White paper on crime 2011 Part2/Chapter6/Section4/1
UNAFEI (United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders) is a U.N. regional training center that was established in 1962, since which it has been jointly operated under an agreement between the government of Japan and the U.N. regarding the sound development of criminal justice system in various countries, including Asia and the Pacific regions, and strengthened mutual cooperation between the countries concerned through training, research, and surveys on criminal justice.
UNAFEI mainly engages in training criminal justice professionals in developing countries and conducts international training three times a year (a total of 149 times as of the end of September 2011) and training on corruption control in criminal justice once annually in thereby making up-to-date domestic/overseas knowledge available that conforms to the theme of the individual training. In addition to overseas participants from various countries, judges, public prosecutors, correctional officers, and probation officers, etc. from Japan also participate as trainees in the training as it is designed to facilitate mutual understanding and promote experience sharing from the point of view of comparative methods. Different themes are selected every time the international training takes place. The themes selected in recent years include protection of witnesses and measures for use in securing cooperation, confiscation of crime proceeds and measures against money laundering, measures for use with crime victims, the ethics and code of conduct of judges/public prosecutors/law enforcement officers, treatment of drug offenders, social cooperation in treatment of offenders, and measures against overcrowding in correctional facilities, etc.
In addition, Good Governance seminars have been held every year since 2007 as a new effort that targets multiple countries, while training courses for specific countries and regions have also been provided, including Seminars on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice for the People’s Republic of China, Training Courses on a Juvenile Delinquent Treatment System for Kenya, and Seminars on Criminal Justice for Central Asia.
The importance of ability enhancement support in criminal justice was recognized in the “G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Declaration on Capacity Building Assistance” that was adopted at the G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting held in Tokyo in June 2008, and therefore the roles that UNAFEI plays through providing training, etc. have become increasingly important.
4,500 or more criminal justice personnel from 130 countries, including Japan, had participated in UNAFEI training/seminars (as of the end of September 2011), with many of them having then gone on to become Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, Ministers of Justice, Prosecutor Generals, and other high-ranked officials in their respective countries. The UNAFEI network has been a valuable asset to Japan in promoting international cooperation in criminal justice.
Furthermore, UNAFEI also takes part in the U.N. crime prevention/criminal justice programs and is invited to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice every year. UNAFEI also cooperates in holding the U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, and held a workshop entitled “Strategies and Best Practices against Overcrowding in Correctional Facilities” at the 12th Congress (April 2010).