Director-General/Executive Director
Your Royal Highness, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the United Arab Emirates,
Your Excellency, Mr. Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Minister of Justice of the United Arab Emirates,
Your Excellency, Mr. Takashi Yamashita, Minister of Justice of Japan,
Excellencies, Ministers and Heads of Delegations,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning,
I am delighted to welcome you all to the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
Today, the world convenes in Abu Dhabi to reaffirm that the rule of law and criminal justice are essential to the safety and security of people and the planet.
The breadth of this gathering reflects the determination to make this a moment for action.
Today, over 110 countries gather in this room, represented by more than 5,100 participants and delegations led by more than 40 Ministers, to speak at more than 200 events, alongside experts, the private sector, civil society, youth and academia, from every region of the world.
These numbers speak for themselves – in fact this is the largest Congress to date.
Such a remarkable turnout is an affirmation of your commitment to the rule of law and criminal justice.
So, I want to thank all of you for being here and for showing up, especially during a busy week when the world was also gathering in New York.
I also want to take this early opportunity to thank our hosts, the United Arab Emirates, for staying the course this past year and for the extraordinary determination and preparations that have brought us to this moment.
I congratulate the incoming President of the Congress as he takes up his important role and wish him every success in the days ahead.
I also convey my gratitude to Japan, our hosts in Kyoto five years ago, for the legacy they have entrusted to us.
And I thank all the staff of UNOV and UNODC for their quiet, yet persistent hard work behind the scenes, I am deeply grateful for their dedication in making this week possible.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today, we are passing the baton from Kyoto to Abu Dhabi.
And as we do so, we carry forward the spirit of multilateralism that inspired this Congress five years ago; the belief that even on the most vexing questions, we can find common ground around shared challenges and shared responsibilities.
That spirit matters more than ever today.
Because the 15th Crime Congress takes place at a critical time.
I have just come from the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where there was a clear consensus around the need for multilateral action against transnational organized crime.
Yet that message comes against a challenging backdrop; just as the challenges we face demand more international cooperation, faith in that cooperation is being tested in some quarters.
But we cannot afford to retreat into our corners at a time when threats are converging across borders, across regions, and globally.
This Congress gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that multilateralism can still bring countries together around the problems that affect people’s daily lives.
Abu Dhabi must rebuild confidence in international cooperation.
Excellencies,
Historically, the Crime Congress has always met at moments of global shift.
This has made this convening a critical platform to redefine the crime prevention and criminal justice agenda.
In 1955, when the first Congress was held, the United Nations itself was still very much in its infancy and the idea of international cooperation on crime was only beginning to take shape.
More recently, five years ago in Kyoto, it met in the midst of a global pandemic that disrupted every aspect of our lives.
Today, we find ourselves at another inflection point.
The ground beneath us is shifting once more.
And our response must shift with it.
Technology and artificial intelligence are advancing at extraordinary speed.
The same platforms that connect billions of people around the world offering them services are also connecting criminals, operating in the shadows.
The same digital currencies that move legitimate money are also being appropriated by criminals to conceal their profits.
And the same digital tools that bring people together can also be turned against them, to deceive, manipulate and exploit.
Beyond simply accelerating criminal activities, technology is changing the character of crime itself and even transforming the way familiar crimes are committed.
Organized crime today no longer fit neatly into isolated categories, and it reaches across the entire criminal justice value chain.
Criminal networks are exploiting and infiltrating weaknesses at every stage, threatening the systems on which our economies and societies depend.
They are also taking advantage of conflict and instability, and in some places, they are themselves adding fuel to the flames.
Meanwhile, corruption and financial crime are draining public resources and undermining trust in institutions.
And the pressures on our justice systems, especially prisons, are only getting worse.
Excellencies,
These may look like separate challenges, but they are increasingly converging and complicating the threat landscape, with significant negative consequences for people.
And this brings us to the heart of our Congress: protecting people.
Because those most exposed to this complex web of challenges are often those with the least ability to protect themselves: a child recruited by a criminal gang; a woman facing violence in her home or through her phone; someone unable to access legal aid; a young person lured into a scam network after being promised a better future.
Protecting these people must be the measure against which we judge our efforts over the coming week.
It must be our north star.
Excellencies,
For seven decades, the Crime Congress has helped countries take their bearings together, shaping international standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, and giving direction to the work that followed.
It has laid the foundation for a growing body of evidence and research that helps us to better understand what crime looks like and how it is evolving.
Our task this week is to make sure that our laws, institutions and responses can move at the speed of the threats we face.
What does that mean in practice?
It means identifying vulnerabilities that crimes are exploiting to cause harm.
It means creating responsive policy, legal and operational frameworks that anchor the right responses.
It means sustaining investment in institutions, legal aid, and reforms that make justice more accessible, particularly to women, children and those facing the greatest barriers.
It means making technology part of the solution, so that it does not become an accelerator of harm, but a force for good and a bridge towards more effective and efficient justice.
And it means working together and connecting the dots across borders, across sectors, and across institutions.
These are the essential building blocks for justice systems that people can reach, trust, use and feel protected.
Excellencies,
We have not come to Abu Dhabi simply to describe how the world has changed.
We have come to decide how we must respond.
The Abu Dhabi Declaration gives us a good starting point.
However, a declaration is only as good as its implementation.
That is where the Pledge for Justice initiative can make a difference.
It can help turn political commitments into practical action and keep us focused on what justice means in the lives of people and communities.
I am particularly pleased to learn that we already have over 40 pledges, and I encourage all of you to make strong, concrete commitments of your own.
A pledge made today is a promise about the world we leave behind tomorrow.
To guarantee a just future, we must therefore also listen to those who will inherit it.
So, I am equally pleased that, later today, young delegates will have their say through our Generation Justice initiative.
Their voices must help shape the road ahead.
And that road must also go beyond Abu Dhabi.
In the weeks to come, we will carry the momentum of this Congress back to Vienna to the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and later to the reconvened session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in December.
Each of these moments offer us an opportunity to turn the commitments made here into concrete progress, to keep the momentum going.
At the same time, we must continue to strengthen the international normative framework itself, including by signing and accelerating the entry into force of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime.
Because if crime can cross borders at the click of a button, our cooperation must be agile and able to move just as quickly, to prevent, manage, resolve, and protect.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The world will not stop changing.
Technology will continue to innovate and proliferate.
Criminal networks will continue to adapt and test our borders, our institutions and our responses.
Our task is to build systems resilient enough to respond when tested.
To keep our bearings when the landscape shifts.
To adapt without losing sight of our principles.
And above all, to remember what lies at the heart of this work: protecting people, protecting communities, and protecting our planet and the future.
At a time when confidence in multilateralism is faltering, let Abu Dhabi be a testament to international cooperation.
Let it be the Congress where we adjust our sails and where we renew our confidence in working together and delivering together for a safer, more secure and more just world for all.
I wish you a productive and successful 15th Crime Congress.
I thank you for your kind attention.
