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2024 Handbook

Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ)

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The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice is an ancillary body of the Economic and Social Council, and primarily responsible for the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice program. The Commission is charged with coordinating international efforts to combat national and transnational crime and utilizing criminal law to address such problems as threats to the environment, youth crime and urban violence. Additionally, the Commission is responsible for promoting the efficiency, integrity and impartiality of criminal justice systems. The Commission meets on an annual basis to discuss these areas of concern and reports its findings and recommendations.

Equal access to justice for all Equal access to justice for all

Equal Access to Justice for all refers to the subject area within the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) which focuses specifically on ensuring that legal systems in all Member States afford their citizens equal access to justice and legal consideration. Maintaining the legitimacy of the rule of law is necessary to sustaining the sovereignty of states, and thus is a primary concern of the United Nations. Ensuring that all persons, regardless of their identity, have equal access to impartial arbitration before the law is a cornerstone of stability in Member States.

The United Nations Charter, paired with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), has set the foundation for equal treatment of all persons before the law. While the Charter and UDHR have articulated a precedent for equal access to justice, domestic law is often regarded as an internal matter by Member States. This has resulted in slow progress towards the goal of equal access to justice.

Past United Nations action advocating for equal access to justice has been characterized largely by advising Member States. Three advisory bodies preceded the CCPCJ: the International Group of Experts on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (1949-1950), the Advisory Committee of Experts on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (1950-1971), and Committee on Crime Prevention and Control (1971-1992). Each of these advisory bodies worked towards ensuring equal access to justice as a matter of crime prevention. However they largely focused on specific crimes and punishments rather than broader accessibility to justice and systemic issues. Following these more specific advisory bodies, the CCPCJ was formed in 1992 by Resolution 1992/22 from these bodies as a full commission of the Economic and Social Council.

The CCPCJ directly oversees the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which takes a more involved approach to ensuring equal access to justice. The main functions of the CCPCJ, and by extension the UNODC, are exchanging expertise, experience and information in order to develop national and international strategies, and to identify priorities for combating crime. These functions are currently being pursued within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals set for 2030. In particular, equal access to justice for all is essential for the success of goals 5, 10, and 16.

Current United Nations actions focus on building States’ capacity to ensure equal access to justice for all. The Kyoto Declaration on Advancing Crime Prevention, Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law (2021), as well as Equal Access to Justice for All show very recent advancement by the United Nations on equal access to justice. The CCPCJ additionally issued reports in 2021 and 2023 addressing specific crimes and how to ensure that victims are afforded equal access to justice within Member States.

In coordination with recent CCPCJ actions, multiple partnerships and non-governmental organizations are also pursuing the goal of equal access to justice for all. The Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies is one such partnership of multiple Member States, which produced the The Hague Declaration on Equal Access to Justice for All by 2030 in support of the Sustainable Development Goals in 2019. The NGO International Justice Mission supports capacity building in states and directly acts to empower vulnerable groups to seek and obtain justice as well. Both organizations are important examples of current and potentially future frameworks the CCPCJ could draw from to bring the world closer to ensuring equal access to justice for all.

Future United Nations actions working towards equal access to justice for all could be pursued through the UNODC’s technical assistance missions (data collection and analysis, policy development and advice, capacity building, and partnerships). These missions, when paired with the frameworks outlined in the Kyoto and Hague Declarations, could be influential in achieving the sustainable development goals set for 2030. Further empowering NGOs to help assist specific marginalized populations could also form another path to ensuring all individuals have equal access and treatment before the law.

Questions to consider from your country’s perspective include:

  • What regions or states have the greatest need for assistance in building their justice systems capacity for equal access and treatment of persons?
  • Does your state consider criminal justice to be a purely domestic matter or an internationally important matter?
  • How can equal access to justice be ensured for vulnerable and displaced persons?

Bibliography Bibliography

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International cooperation in combating transnational organized crime and corruption International cooperation in combating transnational organized crime and corruption

Many crimes span multiple countries, whether due to the inherent nature of the offense or a desire to evade law enforcement by moving between jurisdictions. International cooperation is vital to combat these offenses, which include drug trafficking, cybercrime, corruption, terrorism and smuggling. While most crimes are solved by sovereign governments primarily acting in their own right, with some cooperation measures such as extradition, the fact that different parts of a transnational criminal network are in different countries allows criminals to take advantage of differences between legal systems, exploiting legal or cultural barriers to cooperation between countries, and sheltering in States where actions that are criminal elsewhere are legal. Transnational crime can occur on a very large scale; the United Nations estimates that $1.6 trillion per year is laundered or otherwise involved in transnational organized crime. This renders transnational crime a threat to all States, which has led to a push for international cooperation to combat it.

To this end, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the Commision on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) in 1992. Following shortly after this, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNCTOC) in 2000 to strengthen international authority against transnational crime. The resolution included protocols for combating tracking by establishing a legally binding definition of the crime, as well as protocols against smuggling of migrants and illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms. States Parties resolved to expand infrastructure for extradition, mutual legal assistance and law enforcement. In 2003 the United Nations Convention against Corruption further strengthened the areas of preventative measures, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, technical assistance, and information exchange. In 2014, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) began development of the Sharing Electronic Resources and Laws on Crime (SHERLOC) web system as a tool to continue implementing UNCTOC. SHERLOC contains resources concerning a number of transnational crimes from all 193 United Nations Member States, from wildlife trafficking to piracy.

The CCPCJ periodically compiles reports to the Secretary-General concerning the findings of SHERLOC, with the last three reports in 2019, 2021, and 2023. These reports are in pursuit of the broader sustainable development goals, primarily goals 16 and 17.  The 2019 report describes the continued work of UNODC towards improving infrastructure and cooperation to achieve the UNCTOC, in addition to combating the more recent expansion of cybercrime. In 2021, the report had an increased focus on human trafficking of various sorts, including kidnapping and migrant smuggling. The 2023 report focused on corruption and combating organized crime networks, particularly those that exist and operate across national borders.

The development and evolution of cybercrime is seen as a particularly serious concern in the realm of transnational crime. The Commission has noted several times the highly dynamic nature of organized cybercrime and its negative effects on Member State populations. One issue in combating cybercrime is that countries may have different levels of technical resources to address the issue. UNODC notes that cybercrime is a continually evolving transnational crime, and that UNODC is working to strengthen Member State’s capabilities to combat cybercrime through enhancing existing international cooperation structures as well as providing material support to Member States. Cybercrime is committed by many different criminal organizations, including terrorist groups.The international community’s approach to handling transnational organized crime is also at stake as national entities may choose to pursue their own internal systems of combating crime, or choosing to focus on building regional versus global cooperative systems to meet their own needs in regard to law enforcement. Renewed political will within states and a retreat from international cooperation create substantial issues with using the UNTOC’s tools and mechanisms.

The UNTOC was adopted nearly by consensus by Member States, but newly developed transnational crimes such as cybercrime have also presented new challenges in regard to building consensus and cooperating. As such, there is potential to see global international cooperation retreat in favor of national or regional systems of cooperation. Issue-specific cooperation such as the United States-United Kingdom- Australia pact on advanced technologies may also see continued development as cooperation becomes more challenging between countries. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime foresees five possible futures regarding the UNTOC and international cooperation: together, unbound, going alone, retreat and renewal. None of these paths forward are foregone conclusions, and it is the decision of the international community as to which will manifest itself.

Questions to consider from your country’s perspective include the following:

  • How can the international community best combat the rise in cybercrime?
  • How can CCPCJ preserve its relevance amid the rise of regional and bilateral mechanisms for fighting transnational crime?
  • Should the United Nations continue to emphasize international cooperation mechanisms, or prioritize facilitating regional partnerships on specific issues?
  • How can the United Nations increase the efficacy and maintain the relevance of existing conventions governing cooperation on transnational crime?

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Bibliography Bibliography

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United Nations Documents United Nations Documents

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