INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It is with pride that the Asia and Far East Institute for the Preventionof Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) offers to theinternational community the Resource Material Series No. 57.
This contains the Annual Report for 1999, the work produced in two
UNAFEI international training programmes: the 114th InternationalSeminar (conducted from 17 January to 18 February 2000) and the 115th
International Training Course (conducted from 15 May to 7 July 2000).
The main themes of these training programmes were “International
Cooperation to Combat Transnational Organized Crime - with SpecialEmphasis on Mutual Legal Assistance and Extradition”, and “Current
Issues in Correctional Treatment and Effective Countermeasures”,respectively.
As an affiliated regional institute of the United Nations, UNAFEI has
paid utmost attention to the priority themes identified by the UN
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The United
Nations has given special attention to the issue of transnational organizedcrime. Particularly, pursuant to the General Assembly resolution 53/111
of 9 December 1998, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of aConvention against Transnational Organized Crime was created, for thepurpose of drafting a comprehensive international convention ontransnational organized crime. Last month (July 2000), the Ad HocCommittee completed its intensive drafting work which it embarked on
in January 1999. Taking this into consideration, UNAFEI decided toundertake a series of training programmes in fall and winter courses forthe coming few years under the general subject of “transnational organizedcrime”. The 114th International Seminar was the first of those to beconducted. Discussions in the Seminar focused on mutual legal assistanceand extradition as the main tools of international cooperation.
UNAFEI took up correctional treatment as the main theme of the 115th
International Training Course, considering that many countries areconfronted with important issues such as overcrowding in correctional
facilities, improvement of prison conditions, an increase of drug-related
offenders and a shortage of effective treatment programmes. Duringvii

discussion in the Course, the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatmentof Prisoners, adopted by the First United Nations Congress on thePrevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, were often referred
to, to remind the participants of the importance of benchmarking bestpractices in correctional treatment.
In this issue, papers contributed by visiting experts, selected individual
presentation papers from among Course and Seminar participants, andreports of the Course and Seminar are published. I regret that not all
the papers submitted by the Course and Seminar participants could bepublished. Also, I must request the understanding of the selected authors
for not having sufficient time to refer the manuscripts back to them before
publication.
I would like to pay tribute to the contributions of the Government ofJapan, particularly the Ministry of Justice and the Japan InternationalCooperation Agency, and the Asia Crime Prevention Foundation forproviding indispensable and unwavering support to UNAFEI
international training programmes.
Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who sounselfishly assisted in the publication of this series, in particular, theeditors of Resource Material Series No. 57, Mr. Hiroshi Iitsuka (Chief ofTraining Division) and Ms. Rebecca Findlay-Debeck (Linguistic Adviser),who so tirelessly dedicated themselves to this series.
August 2000

Mikinao Kitada
Director of UNAFEIviii