United Nations Crime Congress in Abu Dhabi closes with pledges to strengthen justice systems

ABU DHABI, 1 October (UN Information Service) - The Fifteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice concluded today with more than 60 countries agreeing time-bound actions to strengthen criminal justice responses, expand access to justice and improve international cooperation to tackle global crime threats.

Through the Pledge4Justice initiative, Member States made concrete commitments through 2031 to translate the Abu Dhabi Declaration into action. The Government of the United Arab Emirates, which hosted the 15th Congress, pledged funding to support effective follow up on the Declaration and ensure that the commitments made in Abu Dhabi remain on the international agenda.

"The nature and scale of crime worldwide and its impact on our common aspirations for security, development and the rule of law are evolving towards an existential threat to humanity and the planet. This reality calls for more, not less cooperation; for more, not less interoperability," said Monica Juma, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in her closing remarks. "Abu Dhabi demonstrated that consensus is still possible even at a time when multilateralism is considered under considerable pressure. Even when countries come to the table with different perspectives, different priorities and different interests, we can find common ground when we focus on the collective challenges that we face. This is especially so when we are guided by our true north star - namely the needs of the people we are here to protect."

The Abu Dhabi Declaration, which was adopted by acclamation at the start of the Crime Congress, offers a forward-looking global framework to strengthen international criminal justice cooperation against fast-evolving crime challenges and exploitation of digital technologies.

The pledges in support of the Declaration reflect three broad areas of action:

• Harnessing technology and innovation while strengthening responses to technology-enabled crime, including through digital justice and stronger cybercrime capabilities;
• Strengthening international cooperation and responses to organized and other serious crime, including through action on illicit financial flows, asset recovery and transnational crime; and
• Building more effective, inclusive and people-centred criminal justice systems, including through commitments spanning crime prevention, access to justice, victim protection, rehabilitation and reintegration.

The Crime Congress represents the world's largest gathering of policymakers, civil society and other stakeholders in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. The Abu Dhabi Congress is the biggest Crime Congress to date, with some 119 countries represented and more than 5,100 participants from Member States, the private sector, civil society and academia.

The Abu Dhabi Declaration of the Fifteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice: https://docs.un.org/A/CONF.241/L.1