By Nika Sharif
CILC organised a training on legislative drafting and legal aspects for a group of 14 Indonesian expert staff of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) from 1-12 May 2017. The group consisted of expert staff of the Commission III and of the Expertise Agency of the DPR RI. The training was tailored to the needs of the requested organisation, keeping in mind the differences between the existing knowledge and needs of the participants. The training also took into account a number of core themes that are highly relevant to the daily work of the participants. The training contained an intensive theoretical part followed by practical sessions such as a debating workshop in order to aid the participants in applying the knowledge and skills gained from the training into their daily work.
The programme started with an introduction to the Dutch legislative system and process followed by a presentation from the participants on the Indonesian legislative system focusing on the role of DPR. The participants showed their interest from the very beginning of the training by asking relevant questions and discussing the matters within their selected groups.
The theoretical part of the course contained the following components:
- The criminal justice system in the Netherlands focusing on the position, competences and duties of the bodies responsible for criminal justice followed by issues of procedural law;
- Legislative drafting process particularly drafting technique, the quality criteria and integrated assessment framework;
- The Netherlands police with focus on the police organisation, police legislation, international police cooperation;
- Special topics such as legislation and developments in combating terrorism, plural policing, police and ethics, police and human rights were also covered.
The practical parts of the training included:
- A visit to the Academy for Legislation to get insight on the role of the academy and more specifically on legislative drafting with clarity;
- Debating workshop;
- A visit to the Dutch Parliament;
- Visit to the headquarter of the Dutch National Police.
The theory sessions gave the participants a good sense of the Dutch policing system before they visited the headquarter of the Dutch National Police in Driebergen. There, the participants were given a presentation on the role of the National Police, its importance during the current challenges of organised crime and terrorism and the operational procedures according to which the National Police works in cases of High Impact crimes. After the presentation, the participants visited the different departments of the headquarter such as the Operations Department and the Control Room where daily conference calls are held with colleagues from all provinces. The process according to which decisions are taken in case of high impact crimes was explained and demonstrated. Through big screens, all employers in the Control Room are able to see and monitor all activities of the police forces in the Netherlands. After this visit, more theory on police legislation was addressed to discuss more specific subjects such as the Police Act, anti-terrorism legislation in the Netherlands, Police and ethics and Human Rights, Police and Intelligence and the transnational and organised crimes.
On the last day of the training, CILC organised a debating workshop. The participants were divided into three groups. Each group had a role being either in favour or against a statement and another group acting as the jury. This gave the participants a chance to practice the theory on debating that was discussed during the first half of the session.
