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Philippines: enhancing extradition rules to combat terrorism


Manila (Philippines), 24 February 2010 - A workshop on enhancing the legal framework on extradition in cases of terrorism and other serious crimes was organized by the Department of Justice of the Philippines with support from the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch and held on 11 and 12 February 2010. UNODC supported the effort of the Government of the Philippines through the assistance of two Terrorism Prevention Experts for the entire duration of the workshop.

At the workshop, participants considered legislative areas and measures needed in the Philippines to improve legal procedures and processes on extradition, with a view to fully implement the universal counter-terrorism conventions and protocols, the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Among the participants were officials from the State Counsel and the Department of Justice, two senior judges and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as law enforcement officers. The participants were divided into four groups to draft and discuss special provisions based on the on UNODC Model Law on Extradition with the aim of amending the existing law (Presidential Decree 1069).

The main result of the workshop was an advanced draft extradition law that the Department of Justice will finalize before submitting it to Senate members for the bill to be considered at the next meeting of Congress (after national elections are held in 2010).