The Thirteenth Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Doha on April 12-19, 2015, adopted the Doha Declaration on integrating crime prevention and criminal justice into the wider United Nations agenda aimed at addressing social and economic challenges.
Accordingly, the declaration has made the rule of law and sustainable developments interrelated issues which require collective response.
Doha not only provided a platform that brought academia and experts from all over the world together to discuss the global challenge and find ways of cooperation to strengthen capacities of law enforcement and criminal justice systems in countries to combat narcotics production, smuggling, and fighting corruption, but also Qatar established programmes to implement decisions.
No doubt, drugs, crimes and violence carried out by transnational criminal groups inflict harm to societies, causing immense physical, psychological and financial damage to their victims. This is along the threat and instability they cause undermining security of states, making them a global challenge not a problem confined to a certain country or society.
All countries have enough pieces of legislations, rules and law enforcement measures but still drug related crimes and criminal groups find ways to operate outside the rule of law across borders.
The State of Qatar has set itself as strong partner to UNODC adopting a comprehensive approach to tackle the challenges launching a wide-ranging global programme in cooperation with UNODC aimed at helping countries achieve a positive and sustainable impact on criminal justice, corruption prevention and the rule of law.
Qatar was lauded on Friday by the UNODC for its commitment to continue supporting countries in achieving the 2030 sustainable development plan and various activities of the UNODC combating terrorism, organised crime, drug trafficking and corruption in the world.
A report presented to the 11th meeting of the committee following up on the implementation of the Doha Declaration indicated that it was the first time a member country supported the establishment of a programme with strong finances to help country’s implement their commitments under the Doha Declaration, and contribute to achieving the 2030 sustainable development plan.
According to Major General Dr. Abdullah Al Mal, the Advisor to the Minister of Interior, “the programme has proven its effectiveness and vitality and has achieved the highest possible outcomes, to support the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has not prevented the programme from continuing its work.”
Statistics of the UNODC revealed that beneficiaries of the programme established by Qatar have reached 186 countries, including 36,000 youth and 65,000 children.
