24 May 1989

15th plenary meeting

Review of the functioning and programme of work of the United Nations in crime prevention and criminal justice

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling the responsibility assumed by the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice in pursuance of Economic and Social Council resolution 155 C (VII) of 13 August 1948 and General Assembly resolution 415 (V) of 1 December 1950,

Recalling also Economic and Social Council resolutions 1986/11 of 21 May 1986, 1987/53 of 28 May 1987 and 1988/44 of 27 May 1988, and General Assembly resolutions 40/32 of 29 November 1985, 41/107 of 4 December 1986 and 42/59 of 30 November 1987,

Alarmed at the increase both in incidence and seriousness of crime in many parts of the world, including conventional and non-conventional criminality, which undermines the development process, impairs the quality of life and threatens human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Bearing in mind the fact that crime has assumed a transnational character, which calls for a concerted international response,

Convinced of the urgent need to strengthen international co-operation in order to face the challenge posed by contemporary forms of crime,

Determined to improve regional, interregional and international co-operation to achieve further progress in combating crime, particularly in its new forms and dimensions,

Recognizing the pivotal role of the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control in providing guidance in this field through the elaboration of draft instruments, model agreements and guidelines in crime prevention and criminal justice, the preparation of United Nations congresses and the co-ordination of United Nations activities,

Recalling that 1988 is the fortieth anniversary of the establishment of the programme of the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice,

Determined to make further progress in the implementation of the conclusions and recommendations of the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders and the relevant Economic and Social Council and General Assembly resolutions on the review of the functioning and programme of work of the United Nations in crime prevention and criminal justice,

Aware of the constraints on the resources available to the United Nations and to the Secretary-General in allocating them to particular programmes,

Noting with alarm that the present capacity and the status of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch of the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs are not commensurate with its enlarged responsibilities and expanded programme mandates,

1. Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General concerning the progress made in the implementation of the conclusions of the review of the functioning and programme of work of the United Nations in crime prevention and criminal justice;

2. Reaffirms its conviction of the importance of the programme of the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice and the necessity to strengthen it in order to make it more fully responsive to the needs and expectations of Member States;

3. Reaffirms also the value of the quinquennial United Nations congresses on the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders in fostering the exchange of information and experiences and recommends that the congresses focus on priority issues for in-depth examination and expand the number of workshops on specific topics involving the regional and interregional institutes, the Arab Security Studies and Training Centre, non-governmental organizations and relevant professional associations;

4. Notes that, while serious efforts have been made to implement recommendations related to the substantive aspects of the programme, more attention should be paid to the existing structure and level of management of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch of the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs in pursuance of Economic and Social Council resolutions 1986/11 and 1987/53 and General Assembly resolution 42/59;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to take steps to implement paragraph 3 (a) of Economic and Social Council resolution 1987/53, in which he was requested to develop the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch as a specialized body in the field of crime and justice;

6. Notes with concern the shortage of staff of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch needed to carry out the multiple tasks mandated by the policy-making bodies, including action-oriented research, collection and dissemination of information, preparation of reports and technical co-operation, and reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to increase the number of regular posts assigned to the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch, at least to the former level;

7. Requests the Secretary-General, in preparing his proposals for the medium-term plan for the period 1992-1995, to incorporate a separate programme on crime and justice and to include in the programme budget for the biennium 1990-1991 sufficient resources in support of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch to enable it to implement fully its programme activities;

8. Further requests the Secretary-General and the organizations concerned to take appropriate measures for the full implementation of the conclusions and recommendations adopted as a result of the programme review, as contained in Economic and Social Council resolutions 1986/11, 1987/53 and 1988/44 and General Assembly resolution 42/59;

9. Calls upon Member States to contribute more generously to the United Nations Trust Fund for Social Defence so as to enable the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch and the regional and interregional institutes to intensify technical co-operation activities and organize training courses and regional seminars on more effective crime prevention and criminal justice policies and strategies in the context of development;

10. Takes note of the efforts made towards the establishment of a global crime prevention and criminal justice information network and requests the Secretary-General to secure adequate resources for its full realization, including:

(a) Designing the specifications for the system;

(b) Recruiting a specialist to implement it, ensuring access to all potential users and taking advantage of existing information networks;

11. Urges Governments in the process of improving the management of criminal justice to consider the use of suitable information technology including electronic data processing, and requests the Secretary-General, within existing resources, to develop guidelines and training materials on the use of information technology in the management of criminal justice for interested Member States, and to seek additional extrabudgetary resources to expand that work;

12. Requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to improve the efficiency of the implementation of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme;

13. Further requests the Secretary-General to continue making the necessary provisions for the optimal functioning of the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control, as requested by the Economic and Social Council in its resolutions 1986/11 and 1987/53;

14. Determines that, in view of the crucial role of the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control as the preparatory body for the Eighth Congress and in view of the various draft instruments and widely ranging recommendations stemming from the preparatory meetings, the eleventh session of the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control, to be held in 1990 before the Congress, should be extended by two days;

15. Decides to authorize the Chairman of the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control to convene, whenever necessary, intersessional working groups in co-operation with the Secretariat and to designate special rapporteurs, in pursuance of Economic and Social Council resolution 1986/11, to consider priority issues of concern to Member States and prepare recommendations thereon, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources;

16. Requests the Secretary-General, in co-operation with the regional and interregional institutes, the regional commissions and relevant agencies, to intensify the operational aspects of the United Nations programme in crime prevention and criminal justice, inter alia, through the formulation and implementation of technical assistance projects on specific crime prevention and criminal justice issues;

17. Further requests the Secretary-General to strengthen the professional capacity of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch in order to support interregional advisory services and follow-up the recommendations made at the country level;

18. Urges the Secretary-General to seek increased support for the critically needed interregional advisory services in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, to expand such services and to provide additional interregional and regional advisers as soon as budgetary and extrabudgetary resources permit;

19. Invites the United Nations funding agencies, in particular the United Nations Development Programme and the Department of Technical Co-operation for Development, to continue to provide financial support to the United Nations regional and interregional institutes for crime prevention and criminal justice so as to assist them in carrying out their technical co-operation programmes, and invites other United Nations entities, such as the World Bank, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control and the United Nations Children's Fund, to support projects in this field relating to their areas of concern;

20. Invites the regional commissions to increase their involvement in activities related to crime prevention and criminal justice by establishing closer collaborative ties with the regional institutes, and to designate focal points to co-ordinate technical co-operation activities undertaken at the regional and national levels, and requests the Secretary-General to provide the necessary resources;

21. Expresses its appreciation to the Arab Security Studies and Training Centre at Riyadh for organizing annual meetings on co-ordination of activities of the regional and interregional institutes, which helped strengthen existing collaborative arrangements between the Secretariat and the institutes, and requests the Secretary-General to ensure appropriate follow-up of agreed programmes;

22. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the full co-ordination of activities relating to crime prevention and criminal justice in the United Nations system, paying particular attention to the strengthening of collaboration with the United Nations drug control bodies and the Centre for Human Rights;

23. Urges the Secretary-General to promote joint initiatives involving the Secretariat, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and the professional community, to support the full realization of the project on the establishment of an advisory council of scholars and scientific organizations, and to inform the Committee of progress made in that regard;

24. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the Council, at its first regular session of 1990, a progress report on the implementation of the present resolution, paying particular attention to paragraph 4 of Economic and Social Council resolution 1986/11, paragraphs 3 (a) and 4 of Council resolution 1987/53 and paragraph 5 of General Assembly resolution 42/59.