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Remarks of the UNODC Executive Director
Crime Congress Ancillary meeting:
World Congress for Community Volunteers Supporting
Offender Reintegration
Sunday, 7 March 2021, 14:30

Minister Kamikawa,Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honoured to open this global gathering ofcommunity volunteers supporting offender
reintegration.
This event is a resounding endorsement ofcommunity responses as an integral part of effective
global efforts against crime, and an opportunity tosupport the essential role of individuals who aremaking a difference and helping societies advancethe rule of law.
I wish to thank Minister Kamikawa, theMinistry of Justice of Japan, and the UN Asia andFar East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and2

the Treatment of Offenders for taking the initiativeof organizing this World Congress.

Japan’slong-standing
andexemplary
experience with its Volunteer Probation Officer
system was a founding inspiration for this World
Congress, and remains a model for engaging
societies and individuals in crime prevention andcriminal justice.
I would also like to warmly greet thecommunity volunteers who are gathered here today,
as well as all of those who are participating online
in this event, from many countries around the world.
In spite of challenges posed by the pandemic,
you have all found a way to join us today whetherin person or virtually, just as you find ways toovercome obstacles and make a real and positive
impact in your communities.
In the era of COVID-19, we look now morethan ever to those willing to contribute their time

3and efforts to the betterment of their communities,
bringing solidarity, inspiration and hope.

The theme of this year’s Crime Congress is:“Advancing crime prevention, criminal justice andthe rule of law: towards the achievement of the2030 Agenda”.
The guiding light of our joint efforts towards
sustainable development, the 2030 Agenda is, at itscore, about leaving no one behind.
In line with this global commitment, yourefforts to provide community-based supervisionand counselling for offenders are essential tosupporting the social reintegration of those who are
too often rejected or marginalized.
I commend you for your belief in individuals
being capable of positive change, and in membersof the community as agents of that change.

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By working together, community volunteers
and offenders seeking reintegration make a tangible
contribution to upholding public safety and the ruleof law and building resilience to the harms causedby crime and recidivism. They lift us closer towards
peaceful and inclusive societies.

Successful collaboration between criminal
justice practitioners, civil society, and community
volunteers
provesthat
multi-stakeholder
partnerships are a powerful tool to ensure that theroots of resilience and solidarity take hold. Theirwork together truly encapsulates the spirit of Goals
16 and 17 of the 2030 Agenda, and provides amodel for others to follow.
At UNODC, we are firmly committed toplacing people at the centre of our responses.
Our new UNODC strategy launched this year
seeks to anchor our responses around people,including by forging and fortifying partnerships at
all levels. It also aims to empower women and5youth, and to harness a culture of learning andinnovation.
In its implementation, we will strive to support
agents of change in communities, such as thecommunity volunteers whom we celebrate today.
UNODC also shares your belief in social
reintegration of offenders.
Our Global Programme on Prison Challenges
strives to assist countries in improving their use ofnon-custodial measures such as bail, probation, andparole, which can often help facilitate the social
reintegration of offenders, and to institutionalize arehabilitative approach to prison management.
In 2020, our efforts continued despite thechallenges posed by COVID-19. In Sri Lanka, forexample, UNODC trained criminal justiceprofessionals on the use of non-custodial measures,
while in Thailand and Vietnam we helped assess theuse of non-custodial measures for women offenders.

6UNODC has also been supporting countries inimproving the employability and social
reintegration of prisoners upon release.
We have worked to provide vocational andpractical training to prisoners in a number ofcountries including Bolivia, Namibia, and the Stateof Palestine, with the aim of equipping them withthe skills to provide for themselves and theirfamilies. In Indonesia, a new project will train
female prisoners to provide them withcommercially viable skills.
In addition, UNODC works to reduce
reoffending by assisting Member States to improvetheir compliance with the Nelson Mandela Rules
for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Some 35,000 users from more than 150
countries have enrolled in our e-learning course for
prison officers on the Mandela Rules, free of charge,
and the course has been institutionalized as part of
the regular national training curriculum for prison
officers in various countries.

7Ladies and gentlemen,
I understand that today’s World Congress will
adopt a Kyoto Declaration for Community
Volunteers. I am looking forward to that
Declaration, and I am hopeful it will inform theoutcome of the Kyoto Crime Congress and its
legacy.
I encourage all of you to take advantage oftoday’s gathering to discuss the powerfulcontributions that individuals can make to theircommunities in preventing crime.
I hope that this meeting will pave the way for a
global network of community volunteers in the areaof offender reintegration, a network of mutual
inspiration and solidarity.
UNODC believes in the difference thatmembers of society can make against crime andrecidivism. We are ready to support and raise

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awareness of the work of community volunteers inthe reintegration of offenders.
We stand together with you in extending a handto offenders in our communities, so that they may
find their way back.
Thank you.