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Technical Cooperation Urged In Crime Prevention

Published: Wed 7 Sep 2005 04:14 PM
Technical Cooperation Urged In Crime Prevention, UN Secretary-General Report
New York, Sep 6 2005
With a big jump in donor state funding to $27.8 million, the United Nations office responsible for crime prevention has called on its members to adopt universal protocols and border cooperation to strengthen the worldwide partnership against terrorism, drugs, organized crime and corruption, according to a new report by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Technical cooperation across borders figures strongly in the effort to combat organized crime and reconstruct criminal justice systems, says the report to the Security Council highlighting the work of the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
To that end, the programme has worked to assist countries in implementing 12 universal conventions or protocols for combating terrorism, and incorporating them in their national legislations, enabling them to fight crime across borders with equal force of the law.
Developing “universal jurisdiction over the unlawful and intentional use of explosives and other lethal devices … against various defined public places with intent to kill” and blocking and seizing the finances related to terrorism are just two of the coventions.
Since January 2003 the programme has supported more than 100 states in strengthening their legal systems and encouraging international cooperation using funds that have grown by 104 per cent since last year. Projects are also being implemented in several countries to help governments assess trafficking of persons, develop national strategies, and build capacity for law enforcement and judiciary.
Information and training on providing HIV/AIDS care to asylum seekers who are most at risk to falling prey to human traffickers will be provided to countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, and Myanmar. The office has also provided expertise to a number of peacekeeping operations with post-conflict reconstruction work and strategies in enforcing the rule of the law.
ENDS

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