con't....
Yvan Dandurand, from ICCLR (
more info on Institute) highlighted some of the factors favouring country-readiness for technical assistance, and the particular problems and needs of small states. ICPC and ICCLR also wrote the
background paper for the workshop.
The UN Guidelines for Crime Prevention, adopted by ECOSOC in 2002, will be followed up by a questionnaire to raise awareness of the Guidelines and assess the extent of their implementation and the needs of countries for technical assistance in this area. A resolution acknowledging the questionnaire was passed at the Commission, and it will now be forwarded to member states for their comments, and for eventual completion, in time to report back to the 16th Session of the Commission in 2007. During the debate on the resolution, some countries supported the use of questionnaires which conform closely to their respective guidelines, as has been the practice in the past, while others argued for a more precise data-collection instrument which could yield more accurate information on the types and extent of crime prevention strategies and practice.
Some countries, especially those in developing regions, expressed their concern about the absence of the necessary information systems and their inability to provide accurate information. There was also concern about ‘questionnaire fatigue’, given the large number of norms and standards for which information is regularly requested from member states. The questionnaire aims to provide a summary of country, sub-regional and local-level implementation of the UN Guidelines, to identify particular technical assistance needs with respect to prevention, as well as data-gathering instruments and follow-up tools, and identify countries able to provide such assistance.
The other major theme of this Session was the revitalization of the Commission. The consensus seemed to be that future meetings will be shorter and more focused, both in terms of the formal and informal meetings. There will be a stronger distinction between the role and work of the Conference of States Parties, which is responsible for the legal follow-up and implementation of the UN Conventions, and the role and work of the Crime Commission, which is responsible for examining existing and new crime trends, developing norms and standards, and supporting technical assistance to enable countries to meet those norms and standards.
The content of future meetings of the Commission are likely to be modified to include targeted and technical presentations by experts and practitioners, rather than the current less focused thematic discussions. Given these changes, the Programme Network Institutes, and ICPC as its member, could have a more concerted role at the Commission meetings. More information on the Commission meeting at
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html.
