Director-General/Executive Director
Mr. Chair,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning, I am pleased to address the 34th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
This session of the CCPCJ is set to be a significant one. This is a time of profound global challenges and a time of inevitable change for the United Nations and for multilateralism.
The UN must change to meet new realities, and the Secretary-General is already pursuing such a change with the UN80 initiative, which targets bold new efficiencies.
Of course, the path forward will be guided, and decided, by Member States and their priorities.
And this Commission can and must send a message about the importance of crime prevention and criminal justice on the global agenda.
Distinguished participants,
The rising tides of violence, volatility, and uncertainty across the globe are shaping a different criminal landscape.
It is apt that you have chosen to dedicate your thematic discussion this year to evolving and emerging forms of organized crime.
Criminal and terrorist groups have seized every opportunity afforded by the instability of recent years to entrench, expand, and escalate.
And the links between criminal and terrorist groups, often born out of mutual convenience, is a growing concern.
Drug trafficking supply chains are mapping themselves to vulnerabilities, re-orienting to less protected ports, and setting up hubs in conflict zones, while synthetic drugs continue to expand.
Armed conflict is driving demand for trafficked firearms, while the violence also benefits migrant smugglers and human traffickers.
The cost of these crimes for people everywhere is clear and stark.
I am also glad to see that you have chosen this session to highlight some forms of crime that are often wrongly perceived to be without victims.
Trafficking in cultural property is rife where governance is fragile, depriving people of their heritage and its ability to foster peace and generate income.
Smuggling of commercial goods undermines trade and can put lives at risk – take substandard and falsified medicines in Africa, for example, which kill almost half a million people every year.
Crimes that affect the environment are immensely destructive, from the illicit wildlife trade destroying ecosystems, to the illegal gold mining industry infiltrating international trade, as described in UNODC’s new global analysis on illegal gold mining, which we will launch this week.
And, while new tech – if used responsibly – offers us new tools - the criminal threats we face are given new depth and urgency by new tech and its misuse.
From transactions to finances, from exploitation to communication, from exchanging know-how to recruitment and planning, criminal and terrorist groups have more options and less barriers than ever before.
And the advent of powerful and accessible artificial intelligence is facilitating illicit activity and generating overwhelming amounts of digital evidence.
Technology has sent some forms of crime skyrocketing. Reports of child sexual abuse materials online have multiplied over the past decade. Tech-enabled organized fraud is one of the fastest growing and most pervasive forms of transnational organized crime.
Meanwhile, justice systems are being starved of the resources and conditions they need to provide equal access to justice for all and soundly manage prisons.
And women and young people continue to face specific and amplified challenges that justice systems are often unequipped to address.
What we face today is a fundamental challenge to security, prosperity, and the rule of law around the world.
Mr. Chair,
The challenges you address here are transnational in scope, and the solutions to these challenges are not through zero-sum games, but mutual wins.
This means intelligence-led, multi-agency operations; swift and uncomplicated judicial cooperation; and a constant exchange of information and best practices.
The work and mandate of UNODC are fundamental to a collective and effective approach.
UNODC equips law enforcement with modern tools and capacities, from advanced methodologies to map and disrupt criminal supply chains, to open-source intelligence training.
UNODC connects criminal justice experts across borders, through practitioner forums, networks and secure communication platforms for more effective investigations and prosecutions.
UNODC produces action-oriented guidance and tools, and in the past year and a half alone we produced guidelines on Joint Investigation Teams, protection of prosecutors, and other issues.
UNODC helps countries implement international standards, from access to justice to prison reform.
Since the CCPCJ last met, our technical assistance has enabled concrete results:
More than 2,500 seizures of illicit commodities, from drugs to weapons to wildlife products and falsified medicines;
More than 400 investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking and migrant smuggling;
In the Amazon, more than 60 narcotics processing labs destroyed;
In Somalia and Mozambique, first-ever convictions for money laundering and terrorism financing;
In Pakistan, a 52 per cent increase in human trafficking investigations in two years;
In Kyrgyzstan, a new automated information system to analyze data on the penal system and forensics.
These are just some examples among many.
And we are also breaking new ground with our partners, from a new situation room for illegal deforestation in Brazil that has led to 300 million dollars in fines, to a new collaboration with INTERPOL to use neurotechnology in the criminal justice system.
But now, UNODC’s impact is threatened by financial difficulties, as you all know.
The resources at our disposal are shrinking as donor countries re-prioritize and re-assess, and as the UN liquidity crisis deepens further.
This is a time to aim for adaptation and efficiency, and UNODC is already exploring how we can do better.
But it is certainly not the time to scale back global investment in crime prevention and criminal justice, both politically and financially.
In this complex moment, we need our Member States to step up and support our work with words, with actions, and with financing.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As criminal threats evolve, it is important to enhance capabilities and cross-border cooperation, addressing both regional and global dimensions.
It is important to uphold and promote the rule of law at all levels and in all aspects, both nationally and internationally.
It is important to invest in sustainable approaches to criminal justice that safeguard victims and reduce the cost of crime on societies.
And it is important to embrace, rather than turn away from, multilateralism and the powerful tools it presents, built on decades of cooperation.
There are several opportunities ahead of us.
The UN Cybercrime Convention signing ceremony in October, in Hanoi, can be a reminder of the enduring power of multilateralism to find common solutions, as we mark 80 years of the United Nations.
The COP30 climate summit in November, in Belem, is a chance to emphasize the damage that organized crime does to the environment, and the need for stronger responses.
The Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption in December, in Doha, will be a moment to reaffirm the rule of law and address the corruption underlying organized crime.
And next year’s Crime Congress in Abu Dhabi will be a chance to set an ambitious criminal justice agenda for the next five years, and underline that criminal matters represent one area where international cooperation must continue and remain robust.
I hope that you will seize these opportunities to stand together for a safer, more just, and more prosperous world.
I wish you a successful session, under the able leadership of Ambassador Zabalgoitia of Mexico, and the bureau, and I look forward to the important outcomes of this session.
Thank you.
