The Asia Pacific Medico- Legal Agencies (APMLA) network has 48 forensic medical member
institutions from 23 Asian and Pacific nations.
The APMLA is focused on:
peer to peer cooperation,
preparedness for mass casualty events and the
enhancement of forensic medical services for better public health and justice
systems.
The APMLA aims are as follows:
More effective national justice systems through improved death and injury
investigation
Improved ability to cooperatively respond to mass casualty events and identify
disaster victims
Improved information to support public health systems and policies
Increased capacity to deliver forensic medical training in developing nations
Development of regional ‘hub’ centres for forensic medical expertise
Improved career development for individual clinicians and scientists
DVI Cooperation The APMLA’s member organisations can be asked to assist countries in times of
need such as the 2004 Tsunami which had devasting impacts on Thailand and Indonesia.
APMLA member institutions from Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia participated in the
Flight MH 17 disaster victim identification (DVI) operations in the Ukraine (Malaysia)
and The Netherlands (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia) in 2014. A few months later,
Malaysian, and Korean DVI Teams deployed to assist DVI Indonesia following the downing
of Flight QZ 8501 in Surabaya. The Malaysian DVI Team also worked with the Indonesian
DVI Team following the capsize of a passenger boat in Malaysia.
It is important to understand that a well-planned disaster management response including
temporary mortuary facilities relies on the skills and resources of a nation’s existing
forensic
medical facilities for death investigation cases. There is still much to be done to
improve forensic medical services in the region.
The APMLA supports collaboration, the rule of law and stability in the Asia Pacific
region by facilitating cooperation between member countries. Networking with ASEANAPOL
is also a pathway for sharing information and best practices between law enforcement
agencies and forensic medical institutions.
In the unfortunate event of mass disaster or terrorist attack, a multidisciplinary
response approach is needed in the management of the dead. First responders are usually
from the non-forensic background such as armed forces, the police, firefighters, and
volunteers.
There is a huge potential to provide training and guidance to the first responders in
disaster response responsibilities in managing the dead. First responders play a role in
search and rescue, and also in maximising the likelihood of later identification of the
deceased through documentation and best practice retrieval methods. This coalition will
greatly enhance the cooperative assistance in DVI as well as in disaster management in
the Asia Pacific region.
APMLA Collaborations
The APMLA works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The
ICRC is a key partner for the APMLA in training and capacity development at national and
multilateral levels. In 2023 the APMLA and the Forensic Unit of the ICRC signed an MOU
at the APMLA’s Annual General Meeting in June in Hanoi, Vietnam. The APMLA also
collaborates with the Asian Forensic Sciences Network (AFSN).
Role
The APMLA has an important role as a central body for strengthening forensic medical
capacities, standardizing the process of victim identification, and encouraging the
adoption of standards and best practice to better prepare nations for mass casualty
situations. It does this through quarterly Webinars, the provision of forensic medical
standards and guidelines on the website https://theapmla.net/. The APMLA holds
annual face to face meetings, most recently at the 2025 AFSN/APMLA Meeting in the
Republic of Korea, with Workshops on Mortuary Innovations and Postmortem CT Image
Analysis and a day-long program of Forensic Medical Oral Presentations.
APMLA Management Committee 2025-2026 Chair: Professor Noel Woodford, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
(Australia)
Deputy Chair: Dr Panjai Woharndee, Central Institute of Forensic Sciences
(Thailand)
Secretary: Dr Rijen Shrestha, Maldives National University (Maldives)
Management Committee Members
Professor Morio Iino, Tottori University (Japan)
Dr Sohyung Park, National Forensic Service (Korea)
Dr Hafizam Bin Hasmi, National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Malaysia)
Dr Valentinus Yudy, University of Indonesia (Indonesia)
Attorney Dr Al Anthony Chua (Philippines)
APMLA HISTORY
APMLA History
The first Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting of Medico-Legal Services on the investigation of
the missing in man-made and natural catastrophes was held in Melbourne, Australia, in
October 2008.
The initial meeting was organized by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
(VIFM), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Australian Federal
Police (AFP). The meeting was attended by representatives from medico-legal and forensic
services in Australia, Cook Islands, East Timor, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New-Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands,
South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vanuatu. Participants from all countries agreed on
the following:
Melbourne Commitment
To promote and improve communication, coordination and cooperation among
medico-legal services from the Asia-Pacific region with the goal of optimizing
capacity to investigate and manage mass fatalities in natural and man-made
catastrophes.
To promote training and the use of methods for forensic human identification
consistent with international standards, including INTERPOL's guidelines for DVI and
the ICRC's recommendations on The Missing, with due consideration of local needs and
resources.
To promote communication between medico-legal and forensic practitioners and the
bereaved.
To promote the establishment of a regional network of medico-legal and forensic
services and create a directory of medico-legal and forensic services in the
Asia-Pacific region.
To hold periodic meetings for further empowering communication, coordination and
cooperation among medico-legal and forensic services, including a second Asia-
Pacific regional meeting of medico-legal services, probably in Indonesia.
To establish a coordination mechanism (initially at VIFM) to follow-up on meeting
recommendations.
A side meeting was later held at the INPALMS Congress in Delhi in October 2010 to
progress the Melbourne Declaration.
JCLEC MEETING SEMARANG INDONESIA JUNE 2012
In June 2012 the VIFM with the assistance of the ICRC, organized the third meeting of
Asia Pacific Medico Legal Agencies in Indonesia. The meeting relied heavily on the
support of the
Australian Federal Police, the Indonesian National Police, and the Jakarta Centre for
Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC).
Meeting Objective:
To discuss strategies for strengthening the forensic medical capacity in SE Asia and the Pacific regions.
Goals:
More effective national justice systems through improved death and injury investigation.
Improved ability to cooperatively respond to mass casualty events and identify disaster victims.
Improved information to support public health systems and policies.
Increased capacity to deliver forensic medical training in developing nations.
Development of regional ‘hub’ centres for forensic medical expertise.
Improved career development for individual clinicians and scientists.
This meeting was attended by 45 participants from 17 countries. Following briefings on forensic medical issues by each nation and training sessions on mobile mortuaries and exhumation, a business meeting was held on the final day to initiate the formal creation of the Asia Pacific Medico-Legal Agencies (APMLA) network.
Participants agreed on the establishment of a geographic network of forensic medical institutions which links agencies with a commitment to undertaking humanitarian forensic medical strengthening work with hub institutions in the region. The aim was to build capacity at the regional level. Robust medico-legal systems underpin civil society at all levels.
The network would act as a facilitator and advocate in scoping and identifying the scale of capacity development required in participating emerging economies and supporting the development of regional partnerships between forensic medical institutions, donor agencies and nations that have a clear commitment to enhancing their Forensic Medical (FM) capability.
While individual local forensic medical organizations and institutions function (at different levels), this group proposes a novel approach through facilitating the potential to learn, train, practice and assist at a multi-national regional level. The multi-lateral Network of Forensic Medical Agencies would facilitate peer to peer learning, provide opportunities for capacity development projects in this field and advocate for improved resourcing for forensic medical infrastructure in participating nations. Communication would be underpinned by the development and circulation of regular APMLA email communications.
Formal Establishment of the APMLA
At the 2012 meeting, participants considered the roles and functions that might be performed by the network. Dr Nak-Eun Chung, Chief Medical Examiner, South Korea National Forensic Service and Director of South Korea DVI, was elected as Interim Chair. A working group which included Professor Stephen Cordner (VIFM Australia), Dr Anton Castilani (DOKPOL Indonesia) and Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Malaysia undertook the development of a draft Constitution. Participants agreed on the establishment of a geographic network of forensic medical institutions which links agencies with a commitment to undertaking humanitarian forensic medical strengthening work with hub institutions in the region.
The aim was to build capacity at the regional level as robust medico-legal systems underpin civil society at all levels. A draft APMLA Constitution was circulated for review, with a final version agreed at a meeting of the Interim Committee at the 2013 INPALMS Conference in Malaysia. The APMLA Constitution was then registered in 2014 in the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
APMLA CHAIRS
The APMLA’s inaugural Chair was Dr Nak-Eun Chung, Chief Medical Examiner, South Korea National Forensic Service and Director of South Korea DVI. Dr Chung’s tireless efforts in establishing, building and the promoting the APMLA included formal registration of the Association in Korea, development, and management of the APMLA web site, hosting the 2014 APMLA DVI Scenario at the Incheon Airport and profiling the APMLA at the 2014 World Forensic Festival. Very sadly Dr Nak-Eun Chung passed away on 1 January 2022 at only 66. He is greatly missed.
APMLA member organisation, the Central Institute of Forensic Sciences (CIFS) in Bangkok, Thailand took over management of the APMLA website in 2015 under the leadership of CIFS Director of Forensic Science Services Division, and APMLA Secretary at the time Dr Panjai Woharndee, who has maintained this role to date.
Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood, Director of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Malaysia was appointed as the second Chair of the APMLA in September 2015. He remained Chair until June 2018. Dr Mahmood continued close ties with the ICRC both in the region, and as a member of the ICRC Forensic Advisory Board.
He established new ties with the ASEANAPOL Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur. During his term as Chair the APMLA ran a Workshop on Multidisciplinary Responses to management of the Dead Mass following Disasters or Terrorist Attacks in August 2017 at the IAFS Meeting in Ontario, Canada. During Dr Mahmood’s tenure the APMLA Work Groups developed with significant productive outcomes. Dr Mohd Shah Mahmood personally led the APPMLA Work Group on Temporary Mortuaries which developed a Guideline.
Professor Morio Iino Professor Morio Iino, Head Division of Legal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Japan was appointed as the third Chair of the APMLA in June 2018. Professor Iino presided over the APMLA during the global COVID pandemic. During that time the APMLA met virtually as international travel was not possible. The APMLA surveyed its members on their COVID responses and mortuary management practices- sharing best practice approaches with its members. Most notably through a three day zoom Conference in 2020 with the ICRC and CIFS on Forensic Medical Responses to COVID-19.
The 2020 and 2021 APMLA Annual General Meetings were held virtually as international travel was not possible. During Professor Iino’s tenure, the APMLA added a focus on clinical forensic medicine (especially in relation to responses to sexual violence) to the Network’s medical capacity development priorities.
The APMLA’s fourth Chair, Dr Panjai Woharndee, Director of Forensic Sciences Division, Central Institute of Forensic Sciences (CIFS), Thailand was appointed in December 2021. Dr Woharndee was the APMLA’s inaugural Secretary from 2014, and then APMLA Deputy Chair from 2018 until her appointment as Chair.
Dr Woharndee’s service and long-term contribution to the growth and development of the APMLA since 2014 has been outstanding. She has played a pivotal role in planning, organising, and networking with key organisations such as the ICRC and the Asian Forensic Sciences Network (AFSN), in CIFS hosting the 2017 APMLA Meeting in Pattaya, managing the APMLA website and in communications with APMLA members and overall promotion of the network.
Professor Noel Woodford was appointed APMLA Chair at the August 2024 annual meeting in Bangkok. Professor Woodford is the Director of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine and a Professor of Forensic Medicine at Monash University Australia. He has had a long-standing and active engagement with the APMLA as a Management Committee Member since 2016 and as Deputy Chair since 2022. Professor Woodford is looking forward to overseeing the APMLA’s next stage of development and growth.
APMLA Annual Meetings
2012 JCLEC, Semarang Indonesia Host Australian Federal Police and Indonesian National
Police
2013 Kuala Lumpur Hospital in Malaysia – Host National Institute of Forensic
Medicine, Malaysia
2014 Seoul, South Korea- Host National Forensic Service, South Korea
2015 JCLEC, Semarang, Indonesia- Host Australian Federal Police and Indonesian
National Police
2016 Bali, Indonesia – Held alongside the INPALMS meeting.
2017 Pattaya, Thailand -Host CIFS, Thailand and also met at the IAFS Meeting Ontario,
Canada
2018 Fukuoka, Japan Host Tottori University, and travel support from the ICRC.
2019 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Host National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Malaysia
2020 Virtual Meeting (COVID)
2021 Virtual Meeting (COVID)
2022 Jakarta, Indonesia – with AFSN -Host Indonesian National Police
2023 Hanoi, Vietnam -Host National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Hanoi, Vietnam
2024 Bangkok, Thailand- with AFSN -Host Central Institute of Forensic Science.
2025 Incheon, Republic of Korea, - with AFSN -Host National Forensic Service.
Forensic doctors work in the heart of the justice system. These are the doctors who
investigate and report on death and interpersonal injury including sexual violence.
Forensic doctors work closely with police in both the day to day investigation of death
and violence and in the event of disasters when these doctors have the responsibility
for managing the DVI process entailed in identifying the dead. Forensic medicine has two
main subsets: forensic pathology (the medical specialty of death investigation) and
clinical forensic medicine (the medical specialty involved, in the main, with evaluating
physical and sexual assault in adults and children). The doctors involved in providing
these services are the doctors at the heart of the justice system. The performance of
these doctors reflects directly on the credibility of the legal system, and respect for
the rule of law. This is also the specialist field that is concerned with the
identification of the dead and the missing in multiple casualty disasters.
This specialty is supported by ancillary forensic medical and science in the form of
forensic odontology (forensic dentists who are expert in age estimation, bite marks and
dental identification), Forensic radiology (analysis of CT images of the deceased),
forensic anthropologists (analysis of skeletal remains, forensic toxicologists (drug and
alcohol testing) and molecular biologists (DNA). Forensic medicine also plays a key
role in identifying the causes of preventable deaths allowing this information to be
turned into policy initiatives which can address issues such as deaths by drowning and
traffic-related deaths.
Improving training for the small number of forensic pathologists and forensic clinicians
in developing countries has a positive effect on justice systems and the rule of law.
Sound and expert medico-legal death and injury investigation processes lie at the heart
of fair justice systems. Some nations in our region have a limited capacity to undertake
effective day to day investigation of suspicious or violent deaths (e.g. homicides,
suicides, accidents) and injuries (e.g. physical and sexual assault of adults and
children).
