Yearbook of the United Nations, 2000. Part 3, Economic and social questions. Chapter 9, Social policy, crime prevention and human resources development

Abstract

In 2000, the United Nations continued efforts to advance social, cultural and human resource development and to strengthen its crime prevention and criminal justice programme. IN June, the General Assembly held its twenty-fourth special session to review and appraise the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and the Programme of Action, adopted at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. The special session, entitled World Summit for Social Development and beyond: achieving social development for all in a globalizing world, adopted further initiatives for social development, which reaffirmed the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration and established abroad framework for follow-up action by Governments,civil society and the international community. The Commission for Social Development, at its February/March session, considered as its priority theme its contribution to the special session and adopted a set of agreed conclusions, which it transmitted to the Economic and Social Council and to the Preparatory Committee for the special session. The Council, in other social development related action, renewed until 2002 the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development, following a review of his report on the second monitoring period (1997-2000) of the implementation of the 1993 Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities. The Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders,held in April, considered the state of crime and criminal justice worldwide; international cooperation in combating transnational crime; promoting the rule of law and strengthening the criminal justice system; new developments in effective crime prevention; and accountability and fairness in the justice process for offenders and victims. It adopted the Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century, which was endorsed by the Assembly in December. The Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime finalized the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as well as the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air. The Convention and related Protocols, which were adopted in November by the Assembly, were opened for signature from 12 to 15 December in Palermo, Italy, and thereafter in New York until 12 December 2002. Other crime-related issues addressed by the Assembly were the development of an international legal instrument against corruption, combating the criminal misuse of information technologies, and combating corrupt practices and illegal transfer of funds and repatriation of such funds to the countries of origin. The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held its ninth session in April. Regarding cultural development, the Assembly took action relating to the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, the Olympic Truce and the Bethlehem 2000 project. Human resource development remained the focus of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the United Nations University.