Speech by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Opening Ceremony of the 30th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Prosecutors on 7 September 2025 at Shangri-la Hotel

Attorney-General of Singapore, Mr Lucien Wong;
President of the International Association of Prosecutors, Mr Juan Mahiques;  
Secretary-General of the International Association of Prosecutors, Mr Roel Dona;
Attorneys General;
Prosecutors General;
Distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen;

1. It is a pleasure to join you all this evening. And for all our international guests, a warm welcome to Singapore.

2. Let me begin by thanking the Dikir Barat Troupe – all of whom serve in the Attorney-General’s Chambers – for a most spirited performance. 

Thirty years of the IAP

3. We are honoured to host the 30th Annual Conference of the International Association of Prosecutors, or IAP, here in Singapore.

4. The IAP as a global non-governmental organisation has, over three decades, played a role vital to advancing the rule of law and enabling fair and just outcomes.

   1. By developing international standards of professional responsibility – in effect a code of ethics for prosecutors – endorsed by the United Nations.

   2. By building platforms for learning and active cooperation between prosecutors, from regional conferences to specialist networks on issues such as human trafficking.

   3. And by introducing multilingual guidelines on issues such as the handling of digital evidence – in a manner that safeguards privacy and freedom of expression.

A mission more important than ever

5. Yet, we live in sobering times. The rule of law is under greater strain than seen over decades.

   1. According to the World Justice Project, nearly three-quarters of humanity – or more than six billion people – now live in countries where the rule of law is weaker than it was in 2016.  And in four-fifths of countries, people have lost protections of fundamental rights.

   2. We are also seeing greater violation of international law and international humanitarian law, particularly with regard to occupation, annexation, and the failure to protect civilians in conflict zones.

6. Gaps in justice on this scale undermine stability, breed cynicism, and will only accentuate the broader corrosion of trust in public institutions seen globally.  

7. History shows where this path leads: as institutions lose legitimacy, and citizens lose faith in the fairness of the system, their societies become polarised and can even fracture. 

8. At the same time, prosecutors everywhere are facing new challenges in confronting the business of crime. Chief among them is the rise of cybercrime, transnational crime and the use of artificial intelligence to power both.

   1. Transnational crime has become a sprawling global enterprise. Cybercrime in particular – a frontier that barely existed when the IAP was founded – will cost the world trillions of dollars annually. Its reach is vast: from massive theft and ransomware attacks, crippling hospitals and infrastructure, to scams that wipe out ordinary people’s life savings.

   2. We know the consequences: ruined lives, weakened economies, eroded trust in law enforcement. 

   3. With criminals exploiting artificial intelligence to perpetrate scams en masse, and using cryptocurrencies to launder their illicit gains, the problem is only set to grow in both complexity and scale. 

9. Prosecutors can only fight this battle with their own capabilities enhanced, and with proactive cooperation across borders. It is the only way we will succeed in bringing these criminals to justice.  

   1. You must share intelligence, and cooperate in efforts to understand and master new technologies.

   2. And even as you build international partnerships, you must work harder at home to sustain public trust in your integrity and legitimacy.

   3. Importantly too, legal frameworks in many cases will have to be updated to reflect the new complexities of technologically-enabled crime – that occurs more swiftly, is more adaptive, and is often harder to trace. 

10. The IAP’s role only gets more important. 

    1. Through its Specialist Networks, the IAP has to pool expertise on these emerging challenges and technologies. 

    2. Your regional and international conferences will also provide platforms to advance best practices, and to learn how agencies elsewhere have sought to build and maintain public trust. 

The enduring case for international cooperation

11. The IAP’s progress also gains importance in a world that is seeing the ebbing of a rules-based order in its largest dimensions, and a loss of faith in multilateralism.  

12. Beneath the turbulence lies a layer of international rules and organisations that quietly endure. These rules, norms and fields of cooperation are essential to the functioning of the global system – and many still work largely as intended, such as in civilian aviation, maritime navigation, and telecommunications and postal services. 

13. The IAP’s work is itself a case in point: a technical, standards-based system that quietly keeps international cooperation going.

    1. It also illustrates the very basis for multilateral cooperation: when enough nations commit to a common set of rules, the rules bring benefits to all involved – while those who stand aside eventually risk losing out. 

14. That is why, even as multilateral organisations face their toughest tests, the logic of cooperation remains inescapable. Most obviously, no nation can tackle transnational crime and money laundering on its own.

Conclusion

15. In closing, let me reaffirm Singapore's enthusiastic and continuous support for the IAP and its mission. The challenges are daunting, but so too the robustness of our collective capacity to overcome them.  

16. I wish you all a productive conference.