Qatar Calls for Strengthening International Cooperation Against Organized Crime

Vienna, May 29 (QNA) - The State of Qatar has called for strengthening international cooperation in order to face the serious challenges posed by organized crime and its links to other crimes, including terrorism. Qatar has also emphasized on the responsibility entrusted to the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. This came in a speech delivered by HE Vice-Chairman of the committee tasked with following up the implementation of Doha Declaration Ambassador Ahmed Hassan Al Hammadi, within item (8): "Follow-up to the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and preparations for the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice," during the 25th Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice which held in Vienna. HE the Ambassador reviewed the draft resolution submitted by the State of Qatar, Japan, Brazil and Mexico under the title ("Follow-up to the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and preparations for the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice), saying that the draft resolution refers to the 13th Congress on Crime Prevention and calls on governments to take into account its final statement, the Doha Declaration, when they develop policies and legislations, and to implement the principles contained in the declaration. HE added that the draft resolution also calls on countries to prepare for the 14th Congress and submit their proposals on its general theme and the rest of its items. HE explained that the draft resolution submitted by Qatar, Japan, Brazil and Mexico, with its procedural nature, gains an initial and practical importance, saying that it confirms and deepen the basic principles and practices within the current and future efforts of the international community in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. The draft resolution reaffirms the responsibility vested in the United Nations in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, and stresses the importance of crime prevention and criminal justice's conferences as main intergovernmental forums that influenced national policies and practices and promoted international cooperation, HE the Ambassador said, calling for the implementation of its outputs. HE Al Hammadi clarified that the draft resolution had included a paragraph welcoming the initiative of the Government of the State of Qatar on working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to ensure appropriate follow- up to the implementation of the Doha Declaration and the agreement between Qatar and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, signed in Vienna on November 27, 2015, adding that that this agreement included the implementation of a package of projects and programs recommended by the Doha Declaration in the fields of terrorism prevention and immunization young people against crime, education, strengthening judicial systems and improving prisons conditions. These projects shall be implemented during the period from 2016 until the 14th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Japan in 2020, he said. Al Hammadi said that Qatar has set a unique precedent in the history of the United Nations conferences by contributing to financing projects and programs in fulfilment of the recommendations of the final declaration of the congress which it hosted, adding that for the first time in the history of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, a single state provided such funding. HE Ambassador Ahmed Hassan Al Hammadi called on Member States to co-sponsor the draft resolution as an expression of their support for crime provision's conferences and as an appreciation of the role of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as an encouragement for other countries to follow the State of Qatar in launching initiatives and projects to implement the recommendations of the Doha Declaration, and to strengthen international cooperation in this circumstance when the international community needs to be united in the face of the serious challenges posed by the organized crime and its links with other dangerous crimes, including terrorism. (QNA)