Yearbook of the United Nations, 2005. Part 3, Economic and social questions. Chapter 9, Social policy, crime prevention and human resources development

Abstract

In 2005, the United Nations continued to promote social, cultural, and human resources development, and to strengthen its crime prevention and criminal justice programme. The Commission for Social Development considered as its priority theme the review of further implementation of the outcome of the 1995 World Summit for Social Development and the twenty-fourth (2000) special session of the General Assembly. It adopted a declaration on the tenth anniversary of the World Summit, as a contribution to the five-year review of the 2000 Millennium Declaration. The Secretary-General reported on follow-up activities undertaken in regard to the tenth International Year of the Family. Work also continued by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization promoted religious and cultural understanding. Various activities were undertaken to celebrate the International Year of Sport and Physical Education. The Eleventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held in Bangkok, Thailand, in April, adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Synergies and Responses: Strategic Alliances in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which addressed major crime and criminal justice issues of concern to the international community. The Congress focused on five topics: effective measures to combat transnational organized crime; international cooperation against terrorism and links between terrorism and other criminal activities in the context of the work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); threats and trends of corruption in the twenty-first century; economic and financial crimes; and making standards work, based on fifty years of standard setting in crime prevention and criminal justice. The Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, at its fourteenth session, gave priority to the conclusions of the Eleventh Congress. It also focused, among other things, on bilateral agreement on the sharing of confiscated proceeds of crime or property, action against transnational organized crime and protocols related to terrorism within the UNODC framework. The Secretary-General also reported on the work of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.