Kyoto Declaration on Community Volunteers
Supporting Offender Reintegration(Kyoto Hogoshi Declaration)
We, the participants in the World Congress for Community Volunteers Supporting Offender
Reintegration, in the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice,
7 March 2021,

Acknowledging the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, the Doha
Declaration and the declaration of each United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention
and Criminal Justice, the relevant United Nations standards and norms in the area ofcrime prevention and criminal justice, in particular the United Nations Standard
Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules), which encourages publicparticipation as an essential element to keep ties and foster solidarity among offenders,
their families and the community,

Recalling the Asia Volunteer Probation Officers Meeting held in Tokyo in 2014, in
which Volunteer Probation Officers from Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore andThailand, as well as observers from China and Kenya, shared practices and challengesof their countries’ volunteer probation officers programmes and recognized theimportance of the role of volunteer probation officers, and its Tokyo Declaration, whichcalled for the establishment of a global network of volunteer probation officers and theircontinued mutual cooperation,

Recognizing the fact that the hogoshi system, which has been developed with thevitality of private citizens and institutionalized in Japan for over a century and is one of
the most successful and practical systems of community volunteers supporting offender
reintegration in the world, now catches the global spotlight as one of the effective
measures for achieving the reintegration of offenders, and furthermore the prevention ofcrime and construction of peaceful and secure communities,

Noting the efforts which have been made by the community volunteers such ascommunity probation volunteers in Kenya, volunteer probation assistants in thePhilippines and volunteer probation officers in Thailand, and other community
volunteers supporting offender supervision and reintegration in Asia, Europe and North
America, for the development of effective partnership between the criminal justicepractitioners and the general public in respective countries and regions,Declare the following:
1. We recognize the pivotal role of community support and public understanding for thepromotion of offender supervision and rehabilitation, the encouragement of a soundlife of ex-offenders as members of the community, and the prevention of reoffending.
2. We recognize the value of community volunteers such as hogoshi who interact withand provide support for offenders as fellow citizens working with professional
probation officers who have expert knowledge. They stand side by side with offenders
from the good neighbour’s point of view, attentively listen to their concerns, develop
mutual trust, and give guidance to them at times warmly, at times strictly. Their
support enables offenders to re-establish their identities, re-enter the communityand live their lives independently without reoffending.
3. We recognize the effort of such community volunteers is in line with the principle of“No one will be left behind” which is encapsulated in the “2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development” adopted by the United Nations in 2015. We are convincedthat more global efforts have to be made internationally to shed light on and promote
the significant role of community volunteers.
4. In order to achieve the above-mentioned purposes, we invite the United Nations
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) to build aninternational network of community volunteers in the supervision and reintegrationof offenders, to provide technical assistance and to urge member states to enact laws
to anchor community volunteers for the purpose of fostering volunteering, raisingawareness among the public and establishing systems of community volunteers. We
also invite the CCPCJ to formulate a United Nations model strategy for reducing
reoffending in order to tackle issues on reoffending and encourage the utilization of
the community volunteers in this field, and to establish the International Day for
Community Volunteers Supporting Offender Reintegration, “Hogoshi Day”.
5. In order to follow up this Declaration, we will gather regularly to review its
implementation and to provide a permanent stimulus for the development ofcommunity volunteers in offender reintegration.