VIENNA, JULY 2 – A stronger crime prevention and criminal justice responses are key to the effort to build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Italian Ambassador Alessandro Cortese said today as President of the UN Commission for Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) to the Integration Segment di ECOSOC, the UN Economic and Social Council.
Cortese, Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, addressed the panel along with Achim Steiner, the Administrator of UNDP, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, and the Permanent Representative of Armenia to the United Nations in New York and Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at its 65th session, Mher Margaryan.
“The last 18 months were particularly difficult for all of us, and we must recognize that СOVID exacerbated socio-economic vulnerabilities – vulnerabilities that are often exploited by criminal networks to scale up their activities”, he said: “The pandemic also hampered Member States’ efforts to prevent crime and strengthen criminal justice institutions. If we want to build back better after the pandemic, it is key that we invest in crime prevention and criminal justice efforts that mitigate the negative impacts of pandemic with a focus on the most vulnerable members of society”.
As an example, Cortese focused on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants: “We need to reinstate that the access to services, including healthcare, for the victims of trafficking and for smuggled migrants, and their protection without discrimination are essential during the crisis”, and he informed that at the reconvened session of the Commission, next December, a thematic discussion has been convened on “Effective measures to prevent and counter the smuggling of migrants, while protecting the rights of smuggled migrants, particularly women and children, and those of unaccompanied migrant children”. (@OnuItalia)
