INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and theTreatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) is proud to submit to the international
community the Annual Report for 1997 and Resource Material Series
No. 53.
In the first part of this publication, the Annual Report outlines theInstitute's main activities in 1997, as well the work programme for 1998.
Resource Material Series No. 53 comprises the second part of thispublication. It contains the work product of the 107th International
Training Course, “The Role and Function of Prosecution in CriminalJustice”, which was conducted at UNAFEI from 1 September to 21November 1997. Specifically, the papers contributed by the visiting
experts, selected country reports from among the Course participants,
and the reports of the Course are published.
Briefly, I would like digress and take this opportunity to pay tribute to
the contributions of the Government of Japan, particularly the Ministryof Justice and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Asia
Crime Prevention Foundation. Without their indispensable andunwavering support, UNAFEI international training programmes would
not be so successful.
Resource Material Series No. 53 also features the Ninth Meeting of theAd Hoc Advisory Committee of Experts on UNAFEI Work Programmesand Directions. This meeting was convened on 27 October 1997 with atwofold purpose: to review and assess the work accomplished by UNAFEI
in the past, and to consider proposals to improve and enhance future
programmes. Contained herein are my report to the Committee on therecent activities and future perspectives of UNAFEI and the evaluation
report prepared by the Committee.
In my report to the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, I explained that thepublications of the Institute are designed to meet the practical needs(including training) of criminal justice officials by providing comprehensive
information on urgent and contemporary criminal justice issues.
Primarily these efforts have been realized through the Resource MaterialSeries. Unfortunately, in recent years, the timeliness of UNAFEI's
publication of the Resource Material Series greatly diminished—fallingbehind by more than one year.

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However, it is truly my pleasure to report that the completion ofResource Material Series No. 53 marks the end of a black chapter in
UNAFEI history. Owing to the truly herculean efforts by the editors ofthe Resource Material Series, Mr. Yuzuru Takahashi (Chief of TrainingDivision) and Ms. Ana M. Vander Woude (Linguistic Adviser), an
unprecedented five editions of the Resource Material Series have been
published in a period of less than one year, bringing the institute up-todate. In consideration of the above, I must request the understanding of
the selected authors for not having sufficient time to refer the manuscripts
back to them before publication.
Moreover, to widen the scope of UNAFEI’s target audience and todisseminate even more rapidly our training programme results, theResource Material Series, as well as the UNAFEI Newsletter, will beavailable soon on our new homepage, which is scheduled to open in thevery near future.
Resource Material Series No. 53 is significant for another reason also.
Towards further increasing the international perspective of ourpublications, the number of participants’ papers published by UNAFEI
has been increased from the usual four or five to ten. Regrettably, not all
the papers submitted by the Course participants could be published, but
certainly, a larger representation is present now.
By continuing to improve its training, research and publication
activities, UNAFEI wishes to demonstrate its firm commitment topromoting the sound development of criminal justice administration in
the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the entire international community.
January 1998

Toichi Fujiwara
Director of UNAFEIviii