US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK2575

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 002575 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP, S/CT, CA 
PACOM FOR FPA (HUSO) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC, PREL, PTER, TH, ARF - Asean Regional Forum, Counter-terrorism, Corruption 
SUBJECT: THAILAND: ARF ISM DISCUSSES DOCUMENT SECURITY AND 
LAW ENFORCEMENT COOPERATION 
 
1. (U) Summary:  Thailand and Canada co-chaired the third 
ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Inter-Sessional Meeting (ISM) on 
Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime April 6-8 in 
Bangkok, which focused on intelligence and information 
sharing, document security and integrity, and police and law 
enforcement cooperation. Participants agreed with the 
co-chair's suggestion not to institutionalize the ISM by 
transforming the ad hoc ISM into a permanent Inter-sessional 
Group at this time.  Recommendations from the ISM (which was 
attended by all ARF members except the DPRK) will be sent for 
approval to the ARF Senior Officials Meeting in Laos in May. 
The draft Chairman's Statement, which is open for comment 
from capitals, follows in para 5.  China and Brunei announced 
that they will co-host the next ARF ISM.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) S/CT Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism Amb. John 
Dinger led the U.S. delegation, which included Chris Marut 
(EAP/RSP), Karen Chandler (S/CT), and Brian Vaillancourt 
(DHS/ICE Assistant Attach, Embassy Bangkok). The U.S. 
presentation to the plenary on Document Integrity and 
Security encouraged consideration of two key recommendations: 
 1) ARF members should contribute actively to INTERPOL's Lost 
and Stolen Passport Database; and, 2) ARF should commit to 
adopting the travel document standards established by the 
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with a 
commitment by ARF member states to implement the standards. 
 
3. (U) Breakout sessions focused on Information Sharing 
Policies and Practices, Combating Document Fraud, and Police 
and Law Enforcement Cooperation.  Based on discussion and 
presentations in the breakout sessions, participants agreed 
on recommendations to the Senior Officials which included 
establishing national points of contact for information 
exchange, actively participating in implementation of ICAO 
standards, utilizing the INTERPOL lost and stolen passport 
database, and strengthening capacity building by utilizing 
the regional training centers such as the International Law 
Enforcement Academy (ILEA) Bangkok, the Jakarta Center for 
Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC) and the Southeast Asia 
Regional Center for Counterterrorism (SEARCCT). 
 
4. (U)  In the final plenary discussion of the draft 
Chairman's Statement, the Indian delegation raised the issue 
of institutionalizing the ISM, which currently meets annually 
on an ad hoc basis, by transforming it into a standing 
Inter-Sessional Group (ISG).  The Thai co-chair commented 
that ARF participants have mixed feelings about creating a 
permanent ISG but noted that all participants currently agree 
on the benefit of continuing to meet annually.  Consequently, 
the co-chair recommended that there was no need to raise the 
issue further at this time by including it in the Chairman's 
statement. 
 
5. (U)  Begin text of Draft Chairman's Statement: 
 
(DRAFT) ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM (ARF) STATEMENT ON INFORMATION 
SHARING AND INTELLIGENCE EXCHANGE AND DOCUMENT INTEGRITY AND 
SECURITY IN ENHANCING COOPERATION TO COMBAT TERRORISM AND 
OTHER TRANSNATIONAL CRIMES 
 
The Chairman of the ASEAN Regional Forum, on behalf of the 
ARF participating states and organization, issues the 
following statement: 
 
Recognizing that: 
 
Terrorism and other transnational crimes, such as money 
laundering, arms smuggling, people trafficking and smuggling, 
the production of and trafficking in illicit drugs, sea 
piracy, international economic crime, and cyber crime all 
pose significant threats to the peace, order, and security of 
our countries and our peoples; 
 
Effective regional and global action requires a comprehensive 
approach and unprecedented international cooperation built 
upon agreed common norms, standards, institutions, and 
international agreements; 
 
Effective information and intelligence exchange among states 
is an essential contribution to these efforts and that 
information must be exchanged in a managed, responsible and 
systematic manner, including appropriate protections for 
sensitive and national security information obtained from 
others and adequate respect for and protection of personal 
privacy and other human rights; 
 
The integrity and security of national identity, travel and 
other documents is a vital contribution to ensuring the 
security of our citizens and to identifying, apprehending and 
prosecuting terrorist and other offenders. 
 
Committed to: 
 
Further improving effective cooperation among ARF 
participants in these efforts. 
 
The ARF notes the progress that has already been made in 
strengthening cooperation and encourages ARF governments to 
further enhance their efforts and commitment to combat 
terrorism and transnational crime in a more comprehensive 
manner on a voluntary basis, taking into account resources 
and capacity of ARF participants and in accordance with their 
respective national laws, in particular through efforts: 
 
--to better exchange relevant information and intelligence in 
a timely, effective and systematic manner on the basis of 
bilateral, regional or other information-sharing agreements, 
bearing in mind that such information and intelligence shall 
not be further disclosed or disseminated without the official 
authorization of the originator; 
--to ensure that adequate national protections for sensitive 
and other information obtained from foreign partners are in 
place and effective; 
--to ensure that the privacy and other rights of individuals 
about whom personal information is exchanged between states 
are respected and protected; 
--to implement more secure and fraud-resistant documents 
based upon internationally agreed standards and containing 
appropriate biometric identifiers and to foster cooperation 
on adoption of Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD), with 
biometrics if possible; 
--to criminalize, investigate, and prosecute the possession 
or creation of fraudulent national identity, travel and other 
documents from any country; 
--to actively contribute on an ongoing basis to the INTERPOL 
database of lost and stolen travel documents, bearing in mind 
other effective channels of cooperation that exist; 
--to actively participate in the elaboration and 
implementation of new international document standards 
through ICAO and other international, regional and functional 
organizations; 
--to strengthen ARF law enforcement cooperation on the basis 
of bilateral and multilateral agreements and through the use 
of existing mechanisms, in particular INTERPOL and its I 24/7 
communications network for the exchange of information; 
--to further strengthen international capacity building 
cooperation and assistance including through existing 
regional centers such as, inter alia, the International law 
Enforcement Academy (ILEA), the Jakarta Centre for Law 
Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC), and the Southeast Asia 
Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT). 
 
ARF participating states and organizations are to review the 
progress of these and other efforts to further strengthen 
cooperation against terrorism and transnational crime at the 
13th ARF Ministerial Meeting in 2006. 
 
End text. 
 
6. (U) Amb. John Dinger has cleared this cable. 
BOYCE