White paper on crime 2010 Part2/Chapter6/Section1
Countermeasures against international crime have become very important amidst the strengthening of international societal and economic ties, and the activation of an international flow of human resources, materials, money, information, etc. International cooperation in criminal justice, both in terms of legal system and practice, has therefore been promoted at various international conferences that include the United Nations (hereinafter referred to as the “U.N.”) and the highest level conference of the advanced nations (summit), as described below.
The U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (Congress) has been held every five years since 1995 and hosted by the U.N. to enable proposals to be made and opinions exchanged on policies in various fields of criminal justice. The 12th Congress was held in April 2010 in Salvador, Brazil, with the “Salvador Declaration” being adopted in which the importance of international cooperation in various fields in crime prevention/criminal justice was emphasized and member countries requested to strengthen measures against organized crime, terrorism, corruption, Economic/ID crime (crime involving credit card fraud, crimes concerning unauthorized use of IDs (personal identification information), including the use of forged or altered passports), and environmental crime, etc. In addition, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Commission), which was established under the U.N. Economic and Social Council as a functional commission to be involved in decision making of the U.N. on policies in criminal justice fields, has been held every year, with Japan having been selected as a member country of the Commission since its establishment. Japan actively participated in the 19th session of the Commission that was held in May 2010.