Director General/Executive Director
Delivered on behalf of the UNODC Executive Director by Director, Division for Treaty Affairs
Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished delegates,
On behalf of the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, allow me to thank you for the opportunity to brief this committee.
UNODC's integrated support directly addresses acute threats to peace and security, human rights and development, and seeks to enable healthy lives and the enjoyment of rights, safer communities and prosperity.
As guardian of bedrock UN conventions against crime and corruption, and as a lead provider of technical and legislative assistance to implement the drug conventions and the global counter-terrorism instruments as well as UN standards and norms on crime prevention and criminal justice, UNODC helps to build effective responses from the ground up.
As this committee knows well, a prerequisite for addressing transnational challenges is international cooperation.
A key intergovernmental forum that has underpinned cooperative action for 65 years is the UN Congresses on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
UNODC is supporting preparations towards the 14th Congress next year in Kyoto, which will focus on advancing crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
With a decade to deliver on the SDGs, we are not yet on track to meet agreed targets. The Crime Congress is thus a crucial opportunity to spur progress.
Our best means to do this are built on shared commitments and agreed frameworks.
This is illustrated by global efforts to reduce corruption and recover stolen assets - both targets under SDG 16, and at the same time essential to achieving progress on the whole of the 2030 agenda.
The UN Convention against Corruption remains the principal instrument supporting anti-corruption action. The General Assembly has recognized the importance of this work with the first special session dedicated to this topic to be held in 2021.
The eighth session of the Conference of the States Parties in Abu Dhabi this December will take work forward under the Convention's peer review mechanism, which represents an important means to encourage effective implementation.
It has taken a decade of negotiation, but Member States have now also agreed a review mechanism for the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols on human trafficking, migrant smuggling and firearms.
Next year we will mark the 20th anniversary of the Convention, which has more than stood the test of time, underpinning global responses to evolving and emerging transnational challenges including maritime crime, wildlife and forest crime and cybercrime.
In response to GA resolution 73/187, UNODC prepared the report before this committee containing the views of Member States on the challenges faced in countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes.
In the report, Member States highlighted the importance of international cooperation to combat cybercrime.
This is a crucial area of consensus UNODC has helped to develop, and we are working with governments to prevent and counter cybercrime through training for police, prosecutors and judges.
Cybercrime enables many other crimes and facilitates illicit financial flows. Sharpening responses to counter misuse of technologies for criminal and terrorist purposes, including money laundering, is a major priority.
UNODC is helping Member States to disrupt these threats through integrated national, regional and inter-regional responses and operational coordination.
Furthermore, we are providing scientific and forensic support, strengthening capacities to identify, secure and evaluate evidence.
In this and other work we seek synergies with partners across the UN system and with regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians and more.
Alongside our technical assistance to prevent and counter migrant smuggling and human trafficking, UNODC is part of the Executive Committee of the UN Network on Migration.
As coordinator of the Inter-agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons, UNODC is working with 24 partners to strengthen collective efforts against this crime.
In coordination with the Office of Counter-Terrorism and others, UNODC has stepped up support to combat the financing of terrorism, including through its linkages with organized crime.
We are also helping countries deal with the challenges posed by returning foreign terrorist fighters.
Partnerships supporting balanced, science- and rights-based approaches to drugs are a mainstay of UNODC support to Member States to address and counter the world drug problem, in line with the Ministerial Declaration agreed at a high-level segment at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March.
This includes our efforts to facilitate the exchange of expertise and experiences within the Commission, as well as lead a UN system coordination task team. It also encompasses our assistance on the ground to promote international standards on drug use prevention and treatment, as well as effective law enforcement and judicial cooperation to counter trafficking of illicit drugs and precursors.
A through line in all of our work is a focus on prevention.
Alternative development can effectively prevent cultivation of illicit crops by offering sustainable licit livelihoods, and UNODC is implementing programmes with an emphasis on public-private partnerships and community empowerment.
We are supporting Member States in increasing treatment as an alternative to imprisonment and punishment for people with drug use disorders, and in improving access to controlled medicines for pain relief, while preventing diversion and abuse.
As a co-sponsoring organization of UNAIDS, UNODC facilitates the development, implementation and scaling up of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for people who use drugs, and for people in prisons.
Prevention is also at the core of our support to promote human-rights-compliant and gender-sensitive crime prevention and criminal justice reforms.
UNODC works to prevent the involvement of children in crime and violence, as well as stop their recruitment and exploitation by terrorists.
We assist Member States to reduce imprisonment through crime prevention, improved access to legal aid and the use of alternatives. We promote sound prison management, including the management of violent extremist prisoners, and prevention of radicalization in prisons and probation settings.
UNODC's comprehensive approach is backed not only by field expertise and experience but our research and analysis.
This year UNODC has provided the international community with research exploring conflict situations and vulnerability to human trafficking, and examining the opioid crises affecting different parts of the world. We have investigated drivers of high levels of violence while identifying success factors for its reduction.
UNODC undertakes this broad range of activities with a commitment to evaluation and an eye to innovation, actively exploring how new technologies can support crime prevention and criminal justice.
Our Office has strengthened integration of gender aspects across our work, and we continue to implement Secretariat-wide reforms to streamline processes and integrate programming in line with development system reforms.
Distinguished delegates,
I will stop here. As you can see in the reports before you, this is just a brief summary of our work across the pillars of UN action.
I thank you for your attention and welcome your support. UNODC remains fully engaged in delivering on our mandates and living up to the UN pledge to leave no one behind.