Bogor (Indonesia), 6 April 2023 – The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), and the National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) jointly organized a four-day Inter-Agency Workshop for Preventing and Responding to Chemical Weapons Incidents in Indonesia.
The event was attended by over thirty-five representatives from various government agencies and was part of a US Department of State-funded UNODC and UNICRI project called “Building a Safer South-East Asia by Preventing and Responding to the Use of Chemical Weapons by Terrorists and Other non-state Actors in Indonesia”.
During the joint event, UNICRI provided insights into the diverse threats related to the acquisition, production, and use of chemical agents for terrorism purposes. UNODC focused on enhancing local and national emergency response coordination mechanisms, which included decision-making in critical emergencies, notifying other agencies and the public, and integrating and mapping the necessary assets to respond to chemical weapon incidents.
The event highlighted the importance of improving inter-agency coordination to support the decision-making process for timely and effective prevention and responses to possible incidents. The workshop was the first in the project’s implementation phase. Practical simulation exercises and trainings will follow to further strengthen the capacity of relevant agencies in Indonesia.
