MYANMAR representatives led by Police Brig-Gen Kyaw Lin of the Myanmar Police Force under the Ministry of Home Affairs attended the International Negotiators Working Group – Annual Conference 2022 which was held at the Hellenic Police Headquarters in Athens, Greece, between 31 October and 4 November. Nineteen European Union member countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Canada, Nigeria, Australia and Macedonia, representatives from four countries in the Middle East and representatives from Myanmar, Japan, China, the Philippines and Singapore participated in the event.
At the conference, experiences of negotiation regarding arrests as hostages and kidnappings and the latest developments and strategies were discussed by experts, psychologists and negotiating forces from police forces from several countries, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Centre for Security Studies/Kentro Meleton Asfaleias – KEMEA from Greece, the Foundation for Defence of Democracies and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy/Tufts University from the United States, London Metropolitan Police, National Crime Agency – NCA, Global Interagency Security Forum – GISF and the College of Policing from the United Kingdom and European Network of Advisory Teams – EuNAT.
Afterwards, a Myanmar representative clarified that taking and killing hostages is strictly prohibited by international conventions including the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages and that member countries should draft and enforce their domestic laws. Myanmar has already enacted Counter Terrorism Law to supervise and act to prevent the occurrence of hostage-taking and terrorist crimes. A counter-terrorism law has been drafted to implement this provision and Myanmar will continue to act under the law, he added.
It is reported that an annual conference of the International Negotiators Working Group 2023 will be held and invitations will be sent by the host country.
MNA
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