In an international meeting to combat crime in Vienna, Qatar confirms: The Doha Declaration led the United Nations efforts to promote the rule of law and achieve sustainable development
The State of Qatar affirmed that the Doha Declaration adopted by the 13th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice was a historic document and an integrated international road map that had integrated crime prevention and criminal justice into the broader agenda of the United Nations and led the international community's efforts to address transnational organized crime and to build fair, accountability, the consolidation of the rule of law and sustainable development.
In response to the 27th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Vienna, the representative of the State of Qatar, H.E. Major General Dr. Abdullah Al-Mal, said that in implementation of the recommendations of the Doha Declaration, the State of Qatar, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, adopted a unique initiative in the history of the United Nations congresses on crime prevention:, the World Program for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration, aimed at assisting States, particularly developing States, in implementing these recommendations in four main areas: judicial integrity and youth crime prevention through sport, rehabilitation of prisoners and education for justice.
H.E. Al-Mal added that with the launch of this program in November 2015, we have seen a great international welcome and the desire of States to benefit from its activities, as the latest statistics of the United Nations that the number of countries benefiting from the projects of the global program reached 120 countries, and the program could reach more of the 13,000 stakeholders in more than 180 countries, most of them judges, sports trainers, academics, teachers and prison practitioners, and awareness-raising campaigns by the program to more than 180 countries.
He noted that the latest activities of the international program were the Conference of Senior Judges and Chiefs of Supreme Courts held in Vienna on 9 - 10 April 2018, the largest gathering of judges organized by the United Nations in its history. The conference witnessed the launch of the Global Network for Integrity of the Judiciary. Last month, in cooperation with UNESCO, a unique educational program was established to strengthen the relationship between education and crime prevention. It includes educational courses and textbooks for different stages of education on global citizenship, the prevention of violent extremism and the achievement of sustainable development goals through education.
H.E. Dr. Abdullah Al-Mal expressed Qatar's appreciation for the commendation of the World Program for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration and the continuous and increasing achievements of the United Nations Secretary-General and the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
He called upon all Member States and concerned United Nations bodies to participate in the activities of this program, which will be implemented until 2020, and to draw lessons from the World Program for the Implementation of the Doha Declaration as a unique experience in the United Nations Register and to model future projects in the operational, legislative and policy areas that meet the needs of Member States in particular developing countries, in order to achieve the objectives of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Convention against Corruption and the conventions against terrorism, and to achieve the goals of sustainable development for the year 2030, noting that the State of Qatar seeks to sustain some of the Plan the program beyond 2020.
The Qatari delegate also welcomed the attention of the international community to the dangers of cybercrime, its increasing links to transnational organized crime and its efforts to curb the use of cyberspace for terrorist or political aims that are intended to destabilize states, interfere in their internal affairs and trigger crises, Stressing that the State of Qatar supports the efforts of the Expert Group on Cybercrime, Panel for the years 2018-2021.
He also stressed the importance of international cooperation and capacity-building in developing and strengthening the efforts of countries to address cybercrime, calling for the criminalization of all forms of illegal use of cyberspace. He also referred that the increasing links between terrorism on the one hand and organized crime, corruption and money-laundering on the other hand call for strengthening regional and international cooperation to combat terrorism. He expressed his satisfaction with the persistent international, regional and national efforts that have allowed the wave of violent extremism and terrorism in the last decades to ebb.
The representative of the State of Qatar stressed, in conclusion, the importance of providing technical assistance to States to ratify the international conventions and protocols relating to the fight against terrorism and to focus on preventing and addressing the root causes of terrorism by creating an international environment that respects the rule of law at the international and national levels and the culture of peace, tolerance and dialogue among civilizations and cultures and the use of coercive means against peoples as a flagrant violation of international law, weaken, if not abrogate, international efforts to combat terrorism and is a major impediment to sustainable development.