Hello everyone,I am Takeshi SETO (Mr.), the newly appointed Director of UNAFEI as of 25th June
2018. For those of you who don’t know me, I served as the Deputy Director from 2007 to2009, so this is my second time working here. It is my great pleasure to once again beamong UNAFEI family members and to rejoin an institute with a distinguished 55-year
history of enhancing criminal justice practices in Asia and throughout the world.
As for my professional background, I was appointed as a public prosecutor in 1989.
Since then, I served as a public prosecutor in several public prosecutors’ offices around
Japan, and also worked as a legal advisor to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry ofForeign Affairs and the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission of Japan. My
major experiences in the international field include attending various human rights
conferences, negotiation and drafting international conventions and bilateral treaties,engaging in mutual legal assistance in criminal cases, and exchanging information on
financial markets with foreign counterparts. I look forward to bringing theseexperiences to bear as we pursue UNAFEI’s ambitious work programme over thecoming years.
The main activities of UNAFEI are its international training courses and seniorseminars, in which we invite criminal justice practitioners from around the world toformulate practice-oriented responses to criminal justice issues raised by the UN and
the international community. Each training programme pays particular attention to theimplementation of UN conventions, standards and norms and the Sustainable
Development Goals for 2030.
UNAFEI is also the oldest member of the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Programme Network, which is a group consisting of UN related institutions dedicatedto, research, information sharing, training, and raising public awareness in the field ofcriminal justice. We are actively participating in UN and other international
conferences, where we introduce UNAFEI’s activities and the criminal justice situationin Japan. We often go abroad in order to conduct research in countries which are targets
for our capacity-building activities.
While the basic activities of UNAFEI have not changed significantly from the days
when I was the Deputy Director, emphasis on bilateral training courses is increasing inwhich we provide training or technical assistance to one country on a focused issue. Inaddition, Japan will host the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice in Kyoto in 2020 when, coincidentally, Japan will also hold the Tokyo Olympic
and Paralympic Games. UNAFEI will play a key role in Japan’s preparation for theCongress, and we also will host one of the Congress’s workshops on the theme of

reducing recidivism.
With an alumni network of over 5,700 participants from 138 countries, UNAFEI isvery well known among criminal justice practitioners who are internationally active.
Based on our long-standing and steady performance, many countries and governmentalorganizations are eager for our help. More detailed information on our activities can befound on our website.
One of the biggest changes at UNAFEI has been our move to Akishima City. UNAFEI
had been in Fuchu City (western Tokyo) since it was founded in 1962. On 2nd October
2017, UNAFEI moved a bit further west to its new facility at the International JusticeCenter in Akishima City. I’d like to thank Akishima City for welcoming us, and I lookforward to deepening ties with local residents so that new UNAFEI participants willremember “Akishima” as UNAFEI’s new hometown.
During my term as Director, I will work to ensure that UNAFEI continually enhances
its training programmes and technical assistance projects, looking back at UNAFEI’slong history of fruitful activities, as well as considering how we can contribute to crime
prevention throughout the world. I would like to express my sincere gratitude, inadvance, for your valuable and continuous assistance and support for our activities.
Warm regards,Takeshi SetoDirector, UNAFEI