INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It is with pride that the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crimeand the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) offers to the international community the Resource
Material Series No. 81.
This volume contains the Annual Report for 2009 and the work produced in the 144 thInternational Senior Seminar, conducted from 12 January to 9 February 2010. The main theme ofthe 144th Seminar was “The Enhancement of Measures for Victims of Crime at Each Stage of theCriminal Justice Process”.
Compared with the substantial effort devoted to ensuring the rights of the criminally accused,
relatively little attention has been paid to various needs, interests and the rights of the victims ofcrime. However, since the 1960s, a common understanding regarding the necessity of responding
to their needs and interests has grown.
This development led to the adoption of “The Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice forVictims of Crime and Abuse of Power” at the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Preventionof Crime and the Treatment of the Offenders, held in Milan, Italy in September 1985. The
Declaration was subsequently adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 29 November
1985 (Assembly Resolution 40/34 annex), and remains to date the most fundamental United
Nations document addressing the rights of the victims of crime.
Measures taken by various countries in order to promote the interests of the victims of crime
include (i) direct financial support by the State; (ii) direct support and protection within thecriminal justice system, especially measures designed to reduce the hardship experienced whenassisting in the prosecution of offenders; and (iii) enactment of statutes designed to improve theirlegal status and establish “the rights of the victims of crime.” How these measures have been
implemented, and the degree of practical implementation, however, vary substantially from state tostate.
As 2010 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice forVictims of Crime and Abuse of Power, it should be worthwhile for criminal justice practitioners ofMember States to review their criminal justice systems in the light of the Declaration. Accordingly,
UNAFEI, as an institute of the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme network,
decided to hold this Seminar.
In this issue, in regard to the 144th International Senior Seminar, papers contributed by visiting
experts, selected individual presentation papers from among the participants, and the Reportsof the Seminar are published. I regret that not all the papers submitted by the participants of theSeminar could be published.
I would like to pay tribute to the contributions of the Government of Japan, particularly theMinistry of Justice, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Asia Crime Prevention
Foundation for providing indispensable and unwavering support to UNAFEI’s international trainingprogrammes.

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Finally I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who so unselfishly assisted in thepublication of this series; in particular, the editor of Resource Material Series No. 81, Ms. GraceLord.
August 2010

Masaki Sasaki
Director, UNAFEIvi