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Contribution to the Work of the United Nations
UNAFEI contributes to the United Nations in formulating and implementing its global policies on crime prevention and offender treatment.
UNAFEI attends the annual sessions of the Commission on Crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice [hereinafter Commission], a functional committee of
the Economic and Social Council, every year and reports its activities
and research findings. UNAFEI is also actively involved in the United Nations
Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice [hereinafter Congress],
a United Nations conference held once every five years, and has co-ordinated
one of its Workshops at each Congress since the Tenth.
In selecting the themes of its courses and seminars, UNAFEI pays due attention
to the priority areas of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Programme, identified by the General Assembly, the Economic and
Social Council, and the Commission as well as the needs of the participating
countries. (The Theme of the Twelfth Congress and Training Courses
and Seminars of UNAFEI)
The Workshops UNAFEI co-ordinated at the Congress
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The 12th Congress
(Salvador, Brazil) |
Panellists of the Congress Workshop |
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Opening Remarks by Director Sasaki
of UNAFEI at the Congress Workshop |
The Commission
Photo:Heinz Pfeiffer |
[Contribution to the Congress]
UNAFEI has always selected high priority issues of the United Nations in the fields of crime prevention and criminal justice as themes for its training courses and seminars, and has made efforts to promote and disseminate the related UN treaties and standards and norms in the Asian and Far East region, and to familiarize its participants with same.
The Twelfth United Nations Congress was held in April 2010 with an over-all theme of "Comprehensive strategies for global challenges: crime prevention and criminal justice systems and their development in a changing world", and more than 3,000 Government and NGO representatives from approximately 100 countries, including Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General, participated. Most of the agenda items discussed at the Twelfth Congress, as well as the themes of the five official workshops, had been covered at recent UNAFEI training courses and seminars.
Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, UNAFEI organized a workshop on "Measures against Overcrowding in Correctional Facilities", one of the five official workshops, thereby contributing to the discussions at the Congress.
Based on discussions and deliberations held at the conference, the Congress
adopted the Salvador Declaration, which reflects the political will of
the participating states, to be submitted to the Commission as a policy
recommendation. Click here for a report of the 12th Congress.
Every one of the 55 items in the Declaration can be seen as an endorsement of past training courses and the activities of UNAFEI.
(1) The following items clearly reflect the outcomes of the Overcrowding Workshop organized by UNAFEI.
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"51. We stress the need to reinforce alternatives to imprisonment, which may include community service, restorative justice and electronic monitoring and support rehabilitation and reintegration programmes, including those to correct offending behaviour, and educational and vocational programmes for prisoners." |
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"52. We recommend that Member States endeavour to reduce pretrial detention, where appropriate, and promote increased access to justice and legal defence mechanisms." |
(2) The following items strongly endorse various UNAFEI activities in the
past, and we consider them as an encouragement to further contribute to
the crime prevention and criminal justice policies of the United Nations.
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"(Preamble) We, the States Members of the United Nations, stressing
the need to strengthen international, regional and subregional cooperation
to effectively prevent, prosecute and punish crime, in particular by enhancing
the national capacity of States through the provision of technical assistance,
declare as follows." |
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"3. We acknowledge the value and impact of the United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice and endeavour to use those standards and norms as guiding principles in designing and implementing our national crime prevention and criminal justice policies, laws, procedures and programmes." |
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"4. Bearing in mind the universal character of the United Nations standards
and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, we invite the Commission
on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to consider reviewing and, if
necessary, updating and supplementing them. In order to render them effective,
we recommend that appropriate efforts be made to promote the widest application
of those standards and norms and to raise awareness of them among authorities
and entities responsible for their application at the national level." |
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"8. We consider that international cooperation and technical assistance can play an important role in achieving sustainable and long-lasting results in the prevention, prosecution and punishment of crime, in particular by building, modernizing and strengthening our criminal justice systems and promoting the rule of law. Specific technical assistance programmes should thus be designed to achieve these aims, for all the components of the criminal justice system, in an integrated way and with a long-term perspective, enabling the capacity of requesting States to prevent and suppress the various types of crime affecting their societies, including organized crime. In that regard, the experience and expertise accumulated over the years by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime constitute a valuable asset." |
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"9. We strongly recommend the allocation of sufficient human and financial
resources to develop and implement effective policies, programmes and training
dealing with crime prevention, criminal justice and the prevention of terrorism.
In this regard, we stress the serious need to provide the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime with a level of resources commensurate with its
mandate. We call on Member States and other international donors to support,
and coordinate with, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, including
its regional and country offices, the institutes of the United Nations
crime prevention and criminal justice programme network and requesting
States in the provision of technical assistance to strengthen their capacity
to prevent crime." |
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"44. We undertake to promote appropriate training of officials entrusted
with upholding the rule of law, including correctional facility officers,
law enforcement officials and the judiciary, as well as prosecutors and
defence lawyers, in the use and application of those standards and norms." |
[Contribution to the Commission]
The Commission, consisting of 40 Member States including Japan, is a functional committee
of the Economic and Social Council and is the central body within the United
Nations system providing policy guidance on crime prevention and criminal
justice.
According to the General Assembly Resolution "Creation of an effective United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme" (A/RES/46/152, adopted Dec. 18, 1991), UNAFEI is one of the United Nations institutes comprising the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network (a so-called Programme Network Institute [hereinafter PNI]), and as such, is required to keep the Commission informed of its programme of work and its implementation. Accordingly, UNAFEI attends the annual sessions of the Commission, independent of the Japanese government delegation.
The 19th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, convened in May 2010 at the Vienna International Centre of the United
Nations, deliberated the following agenda.
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Item 3. |
Thematic discussion on protection against illicit trafficking in
cultural property. |
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Item 4. |
Integration and coordination of efforts by the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime and by Member States in the field of crime prevention
and criminal justice: |
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(a) |
Ratification and implementation of the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto; |
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(b) |
Ratification and implementation of the United Nations Convention against
Corruption; |
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(c) |
Ratification and implementation of the international instruments to prevent and combat terrorism; |
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(d) |
Other crime prevention and criminal justice matters; |
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(e) |
Other activities in support of the work of the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, in particular activities of the United Nations crime
prevention and criminal justice programme network, non-governmental organizations
and other bodies. |
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Item 5. |
World crime trends and emerging issues and responses in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. |
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Item 6. |
Consideration of the conclusions and recommendations of the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. |
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Item 7. |
Use and application of United Nations standards and norms in crime
prevention and criminal justice. |
As regards Item 4(e) "Other activities in support of the work of the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, in particular activities of the United Nations
crime prevention and criminal justice programme network, non-governmental
organizations and other bodies" ,
< Statement of the Director of UNAFEI >
The Director of UNAFEI gave a statement at the plenary meeting of the Commission.The following is a summary of his speech.To see the Director's statement, click here.
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1) |
UNAFEI, in selecting the themes for its international training courses
and seminars, pays due attention to the priority areas of the United Nations
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme. As a result, major recent
activities of UNAFEI have covered almost all the agenda items of this Congress
and its workshop themes. UNAFEI has thus contributed to the promotion and
dissemination of UN policies on crime prevention and criminal justice. |
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2) |
At the Twelfth Congress, UNAFEI organized a workshop on Strategies
and Best Practices against Overcrowding in Correctional Facilities. UNAFEI
brought together leading world experts as presenters and panellists and,
instead of simply focusing on causes and counter measures within the prison
setting, adopted a practice-oriented, comprehensive, and integrated approach,
addressing possible efforts that can be taken at all stages of the criminal
justice process. I am certain that the discussions and the resulting recommendations
will be an important milestone on the road to the resolution of this significant
problem. |
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3) |
UNAFEI is determined to continue with its efforts to promote and enhance
the crime prevention and criminal justice policies of the United Nations,
in close co-operation with UNODC and our PNI colleagues. |
< Joint Statement of PNI Members >
According to the discussions held during the 19th Commission, members of
the PNIs resolved to make a joint statement under the item 4(e) as the
PNIs, to broadly announce their activities to each government delegation
that attended the Commission meeting. The draft of the statement was made after a deliberation.
The essence of this statement is as follows:
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The PNIs consist of UNODC and 16 other institutes from around the world who
became members between 1962 and 2007 (UNAFEI, the oldest affiliated institute of the PNIs, is regarded as
a leading member in the Report of the UN Secretary General mentioned in point (1) above). |
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The PNI member institutes provide a variety of services, including exchange
of information, research, and technical assistance, such as capacity building, in order to strengthen
international co-operation and to assist the international community in the crucial area of crime prevention
and criminal justice. |
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The member institutes contribute to dissemination of UN standards and norms
in crime prevention and criminal justice and other relevant instruments and activities: i) through research
and technical assistance programmes, the institutes respond to the requests of governments in their respective
regions such as for assistance in capacity building; ii) in collaboration with UNODC, the institutes work on
data collection and analysis, and the development of tools and training materials; iii) contribute to the
administration of the Commission, especially in preparing workshops on the substantive themes of the session;
and iv) through support in planning, preparing and convening official workshops of the Congress, the institutes
are contributing to the administration of the Congresses. To see the PNI statement, click here. |
The member institutes of the PNIs also resolved to make a joint statement as the PNI regarding Item 6: "Consideration of the conclusions and recommendations of the Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice" through deliberations among PNI member institutes during the 19th Session of the Commission. The draft of the statement was discussed and decided.
In this statement, the member institutes of the PNIs welcomed Item 9 of the Salvador Declaration, the accomplishment of the above-mentioned Twelfth Congress. In particular, the following description of Item 9 is highly appreciated:
"We strongly recommend the allocation of sufficient human and financial
resources to develop and implement effective policies, programmes and training
dealing with crime prevention, criminal justice and the prevention of terrorism.
In this regard, we stress the serious need to provide the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime with a level of resources commensurate with its
mandate. We call on Member States and other international donors to support,
and coordinate with, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, including
its regional and country offices, the institutes of the United Nations
crime prevention and criminal justice programme network and requesting
States in the provision of technical assistance to strengthen their capacity
to prevent crime." To see the statement, click here.
The 19th session of the Commission adopted a total of 15 (draft) resolutions/decisions. (click here for the full text of the documents). All of the draft resolutions/decisions
(A, B, and C below) were adopted by the Economic and Social Council at
its session on July 22, 2010.
A. Draft resolutions to be recommended by the Economic and Social Council for adoption by the General Assembly
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1) |
Draft resolution I: |
Strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice responses to violence
against women "Violence against women" |
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2) |
Draft resolution II: |
United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial
Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) |
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3) |
Draft resolution III: |
Realignment of the functions of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
and changes to the strategic framework |
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4) |
Draft resolution IV: |
Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice |
B. Draft resolutions for adoption by the Economic and Social Council
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1) |
Draft resolution I: |
Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice responses to protect cultural property
especially with regard to its trafficking |
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2) |
Draft resolution II: |
Support for the development and implementation of an integrated approach to
programme development at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime |
C. Draft decision for adoption by the Economic and Social Council
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Report of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
on its nineteenth session and provisional agenda for its twentieth session |
D. Matters brought to the attention of the Economic and Social Council
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1) |
Resolution 19/1: |
Strengthening public-private partnerships to counter crime in all its forms and
manifestations |
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2) |
Resolution 19/2: |
Strengthening the collection, analysis and reporting of comparable crime-related
data |
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3) |
Resolution 19/3: |
Hosting of the Fourth World Summit of Attorneys General, Prosecutors General
and Chief Prosecutors by the Republic of Korea |
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4) |
Resolution 19/4: |
Measures for achieving progress on the issue of trafficking in persons, pursuant
to the Salvador Declaration on Comprehensive Strategies for Global Challenges: Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice Systems and Their Development in a Changing World |
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5) |
Resolution 19/5: |
International cooperation in the forensic field |
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6) |
Resolution 19/6: |
Countering maritime piracy off the Coast of Somalia |
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7) |
Resolution 19/7: |
Strengthening of regional networks for international cooperation in criminal
Matters |
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8) |
Decision 19/1: |
Strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice responses to counterfeiting
and piracy |
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