Japan, being aware that the enhancement of international cooperation and the establishment of a global legal framework are indispensable for success in our common fight, has been actively taking part in international efforts in a number of international fora, most importantly the United Nations and the G8. In the UN framework, Japan has been an active member of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, one of the functional commissions of the Economic and Social Council, and the United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, a quinquennial high-level political congress most recently held in April 2000, which deals with problems related to transnational organized crime. In addition, Japan supports the activities of the United Nations Center for International Crime Prevention through financial contributions and dispatch of experts. Furthermore, Japan has been making its utmost effort in the negotiations for legal instruments to fight against transnational organized crime, through active coordination among States concerned. Such legal instruments include, notably, the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the elaboration of which started in 1999.
Japan expects the discussions on human rights to be deepened and developed by the symposium.
ODA Guided by the belief that human rights are universal, Japan has expressed its concern for human rights violations, calling on countries of concern to improve their human rights situations. Japan pays full attention to the human rights situations and efforts for promoting democratization as proclaimed in the ODA Charter. When any improvement in human rights situations or any trace of democratization is recognized, Japan helps these changes through aid. On the contrary, when the situation is clearly accusable, Japan reviews its ODA projects to the country concerned.