India and Vietnam signed Treaty on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners

India and Vietnam on 1 November 2013 signed a treaty on transfer of sentenced prisoners in the jails in the two countries. The treaty would allow prisoners of the two countries to be near their families and they will have to serve the remaining part of their sentences. This process will help to facilitate the process of their social rehabilitation. The treaty was signed from Sushilkumar Shinde, the Union Home Minister and Tran Dai Quang, the Minister of Public Security of Vietnam.

The two sides also held bilateral talks on security matters, issues of training, capacity building, cyber security, cyber crime, trans-national crime, terrorism and disaster management.

List of other countries with which the Government of India has signed such agreements are
• UK
• Mauritius
• Bulgaria
• Cambodia
• Egypt
• France
• Bangladesh
• Korea
• Saudi Arabia
• Iran
• Sri Lanka
• UAE
• Maldives
• Thailand
• Turkey
• Italy
• Bosnia
• Herzegovina
• Israel
• Russia

The negotiations on the same line have been concluded with countries like Canada, Hong Kong, Brazil and Spain.

Framework for Transfer of Sentenced Persons
The seventh United Nations Congress in 1985 adopted the Model Agreement on the Transfer of Foreign Prisoners on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. Since the adaptation in 1985, many countries have arrived at bilateral and multilateral treaties. In 2003, the Repatriation of Prisoners Act was enacted to achieve the above purpose. A treaty between the countries should be signed with a mutual interest on the matter, to achieve the main objective of the Act.