IJJO to open regional office in Thailand

BANGKOK, June 13 (TNA) - The Brussels-based International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO) plans to open its regional office in Thailand, in the lead-up to the formation of the Single Community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in which Thailand is a focal member. The plan was announced in Bangkok on Tuesday at the First Meeting of the Asian-Pacific Council for Juvenile Justice, hosted by the Thai Ministry of Justice's Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection from June 12-14. According to the department's director-general, Thawatchai Thaikhiew, the first-ever meeting on juvenile justice in Asia and the Pacific is aimed at exchanging ideas among participants, which will contribute to practical rehabilitation programmes for young offenders in the 10-member ASEAN and the wider Asian Pacific region. Thawatchai acknowledged as of 2011, Thailand had recorded a total of 35,409 juvenile crime cases, most of which were illicit drug use and robbery committed by male offenders who had already left schools, urging the government to implement measures to address the problem. (TNA)