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Monitoring The UN > The UN and Sustainable Development United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) Created in February, 1992, the CCPCJ is a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It has 40 members and meets yearly in Vienna. Interim periods are taken up with intersessional working groups and conferences. The latest meeting of the Commission, its seventh session, took place on 21-30 April, 1998. Crime prevention and control are important elements of sustainable development efforts. Where crime and insecurity plague society, national or international, rational planning faces tremendous obstacles. The United Nations, through its crime prevention and criminal justice programme, is endeavouring to promote cooperation between its Member States in combatting an accelerating crime problem and to bring about common standards of criminal justice in the interests of facilitating adherence and follow-up to international agreements and ensuring the respect for human rights that is necessary for sustainable human development. International efforts to harmonize criminal justice policy date back to the nineteenth century, when representatives of various European nations met periodically to exchange information and to consider common standards in the treatment of offenders. In 1872, cooperation took a step forward when an International Prison Commission (IPC) was set up to collect national prison statistics and make recommendations for prison reform in Europe. When the League of Nations was formed in 1919, it saw as part of its mandate the promotion of the rule of law in the international community. The IPC became affiliated with the League and continued to hold conferences, meeting in 1925, 1930 and 1935. In the latter year, the IPC became the International Penal and Penitentiary Commission (IPPC).1 When the new United Nations was created in 1945, it incorporated crime prevention and standards of criminal justice into its policy-setting role. In December, 1950, the IPPC was dissolved, to be replaced by the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation.2 The same year, the United Nations established an Ad Hoc Committee of Experts to propose international programmes of study and policy in crime prevention and the treatment of offenders. This Ad Hoc Committee was later replaced by the Advisory Committee of Experts on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, itself replaced by the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control (CCPC) in 1971.3 The CCPC was made up of high-level government representatives and experts in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. It met every two years in Vienna and reported to ECOSOC. Its mandate was to coordinate United Nations criminal justice activities and to apply itself to the setting of standards and to preparations for the United Nations Congresses on Crime Prevention and the Treatment of Offenders, called for by the General Assembly in 1950 to carry on the method of the IPPC. Like the IPPC, these Congresses were to meet every five years to discuss strategy.4 At the eighth Congress in 1990, a report presented by the CCPC called for a new, high-level body to coordinate the expanding mandate of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme. Crime, globally, was on the increase, with transnational and organized crime becoming especially worrying. In 1992, the new body, the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, replaced the CCPC. Its first session was held on 21-30 April, 1992.5 The United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme: The United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, supervised by the CCPCJ, is made up of a network of regional institutes:
In 1995 it was decided that the United Nations Congresses would assume an advisory relationship to these institutes.6 In the immediate post-war period, the United Nations Congresses focused on the priorities of the IPC and the IPPC - juvenile crime, prison reform, and standards of management and treatment of offenders. By the 1970s, however, the idea that criminal justice policy ought to form a part of development planning took a firm hold. A more integrated approach was sought that took account of the relationship between criminal behaviour and social and economic conditions. The range of issues broadened as the composition of the United Nations changed and attention turned more and more to the problems of developing countries. New crimes also entered the discussions, including environmental crimes, terrorism, torture, and corruption.7 Sustainable Development and Crime: Sustainable development has as a basic requirement an environment of stability and security, for people and investment. That environment will not be present where crime leaves people in constant fear for their lives and discourages the pursuit of socially-beneficial economic enterprise. Governments cannot carry out their development obligations when criminal organizations have taken over whole segments of the national territory or economy, depriving the authorities of tax revenues and encouraging corruption. Drug abuse undermines human health and productivity, and perpetuates poverty through the dependence of entire communities on drug traffickers and drug-related activities. On the global level, crime acts as a destabilizing force within the international structure. International crime control and prevention, therefore, is a vital area of concern to the United Nations. Not only is crime on the increase worldwide, it is becoming more complex and intractable. The current trend toward economic liberalization and globalization, coupled with ever-more efficient communications technologies and the post-Cold War opening of borders, has multiplied the opportunities for and impact of criminal behaviour.8 Entire systems are being subverted, destroying any hope for sustainable development, even in some of the more advanced countries. Globally, the social and financial costs are enormous. Of particular concern to the international community is transnational crime, especially its links to drug trafficking. In a report on the World Summit for Social Development, held in Copenhagen in 1995, it is noted that:
The prime example of this, the report claims, is Russia, where attempts to introduce democracy and market-driven economics provided opportunities for criminal organizations to gain control of banks and business enterprises, move vast amounts of wealth out of the country illegally, and, deliberately or otherwise, de-stabilize the Russian currency. The result has been chaos and lack of development, with resources going into "short-term investments and luxury spending," not "productive opportunities" that would bring long-term economic and social benefits. Organized crime seeks out the weak, those countries that are embarking on development or in political or economic transition. The result is the disappearance of aid money, the corruption of public officials, the irresponsible exploitation of natural resources, and the emergence of underground economies that deprive governments of necessary tax revenue. Poverty within these countries is aggravated and potential is wasted. High on the list of priorities for international crime-fighting is the problem of money-laundering. Money-laundering allows criminals to retain, move and transfer illicit earnings while hiding their origins. It is a particularly difficult crime to solve because of the increasing sophistication of the international financial system and the lack of uniformity in legal systems within the global community. The United Nations is promoting the revision of national laws to better provide mechanisms for tracing and even seizing financial assets acquired through criminal activity.
It was deemed important, therefore, that Member States give "due attention to the practical implementation of the provisions of the Naples Political Declaration and Global Action Plan." Signed in 1994, this Declaration asked governments "to harmonize legislation and ensure their justice systems were provided with the means to prevent and control organized transnational crime."11 Following that Declaration, the CCPCJ undertook "a variety of practical actions and legal protocols...in support of objectives including the establishment of databases, together with agreements on monitoring and information exchange."12 Priority will now go to the finalization of an international convention which, it is hoped, will coincide with the Tenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and the Treatment of Offenders in the year 2000. The CCPCJ put forward a number of draft resolutions and resolutions for adoption by ECOSOC that reflected the multi-faceted challenge of transnational organized crime. Among the issues addressed were:
There was a suggestion that the agenda for the Eighth Session of the CCPCJ, to be held in 1999, would include the issue of violence against women. The Centre for International Crime Prevention of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention of the Secretariat The other United Nations body that plays a significant role in crime prevention and control efforts at the international level is the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division, recently reorganized and renamed the Centre for International Crime Prevention of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention of the Secretariat. Also based in Vienna, the Centre provides secretariat services for United Nations work in criminal matters, oversees and coordinates the work of the institutes of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, formulates, implements and reports on United Nations policy, works to establish standards in criminal justice procedure, and collects and analyses crime data from Member States. It also promotes public awareness of United Nations crime concerns, furthers international agreements, promotes research into new crime developments, and organizes the United Nations Crime Congresses. Technical expertise and assistance in crime prevention and control is provided and technical cooperation between Member States is encouraged.16 The address of the Centre is: The United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network (UNCJIN) The Centre for International Crime Prevention of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention has established a United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network, a global "electronic clearing-house" where information on crime prevention and criminal justice matters can be exchanged and circulated. The United Nations Interregional Crime Research Institute (UNICRI) The research body of the network of institutes that make up the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme is the United Nations Interregional Crime Research Institute. Established in 1968 as the United Nations Social Defence Research Institute (UNSDRI) to conduct research for the criminal justice programme, it later extended its mandate to include training and fieldwork in developing countries. In 1987, it became the United Nations Interregional Crime Research Institute (UNICRI).17Human Rights Because the United Nations crime programme integrates human rights considerations into its criminal justice efforts, there is a direct connection between the programme and human rights efforts in the United Nations system as a whole. In keeping with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations endeavours within its criminal justice mandate to ensure the humane treatment of offenders and alleged offenders. To that end it promotes the adoption of and adherence to standards for their treatment. The human rights mandate as a whole is coordinated by the Commission on Human Rights, but the question of human rights in the context of criminal justice overlaps with the concerns of the CCPCJ. The UNCJIN site provides links to UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, UNRISD, and UNDCP. Searches of the sites of these bodies will provide information on their activities or involvement in the area of crime prevention. See http://www.ifs.univie.ac.at/~uncjin/otherorg.html Links to criminal justice sites: http://www.ifs.univie.ac.at/uncjin/availabl.html Start at UNCJIN's site under "Other Information." This provides lists of links to further links in the area of criminal justice. Reference 1United Nations,
The United Nations and Crime Prevention (New York: United
Nations, 1991) 3-4. |
