DRAFTS ON 'CRIME AND SECURITY', WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL COURT INTRODUCED IN CRIME COMMISSION
Press Release
SOC/CP/187
DRAFTS ON 'CRIME AND SECURITY', WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL COURT INTRODUCED IN CRIME COMMISSION
19960529 Discussion of Matters Related to Technical Cooperation Begins(Reproduced as received from UN Information Service.)
VIENNA, 24 May -- A draft declaration on "crime and security" was introduced this afternoon in the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice by the representative of the United States.
Sponsored also by Turkey, the draft would have the General Assembly adopt an 11-article declaration by which States would pledge a range of crime-control measures to protect the security of their citizens; secure their borders against smuggling and money laundering; and strengthen the rule of law.
Among the text's provisions are commitments by States to combat crime, terrorism, money laundering and trafficking in drugs and arms; to refrain from providing safe havens for those who engage in such activities; and to prevent terrorist groups from receiving support and training in their national territories. States would agree to enact laws and regulations to provide for confiscation and seizure of criminal proceeds, and to make bribery and corruption of officials a criminal offence. They would also strengthen international cooperation and technical assistance to combat a broad range of offences, including smuggling of illegal aliens, gunrunning, passport forgery and counterfeiting.
Also this afternoon, the representative of Costa Rica introduced a draft resolution by which the Economic and Social Council would ask that States be polled on the feasibility of establishing an international court on the environment. Co-sponsored by Guatemala, the text would also ask for continued information gathering on national and regional initiatives in environmental criminal law, including the development of a manual for practitioners. States would be called on to support technical cooperation activities in that area.
Also circulating is a text by which the Commission would call a survey of countries' national capacities for the collection of crime statistics. That draft resolution is sponsored by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Finland, Netherlands, Nicaragua and Uganda.
The Commission discussed plans for the Tenth United Nations Congress for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, scheduled to take place in the year 2000. It also began discussion of technical cooperation activities, hearing an introduction on the matter by the Director of the United Nations Office at Vienna, Giorgio Giacomelli.
He called on the Commission to examine whether there were sufficient resources to put the United Nations crime programme into operation and to assign priorities to tasks. A disproportionately high percentage of the resources of the Division for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice were being used to service the Commission, he noted. However, cost-saving measures could make only a relatively small impact as long as the resource base continued to be one of the smallest sections in the United Nations budget.
The representative of Canada urged that the next Crime Congress make provisions for interpretation to enable all Member States, as well as non-governmental organizations, institutes and experts to contribute to the discussion of draft resolutions. She said the workshops were such a crucial feature of the Congresses that the rules of procedure should be amended to allow for them to be organized by any interested party, including Member States, crime research institutes and non-governmental organizations.
The representative of India urged that a priority theme of the Tenth Congress should be the need to combat the international traffic in endangered species, which had reached alarming proportions.
The representative of Croatia drew attention to the fact that several Secretariat documents referred to Eastern Slavonia as though it were a country in its own right, when it was in fact an integral part of her country. The Secretariat took note and promised to rectify the error.
Also speaking on preparations for the Tenth Congress were representatives of Japan, Lesotho, France and Turkey, as well as of the Arab Council of Ministers of the Interior. Representatives of the Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) and of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice also spoke.
Statements on Crime Congress
MOHAMED ABDUL-AZIZ, of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, said that in the General Assembly's Third Committee (Social,
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Humanitarian and Cultural) there had been a generally positive assessment of the format and functioning of the Ninth Crime Congress, but some States had recommended that a more pragmatic approach be taken in the future. Importance had been attached to disseminating the practical recommendations of the Congress, and to identifying ways of implementing them at the national and international levels.
The report now before the Commission on preparations for the Tenth Congress regrouped proposals under certain main headings, he said. The headings included: transnational organized crime; violent crime; migration and crime; improvements in the administration of justice and the rule of law; crime prevention and the implementation of United Nations standards and norms; and technical cooperation and coordination of activities, including the role of criminal assistance in peace-keeping and post-conflict reconstruction. Only two subjects had been identified for demonstration workshops: linkages between corruption and organized crime; and treatment of offenders.
At the Commission's last session, a number of speakers had urged it to decide at the current session on the preparations for the Tenth Congress, including its date and venue, he recalled. To date, however, no country had offered to host the meeting.
He urged the Commission to decide whether the organizational and substantive arrangements made for the last Congress should be used for the next one, or other arrangements should be explored. He also suggested that it begin focusing on substantive proposals made by Member States, with a view to identifying themes of concern. Also needed was guidance on how to reconcile the Congress's function as a forum for the sharing of experience and exchange of information with the proposals for a high-level segment dealing with a priority theme.
TORU MIURA (Japan) called for the harmonization of the time-span of activities of the programme, including the schedule of the Congress, taking into account the cycle of the biennium programme budget. He highlighted the importance of the regional preparatory meetings for transmitting regional perspectives in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice. In preparing for the Congress, the Commission should carefully study those perspectives in advance to ensure that issues that were of global importance were reflected and those which were too particular to one region were excluded.
Draft resolutions on individual agenda items of the Congress should be submitted by Member States to regional preparatory meetings first and then transmitted to the Commission for review and consolidation, he said. Finally, they could be submitted from the Commission to the Congress for consideration and adoption. That procedure would discourage the submission of numerous
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draft resolutions directly to the Congress, thereby avoiding the confusion that occurred at the Ninth Congress.
He added that so-called omnibus resolutions should be avoided because they contained so many unrelated different issues. The agenda items of the Congress must be precise and focused. He suggested two items for the Tenth Congress: enhancing the efficiency of social and legal controls aimed at prevention of serious and heinous crimes; and promoting extradition and mutual assistance in criminal matters.
V.K. MALHOTRA (India) noted that the Ninth Congress had served as a forum for exchange of views and experiences among international organizations, non-governmental organizations and individual experts representing various professions and disciplines and in identifying emerging trends and issues.
The Congress had stressed the importance of protecting the environment and preventing acts that endangered it. Recent exposure of the illegal trade in wildlife to be used for medicinal purposes had reached alarming proportions. Endeavours by the United Nations to protect endangered species had been threatened by organized crime. Illegally traded wildlife included tigers, rhinoceroses, and elephants that were being used in traditional and so-called magic potions. A similar situation had emerged with respect to endangered plants.
Such depletion would not occur except for a growing demand; therefore, attention should focus on demand reduction, especially in the countries of destination. Before more rare and endangered species were lost, it would be in the global interest to identify "fauna and flora crimes" as priority themes and to initiate preparatory studies in that area.
MUSTAFA A. KARA, of the Council of Arab Ministers of the Interior, stressed the importance that must be attached to the issue of transnational organized crime. The aspects of such crime included linkages to terrorist groups, drug smuggling, computer piracy, crimes against the environment and corruption in the various public services. The Council was studying ways to deal with that issue.
The Council was organizing an annual congress on drug-trafficking, he said. It had developed a strategy for control of illegal drug abuse and trafficking, comprising a series of five-year plans. Cooperating through common Arab institutions, its member countries were seeking to enhance their internal security in the face of numerous changes in the Mediterranean basin. The Council sought to develop a common methodology for its member countries, and to enhance cooperation with all interested nations in the field of crime control.
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The issue of links between terrorism and organized crime was very serious, he said, adding that the Commission should include it in the agenda of the Tenth Congress. The Council had developed a code of conduct which encouraged its members to refrain from providing support or shelter to terrorist groups. He stressed, however, that acts of resistance against occupation, colonization and racism were not terrorist acts.
SEPHIRI E. MOTANYANE, Minister for Justice and Human Rights of Lesotho, informed the Commission of activities in his country which included the establishment of a sound juvenile justice system that took into account the serious negative effects of institutionalization on young offenders. The development of a strong civil society played an important role in an emerging democracy. To improve and ensure that justice and democracy were nurtured, a human rights unit had been established.
He drew attention to the need to instill a culture of law and justice among criminal justice personnel in his country. Through training, an effective and efficient police force would meet the changing trends of society. Emphasis was placed on correction rather than punishment of prisoners.
ZENAIDA OSORIO VIZCAINO, First Vice-Minister for Justice of Cuba, called for a simplified and focused agenda at the Tenth Congress, the central theme of which might focus on international cooperation in the prevention of crime and treatment of offenders. The agenda should consider those items that would give a real dimension to that theme, addressing current forms of crime and ways to combat them. It should address the need for justice for minors and women as victims of crime in the twenty-first century. Also, the legal and economic difficulties encountered by former offenders, and principles and norms for post-institutionalized treatment, should be discussed.
The workshops to be held during the Congress would only be useful if they addressed the most important and relevant topics to a large number of countries, she said. It would be important to know the topics in advance to allow sufficient time for countries to prepare for them.
DENYSE DUFRESNE (Canada) hoped the venue and dates of the Tenth Congress would be decided further in advance than had been the case for the Ninth Congress, to allow for better planning. She also hoped there would be fewer problems with respect to the location and setting up of exhibits. Due to the level of attention and amount of time consumed by the consideration of omnibus draft resolutions, Canada felt they would not be appropriate for the Tenth Congress.
At Cairo, she said, resolutions on well-focused issues had not received the same attention in informal working groups that they might have been given
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in main committees that were provided with simultaneous interpretation. All Member States, as well as non-governmental organizations, institutes and experts, should be enabled to contribute to the discussion of draft resolutions. Efforts should be made to keep the number of texts to a minimum.
She said the workshops were such a crucial feature of the Congresses that the rules of procedure should be amended to allow for them to be organized by any interested party, including Member States, crime research institutes and non-governmental organizations. Such a participatory approach would better fulfil the main objectives of the Congresses. As topics, she proposed technological crime, violence in society and an exchange of practical information on programmes and strategies for dealing with violence against women and children.
RENE BREGEON (France) praised the Cairo Congress's workshops on such issues as juvenile justice, computer crime and violent crime, which had stressed practical approaches. Their exchange of experience and practice must be strengthened and pursued to an even greater extent at the next Congress. Interventions of a more general nature should be prepared and submitted several months in advance.
NEHIR ÜNEL (Turkey) said that one of the most successful aspects of the last Crime Congress had been the workshops, which had facilitated the exchange of information among countries. It was essential that the Tenth Congress host similar workshops. She expressed concern about increasing transnational crime and the disturbing links between crimes of terrorism and transnational crime. As long as illegal resources were available to terrorist organizations, it was more difficult to combat them. Those links should be addressed further and specific strategies to address them need to be elaborated.
She suggested the agenda of the Tenth Congress should include international cooperation and practical technical assistance, transnational and economic crimes and the links between transnational organized crime and terrorism. Because of the great need for improvement in the administration of penal justice and in the police forces, and the importance of the exchange of information among police and criminal justice branches, the United Nations information network on crime should be expanded. That matter should also be addressed at the Congress.
Statements on Technical Cooperation
GIORGIO GIACOMELLI, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, said that technological advances had created a global village, but they had also globalized a number of formerly national concerns, particularly crime concerns, defying the capacity of any single State to deal with them. The globalization of organized crime called for a coordinated global response.
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As some countries advanced in the quest for democratization, popular participation, market-oriented economies and good governance, and others embarked on rebuilding their nations after civil strife or war, a basic challenge was the creation of effective mechanisms for crime prevention and fair and humane criminal justice administration, he said. However, many of those countries faced severe resource constraints that impinged on their capacity to obtain and retain the required expertise in the service of their criminal justice systems.
He said that, for the near future, the credibility of the United Nations crime programme would be measured to a large extent by its ability to provide effective support to requesting countries in drafting constitutions, creating independent systems for the administration of justice, establishing police forces that were respectful of the law and setting up national human rights institutions. Those measures, in turn, would determine the credibility of governments.
Stressing the crime programme's responsiveness to technical assistance needs, he said that last year, the secretariat had organized training courses to train trainers of penal personnel in Malawi, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. It had also organized courses to train police in Belarus, and cooperated with Sweden's Wallenberg Institute in conducting a training course for police in Burundi. Through needs assessments and assistance in rebuilding criminal justice institutions, the programme had also been contributing to peace-keeping and peace-building missions in Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Haiti, Rwanda and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
He said the crime secretariat was making concerted efforts to strengthen its links to other programmes and agencies active in related fields, particularly the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP). A joint programme of the Division and the UNDCP was helping Angola, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to develop legal and institutional frameworks to combat money laundering by organized criminal groups. The Division had also participated in missions of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to such countries as Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
Demands placed on the crime programme had been expanding rapidly, he said, without a commensurate increase in resource allocation. He called on the Commission to establish priorities. It needed to examine whether there were sufficient resources to put the programme into operation and, in the absence of those resources, what priority to assign to tasks. Resources should be released from low-priority activities and reassigned to those of higher priority. Those were basic issues that the Commission would have to address in pursuit of strategic management. For example, a disproportionately high
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percentage of the Division's resources were being used to service the Commission, particularly for the preparation of documents.
At the same time, he noted, cost-saving measures could make only a relatively small impact as long as the resource base continued to be one of the smallest sections in the United Nations budget. Given the imperative of resource mobilization for technical assistance projects, the gap in resources could be filled only by Member States. Without general-purpose and earmarked contributions for project implementation, the programme would not be able to meet the expectations of States.
TOICHI FUJIWARA, Director, Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI), described the Institute's training programmes for criminal justice personnel. Criminal justice personnel such as judges, public prosecutors, police officers and other high-ranking officials from over 84 countries had participated, exchanged views and learned contemporary issues relating to criminal justice administration. In addition, lectures were given by UNAFEI faculty and other experts from different fields of criminal justice. "Problem-solving through an integrated approach" was one of the chief characteristics of the programme.
Recent programmes had addressed the effective administration of criminal justice, the institutional treatment of offenders and the fair and efficient administration of criminal justice, he said. It was important to realize international cooperation in the field of firearms to ensure the safety of citizens.
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