Statement delivered by Ambassador Maurizio Massari, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, at the 3rd Committee Meeting for the introduction of draft resolution on “Strengthening the UN programme on crime prevention and criminal justice, in particular, its technical cooperation capacity” —
Thank you, Mr President.
Italy has always attached great importance to international cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime and, this year is no different, in its promotion of the omnibus crime resolution to reaffirm the centrality of the UN programme on crime prevention and criminal justice, including its technical cooperation capacity.
The resolution tabled in document A/C.3/76/L.9/Rev.1 is the result of nine rounds of informal consultations, which have seen the active participation of many delegations. We would like to thank them again for the spirit of engagement and constructive dialogue they have shown during these negotiations. We also would like to thank the Secretariat for its invaluable assistance in the preparation of the resolution, in particular, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Third Committee Secretariat.
The resolution builds on last year’s text, incorporating important, new developments in the field of multilateral cooperation, including those related to the substantial results achieved at the Kyoto Conference on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice; at the Special Session of the General Assembly on the fight against corruption; and by the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna, which this year has been chaired by Italy.
Given the importance and broad scope of the resolution , we believe that this resolution should be considered in a holistic manner, and the text viewed as a whole. We are particularly pleased that the resolution invites the President of the General Assembly to organize during the present session a High-level debate on the youth dimension of crime prevention and criminal justice multilateral policies.
We interpret the high number of delegations from all regional groups that have already co-sponsored as a sign of the General Assembly’s widespread determination to continue to support this resolution as an important blueprint for multilateral cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime in all its forms.
While we wish the resolution could have been even more ambitious in the content of some of its paragraphs, both the online negotiating format and the need to achieve consensus have led us to revert to agreed language from last year’s resolution on those paragraphs.
For example, the discussions on cybercrime and use of ICT for criminal purposes have revealed a significant divergence of views among Member States. Nonetheless, even in this specific respect, the resolution does reflect important developments, such as the establishment of an ad hoc committee to draft a convention on the use of ICT for criminal purposes and its modalities resolution adopted in May this year.
Mr President,
We trust that, this year too, the resolution will be adopted by consensus. I wish to thank all the delegations that have already co-sponsored the resolution, and I hope many more will be added to the list in today’s meeting.
Thank you, Mr President.
