargaining position. "This bargaining power is important so that we do not submit to policies that are detrimental to the interests of Asian-African countries," stressed Yasonna.
Some of the main agenda items that were discussed at the 61st AALCO Annual Session included issues of violations of international law in Palestine, the environment and sustainable development, international trade and investment law, asset recovery, and maritime law which includes illegal fishing.
Director General of General Legal Administration of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights Cahyo Muzhar said, regarding illegal fishing, Indonesia submitted a concept note to categorize illegal fishing as Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) or transnational organized crime.
According to him, the issue of illegal fishing is seen as an administrative problem and not a legal problem.
"By jointly raising this issue seriously by providing legal provisions related to illegal fishing," he added.
At this Annual Session, Indonesia, through the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, encouraged AALCO member countries to include illegal fishing as an organized crime.
The financial impact of illegal fishing in Asia and Africa is quite large. Economic losses due to illegal fishing in the ASEAN region in 2019 reached USD6 billion, with Indonesia and Vietnam being the countries experiencing the largest losses.
Another report stated that illegal fishing causes losses of USD2.3 billion per year in four African countries, including Gambia and Senegal which are countries member of AALCO.
"Seeing the large financial impact of illegal fishing activities, we invite AALCO member countries to include illegal fishing as a crime carried out across countries that can be prosecuted under international law," he said.
"AALCO must be able to protect the interests of its members from pressure from other parties who state that illegal fishing is merely an administrative problem. Cooperation and support between countries are the key words to ensure that the marine wealth of AALCO member countries, including Indonesia, is not further eroded," continued Yasonna.
Meanwhile, AALCO consists of 47 member countries and 21 international organizations. In the Breakfast Meeting, it was reported that 44 members of the country's ambassadors were present at this meeting.
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