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05 December 2009

Witness and Victim Protection MoU Ratified

KOMPAS.com, 3 December 2009

The Memorandum of Undertanding (MoU) for witness and victim protection was finally signed by the National Police, National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), National Commission for Child Protection (KPAI), and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), at the LPSK office, Jakarta, Thursday.

The MoU was ratified after a prolonged discussion and planning by the LPSK together with the National Police, Komnas HAM, Komnas Perempuan, and KPAI. This was admitted by LPSK chief Abdul Haris Mendawai when interviewed by Kompas.com at the signing.

"Finally the MoU is signed. Actually this is the culmination of LPSK's efforts so far to lobby, discuss, and cooperate with our partners from the National Police Komnas HAM, Komnas Perempuan, and KPAI, and also other government offices and departments."

At the signing, the National Police was represented by National Police deputy head of operational, Insp. Gen. S.Y. Wenas - due to the inavailability of the National Police chief. The other participants were Komnas HAM chief Ifdal Kasim; Komnas Perempuan chief, KamalaCandra Kirana; KPAI chief, Hadi Supeno; and LPSK chief Abdul Haris Mendawai.

The MoU for witness and victim protection essentially is an agreement that all the institutions above are willing support and cooperate with LPSK to increase the effort and service of protecting witnesses and victims in Indonesia.

According to Haris Mendawai, the content of the MoU is not the main issue for the cooperation. The main concern is how the content will be followed-up.

"The importance of the signing is not in the content, but the point is in cooperating and acting upon the MoU so that the quality of witness and victim protection service in this country improves.

Source: KOMPAS.com