ICPC pays tribute to Mr Eduardo VetereOne of the pioneers of international cooperation, in the area of justice reform and crime prevention, retires from his post.
After serving the UNODC Office in Vienna for many years, Eduardo VETERE is retiring from his position.
Eduardo was inevitably one of the advocates of broader international cooperation in the field of criminal justice and responses to crime. He participated in the establishment and the maintenance of the United Nations’ Network of Institutes on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice of which ICPC is member. Eduardo has been one of the main players in the organization of the ten UN Congresses on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. He played a key role in the 10th Congress held this year in Bangkok, where he was honoured and praised for his work. He has taken part in peacekeeping missions in Cambodia, Irak and the Western Sahara.
Shortly before retiring from his post, Eduardo informed us that ECOSOC has approved all the resolutions which were issued during the last session of the 2005 UN Commission meetings in Vienna. The ECOSOC meeting took place on July 22nd 2005 (See : Doc. E/2005/30) as ECOSOC resolutions 2005/14 through 2005/23 on the UNODC Web site).
The last message Eduardo drafted right before he moved to the South of Italy to "live underneath an olive tree", reads as follows:
“Even if I have mixed feelings about what is happening around us and what
is currently going on in our Organization, I remain a firm believer in
the ideals enshrined in the UN Charter - for the realization of which I
have dedicated my entire professional life. I am also a strong believer in
the irreplaceable role of the UN Secretariat as a powerful tool to
assist countries to reform their institutions, to stimulate change for
good governance, to strengthen their capacities to ensure justice and
end impunity, thereby reinforcing the rule of law nationally
and internationally: we owe it to the people of our countries and to
our children - to their very future.”
We will all miss his unique style, a style he personally described as « full of energy, passion, sometimes unpredictable, and above all very Italian ».
The entire ICPC family would like to wish Eduardo the very best of luck in his new life, hoping that his retirement will be as exciting as his career has been over the past years. | 
