STATEMENT

of the delegation of Ukraine at the coordination segment of

the ECOSOC 2012 Substantive session on a.i. 14 (c)

“Crime prevention and criminal justice”

(26 July 2012, New York)

Mr. President,

Ukraine remains committed to the goal of enhancing global cooperation in order to address and eliminate threats posed by transnational organized crime, terrorism, trafficking in human being and corruption. Our country supports the strengthened multilateral collaboration in identifying new ways and legal means to combat transnational organized crime and takes active part in these efforts.

Ukraine believes that the promotion of universal ratification of the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and Protocols thereto remains one of the top priorities. These treaties continue to be essential instruments to maintain international cooperation in the crime prevention and criminal justice and are the cornerstones of the international regime for combating transnational organised crime.

We underscore the key role played by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in ensuring application of principles stipulated by the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and its protocols. Ukraine appreciates the work of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice as the principal policymaking organ of the United Nations on matters of crime prevention and criminal justice and as the governing body of the crime program of the UNODC.

We welcome the outcomes of the 21-th session of the Commission. Important decisions were taken in the sphere of eliminating violence against migrants, migrant workers and their families, strengthening access to the legal aid in the criminal justice systems, countering maritime piracy promoting international cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime. We hope that the decisions of the session will help to strengthen UNODC’s overall mandate and will be taken as the foundation for its further programs and activities.

Mr. President,

We further welcome the launch of the process of preparation to the Thirteenth UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, to be held in Qatar in 2015. This major event will help to integrate crime prevention and criminal justice into the wider United Nations agenda, and to address social and economic challenges, as well as the rule of law and human rights. We support the initiative to improve future UN congress and appreciate the commitment of the Commission to contribute to the preparation of the post-2015 Development Agenda.

Ukraine is concerned by the links between different forms of transnational organized crime in particular drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and in some cases, terrorism as they undermine social-economic progress and pose the challenge in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. We further note with concern that the new forms and manifestations of transnational organized crime create new challenges to criminal justice systems. We commend the work of the UNODC on the comprehensive study of the problem of cybercrime. Ukraine deems important and very timely to address this emerging form of crime in order to strengthen responses to it by Member States, the international community and the private sector.

Mr. President,

Ukraine remains deeply committed to the fight against corruption. Our country strongly believes that the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), as the first legally binding international anti-corruption instrument, is an essential tool for combating corruption and takes steps to fully implement the provisions of this document. In this regard, we would like to express our appreciation with the outcome of the Fourth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption held in Marrakech October 2011, in particular the adoption of the Marrakech declaration on the prevention of corruption, which signals the importance attached by States Parties to fighting corruption.

We acknowledge the work undertaken within the framework of the UNCAC Review mechanism and we hope that the participation in this process will help Member States to ensure further effective and efficient implementation of the Convention as well as improve international and national standards in order to enable effective combat against corruption on a national, regional and global level.

Ukraine strongly supports activity on elaboration of the Review mechanism of the implementation of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto. Ukraine believes that any mechanism that might be adopted should be transparent, efficient, non-intrusive and impartial, aiming particularly to assist States parties in the effective implementation of the Convention and the Protocols thereto.

Ukraine reiterates the need for the provision of adequate technical assistance for building and enhancing capacities of Member-States in the areas of law enforcement and judiciary systems for preventing and combating transnational organised crime.