UN TO HOST ASIA-PACIFIC MEETING ON CRIME IN BANGKOK

Press Release
SOC/CP/206

UN TO HOST ASIA-PACIFIC MEETING ON CRIME IN BANGKOK

VIENNA, 2 November (UN Information Service) -- Experts and top government officials from about 23 Asian and Pacific countries are gathering in Bangkok from 2 to 4 November to discuss how crime can be better controlled and prevented at the national and transnational levels.

Some 59 delegates at the meeting, sponsored by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), are focusing on ways of promoting the rule of law, combating international crime, keeping pace with crime prevention techniques and ensuring that justice is fair for all. Delegates include leading government crime officials, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations and the relevant United Nations agencies.

Many developing nations are currently suffering an upsurge of crime in the wake of major political and economic changes. Delegates are discussing conditions or special approaches that would help promote the rule of law and how the United Nations could best provide technical aid needed in post-conflict reconstruction.

As the world becomes more of a global village, new forms or transnational crime are arising, which pose fresh challenges to criminal justice systems. Delegates are also discussing the fight against transnational crime, focusing on problems such as extradition and mutual legal assistance, economic and financial crimes, money laundering, corruption, trafficking in human beings, terrorism and giving technical assistance to countries in need.

A major priority of many nations is to keep pace with new ways to prevent crime, based on traditional measures such as the family's role and formal education, as well as innovative technology. The Bangkok meeting is studying prevention in light of the changing patterns of crime, especially in an age when information technology is rapidly changing.

Another major item being broached by delegates is the treatment of offenders and victims, with key issues of concern centring on investigation, prosecution and penalties. The meeting hopes to provide a forum for the exchange of information and experiences, as well as foster international cooperation and technical assistance in these fields.

- 2 - Press Release SOC/CP/206 3 November 1998

The Bangkok meeting is the first in a series of four regional meetings that aim to collect input for the Tenth Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, scheduled to held in Vienna in April 2000. Three other meetings will be held before the end of February -- in Beirut for the Western Asian region, in Kampala for Africa, and in San Jose for Latin America.

The delegates in Bangkok are also preparing for four workshops to be conducted at the Tenth Congress, on combating corruption, computer crime, community crime prevention and women in the criminal justice system. The workshops should serve as a springboard for expanding the technical assistance capabilities of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme.

To date, the United Nations has held nine international crime congresses, which have served to boost international cooperation in crime control and have recommended vital guidelines and standards on crime prevention and criminal justice.

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