31st Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Will Be Held in Vienna
Next week, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) will meet in Vienna between 16 and 18 May. If you want to know what the main tasks of the CCPCJ are and what topics will be discussed this year at the 31st session, read on.
The 31st session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) will be held in Vienna. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Herbert Ortner, Vienna, Austria [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]
Between 16 and 18 May, the 31st session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) will be held this year in Vienna, using a hybrid format.
The 31st session will bring together participants from Member States, UN agencies, intergovernmental organisations, civil society and the professional community in Vienna and online.
The meeting, which this year will be held under the theme "Strengthening the Use of Digital Evidence in Criminal Justice and Combating Cybercrime, including the Abuse and Exploitation of Minors in Illegal Activities Using the Internet", can boast high-level speakers on its opening day such as Collen Vixen Kelapile, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) or Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
In addition, a workshop of the United Nations Network for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (PNI) institutes will be organised on the first day, dedicated to "Improving criminal justice responses to Internet-related crimes against children".
One of the aims of the CCPCJ meeting is to strengthen international cooperation to combat and prevent illegal trade in specimens of wild animals and plants.
In addition, follow-up measures to the Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice will be discussed and adopted. An important item on the agenda will be the promotion of an effective national legal framework to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse by engaging and encouraging action by all stakeholders, including public-private partnerships. Over 80 side events will take place online during the 31st session of the CCPCJ.
Topics range from implementing the Kyoto Declaration on Wildlife Crime, ensuring access to justice for women, preventing and combating terrorism, promoting the role and voice of women in combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling, addressing and responding to racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, measuring gender-based killings of women and girls, and more.
What is the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice?
The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) is one of the functional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). The organisation's main responsibility is to formulate policy in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice for the United Nations. As part of its work, the Commission supports international efforts to combat national and international crime and improves the efficiency of criminal justice administration. A major benefit of the organisation is that it allows member states to share information and expertise in order to develop national and international strategies, and to identify priorities for combating crime.