United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders

A/RES/79/242View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 107 Crime prevention and criminal justice, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

28 versions · 1992–2024

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2024	A/RES/79/242	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders	2,345	85%Compare
2023	A/RES/77/234	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders	2,171	87%Compare
2020	A/RES/75/197	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders	1,909	92%Compare
2019	A/RES/73/188	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders	1,907	77%Compare
2017	A/RES/71/207	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders	1,748	92%Compare

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

21 reports · 2001–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Mandate resolution
2026	A/81/289	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/79/242
2024	A/79/247	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/77/234
2022	A/77/164	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/75/197
2020	A/75/111	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/73/188
2018	A/73/133	United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders report of the Secretary-General	A/RES/71/207

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Africa Crime Prevention Criminal Justice Regional Cooperation Resources Mobilization Technical Cooperation

What’s in this document?

29 operative paragraphs

Commends the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders for its efforts to promote, coordinate and carry out more activities within its core mandate, including regional technical cooperation related to crime prevention and criminal justice systems in Africa, despite the resource constraints under which it is operating;

Also commends the Institute for its efforts to promote the exchange of experts with fellow institutes of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme network, the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute and the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders;

Further commends the efforts of the Chair of the Governing Board in strengthening resource mobilization for the Institute through awareness-raising among Member States;

Recalls the decision of the Governing Board of the Institute to adopt the strategic plan for the period 2024–2028 to address crime in an integrated manner by strengthening national capacities for crime prevention and criminal justice, and calls upon Member States, including those members of the Institute, all relevant entities of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations to give the support necessary for its full implementation;

Acknowledges the progress made by African States in the implementation of the African Union Plan of Action on Drug Control and Crime Prevention (2019‍–2025) and the mechanism for its implementation, follow-up and evaluation;

Encourages Member States to raise awareness of the work of the Institute and its relevance to the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;³

³Resolution 70/1.

Reaffirms the need to further strengthen the capacity of the Institute to support national mechanisms for crime prevention and criminal justice in African countries;

Also reaffirms the benefits, in some cases, of the utilization of alternative remedial measures, where appropriate, applying standards of ethical conduct and using local traditions, counselling and other emerging correctional rehabilitation measures, consistent with the obligations of States under international law;

Notes the efforts of the Institute to establish contacts with organizations in those countries that are promoting crime prevention programmes and its maintenance of close links with regional and subregional political entities, such as the African Union Commission, the East African Community, the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and the Southern African Development Community;

Encourages the Institute, in cooperation with relevant United Nations agencies, to take into account the various planning authorities in the region that focus attention on the coordination of activities that promote development based on sustainable agricultural production and preservation of the environment in developing its crime prevention strategies;

Urges States members of the Institute that have failed to meet their annual assessed financial contributions to the Institute to pay all or part of their outstanding arrears, taking into consideration that member States are to fund 80 per cent of the approved budget, and in this regard encourages all member States and organizations to fully honour their financial obligations;

Notes with appreciation the efforts of the Governing Board to restructure the Institute and recruit the Director General, Deputy Director General and Director of Training and Programmes, in line with the strategic goals of the Institute;

Recalls the introduction by the Institute of a cost-sharing initiative in its execution of various programmes with Member States, partners and United Nations entities;

Urges all Member States and non-governmental organizations and the international community to continue to adopt concrete practical measures to support the Institute in the development of the requisite capacity and in the implementation of its programmes and activities aimed at strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice systems in Africa;

Urges all States that have not already done so to consider ratifying or acceding to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto,⁴ as well as the United Nations Convention against Corruption,⁵ and encourages States parties that have not yet implemented the conventions to inform the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime of any impediments that they encounter and of their need for technical assistance to overcome those impediments;

⁴United Nations, Treaty Series, vols. 2225, 2237, 2241 and 2326, No. 39574.

⁵Ibid., vol. 2349, No. 42146.

Encourages African States that are not yet members of the Institute to consider becoming member States in order to enhance its collaborative efforts and enlarge its support base and thereby strengthen the fight against crime and terrorism, which hamper individual and collective development efforts on the continent;

Commends the continued support provided by the Government of Uganda as host country, including resolving the issue of the ownership of the land on which the Institute is located and facilitating the collaboration of the Institute with other stakeholders within Uganda and the region and with international partners;

Also commends the efforts of the Institute in implementing several programmes in the region, which have contributed, inter alia, to a growing set of coordinated remedial responses to crime on the basis of technical support in facilitating mutual assistance by law enforcement agencies and the emergence of regional jurisdictions;

Recalls the initiative of the Institute to collaborate with relevant universities to operationalize the link between criminal justice authorities and sources of traditional justice approaches so as to harmonize the use of restorative practices, where appropriate;

Also recalls the initiatives of the Institute to work with specific academic and specialized human rights institutions that are connected to other professional networks in the region to promote curricula that have a strong crime prevention and criminal justice component;

Encourages the Institute to consider focusing on specific and general vulnerabilities of each programme country, with an emphasis on tailoring practitioner training and development efforts to address identified vulnerabilities, and to maximize the use of available initiatives to address crime problems with existing funds, as well as available capacity, by creating useful coalitions with regional and local institutions;

Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue to work closely with the Institute, and requests the Institute to provide the annual report on its activities to the Office and to the Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development;

Requests the Secretary-General to enhance the promotion of regional cooperation, coordination and collaboration in the fight against crime, especially in its transnational dimension, which cannot be dealt with adequately by national action alone;

Commends the Institute for its improved efforts in terms of resource mobilization;

Recalls its resolution 77/234, and requests the Secretary-General, taking into consideration the new strategic plan of the Institute for the period 2024–2028, to continue his efforts to mobilize the financial resources necessary to maintain the Institute with the core Professional staff required to enable it to function effectively in the fulfilment of its mandated obligations;

Requests the Secretary-General to increase the United Nations grant for the Institute to fully cover the staffing costs of core Professional staff in order to implement its core mandate and activities without constraints and avoiding the high turnover of Professional-level staff due to financial unpredictability of the Institute;

Reiterates its request, made to the Secretary-General in its resolution 77/234, to intensify efforts to mobilize all relevant entities of the United Nations system to provide the financial and technical support necessary to the Institute to enable it to fulfil its mandate, bearing in mind that the precarious financial situation of the Institute greatly undermines its capacity to respond positively and effectively to the growing need in the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders;

Invites Member States and other partners to consider providing extrabudgetary resources to enable the Institute to effectively implement its mandate;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its eighty-first session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, including recommendations on further strengthening the capacity of the Institute.

55th (resumed) plenary meeting

24 December 2024

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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