Every year, UNICRI’s Training and Advanced Education Unit organises a wide range of short courses and programmes to provide for the needs of local, national and international bodies working in the field of justice and crime prevention. Confronting some of today’s most pressing crime prevention and criminal justice issues, the courses provide professionals with both the knowledge and the practical skills to help advance justice in their field.
In addition to these courses, UNICRI remains committed to developing an international network for information exchange on training and advanced education within the UN System. Moreover, UNICRI also organises outreach projects in the local community. These projects aim to raise awareness of the fight against crime and injustice amongst the general population, and in particular, amongst youth.
UNICRI is also proud to sponsor a host of educational programmes in collaboration with partner organisations.
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
UNICRI and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
UNICRI works to achieve a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, respect for diversity, the rule of law, justice and development. A world free from violence and exploitation. A world in which all legal, social and economic barriers to the full realization of human potential and to a shared prosperity have been removed.
A just, equitable, tolerant, open and socially inclusive world in which the needs of the most vulnerable are met.” Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
UNICRI supports the research based formulation and implementation of innovative and inclusive policies to promote the rule of law, enhance crime prevention strengthen justice and human rights protection. Due regard being paid to the integration of such policies within broader policies for socio-economic change and development. The Institute carries out action-oriented research, capacity building programmes and training/mentoring activities. It provides information and advisory services, implements research based programming and carries out its activities at the interregional, national and local level.
The Institute works in specialized niches and selected fields of crime, justice, security governance and counter-terrorism, providing added value to crime prevention, the advancement of justice, the enhancement of human rights and societies development. It also serves as a platform for consultation and cooperation on security governance, crime prevention, criminal justice and social cohesion acting as an honest broker in bringing together different partners such as Member States, local governments, research institutions, international organizations, private entities and the civil society at large, in forging a common approach to addressing common challenges.
UNICRI and the UN 2030 Agenda About the Sustainable Development Goals
Background
Countering gender-based violence, addressing vulnerability factors and empowering women have always been at the forefront of UNICRI work. Over the last 50 years the Institute has centered its crime prevention, justice and human rights protection programmes on gender issues and reducing the factors of vulnerability of women and girls.
In the past, UNICRI carried out the International Crime Victimisation Survey (ICVS), a unique research tool that has been considered for years as a primary source for informed policies and actions. UNICRI then worked on the first EU-wide survey on violence against women, aiming at addressing the lack of comparable and comprehensive data on violence against women in the EU countries (2010-2011). A research project, aiming at assessing the consequences of the economic crisis in the Mediterranean Basin on women’s rights and gender inequality, with a focus on domestic violence, discrimination, access to justice and welfare service was implemented by the Institute (2013-2014).
Over the past decade, several applied-research and technical assistance projects to counter and prevent the trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation were implemented in the Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Thailand, the Philippines and Ukraine. The Institute shed light on voodoo practices as a way of coercion over women, and on trafficking in persons in peace support operations (2002).
In 2016 UNICRI conducted an assessment of local and international initiatives to counter trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants in North Africa (with a focus on Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt). The results showed that whilst significant resources are invested on control, too little is being done to provide effective protection for potential victims and unaccompanied or separated minors.
UNICRI is promoting gender mainstreaming in the strategies to prevent and counter the appeal of violent extremism and terrorism. As a member of the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, the Institute contributes to the implementation of coordinated and coherent efforts across the United Nations system to prevent and counter terrorism. The integration of a gender dimension is a crucial component in the fight against violent extremism. In this framework, UNICRI is conducting a project with local communities in the Sahel Maghreb Region that is also aimed at empowering women, protecting their rights and making them agents of change.
Strengthening the role of women in law enforcement is an additional area of work of UNICRI as well as promoting gender-responsive policies and interventions in crime and drug prevention and recovery.
Outcomes (generated and expected)
- Increased effectiveness of legislation, policies, national action plans and operational systems to enhance women equality, political participation and empowerment aimed at ending gender-based violence and supporting development.
- Reducing victimization, supporting reforms to strengthen the rule of law and promoting access to justice for the most marginalized.
- Support proveded to Member States in preventing and prosecuting trafficking and smuggling related crimes; identifying and supporting victims and reducing the vulnerability of at risk populations.
- Enhanced access of women and girls, especially in more vulnerable contexts, to protection and essential, safe and adequate health, education and social services.
- Reduced gender discrimination in the workplace and advanced gender equality at any level.
- More effective prevention of violence against women and girls, though behavioral change and practices.
- Support provided to governments in mainstreaming gender issues to address violent extremism.
- Enhanced policies and practices in drug addition and treatment.
- Enhanced knowledge on patients’ access to services; and increased capacity of national drug control systems.
Outputs
Action oriented research: collection of valid, reliable and comparable data on vulnerability factors, policies, legal frameworks and operational procedures for the eradication of barriers to the empowerment and political representation of women and for the elimination of gender based discrimination and violence.Analyses of gaps and needs to address trafficking of women.
Training and capacity building: tailor-made in country medium-long term programmes to enhance the capacities of relevant actors, including policy makers, judicial personnel, law enforcement officers, medical staff, religious and lay members.
Advanced education: designing and delivery of professional and education programmes able to promote, among the others, sustainable development, human rights, gender equality and a culture of peace and non-violence ensuring equal access to men and women also through scholarships.
Knowledge diffusion and awareness-raising: dissemination of guidelines and studies; raising awareness campaigns and advocacy.
Photo credits: @Jodi Bieber/MSF
The voice of victims for change
A new pilot initiative “Voices against crime” will developed by UNICRI in cooperation with the Municipality of Naples, the participation of the media partners Il Mattino and Fanpage and the involvement of several NGOs.
The initiative aims to give voice to the victims through the collection of their stories and to make their experiences the starting point for the implementation of an awareness campaign to promote future interventions on prevention, development and assistance.
Gino Sorbillo and the Olympic silver medalist Clemente Russo are the outstanding testimonials of the project. UNICRI has entrusted them with the message of the project’s information campaign, aimed at reaching the citizens.
According to Jonathan Lucas, "The culture of law is generated and is strengthened by people. Giving voice to the experience of victims is crucial to understand that people are not just numbers by which to measure the levels of security in our cities. What they have undergone, and what each of us may be subject to, is the starting point for real preventive and supporting actions. We hope the initiative we are developing in Naples will be the first of a series in other cities around the world. The cities are of those who inhabit them and the citizens are the true engine of change. "
"Naples, more than any other city - says Luigi de Magistris - has developed antibodies to social exclusion and urban insecurity. These consist in a valuable asset of networks and associations that work in the field against degradation and marginalization. Every day we work alongside with them, aiming also at establishing a good practice that UNICRI will help us make known. We fight lack of security and exclusion first of all, by increasing Naples’ social capital, by freeing, as we have done, degraded urban areas and by encouraging dynamics of re-appropriation of common goods by the citizens. "
For information: per-napoli@unicri.org
Cities hold out the promise of concentrated economic dynamism, predictable access to services, and opportunities for democratic citizenship. Urbanization is a transformative process to a large extent, synonymous with modernization, and development. In most cases, as countries urbanize they become more advanced, more developed and more prosperous.
Yet for hundreds of millions of people on the wrong side of the breach of urban poverty and exclusion, violence and insecurity have become facts of everyday life, denying them the benefits of the right to the city.
With good governance, poverty and other forms of exclusion can be seriously addressed and cities the urban advantage secured for all. The challenge for the next few decades is learning how to exploit the possibilities urbanization offers - the future of humanity depends on it. UNICRI’s focus is to explore and promote urban security in the context of crime prevention and criminal justice responses to urban crime, including gang-related offences. This is based on the recognition that urban criminality hampers economic growth and weakens state institutions, thereby undermining efforts to promote sustainable development and reduce poverty.
UNICRI is focusing its work on:
- Reducing vulnerabilities, particularly crime and victimization related to youth, women and girls, elderly people and marginalized populations;
- Enhancing Public-Private Partnerships focusing on crime prevention and control mechanisms which involve both criminal justice system and private sector actors;
- Promoting the rule of law and cultural change in corrupt and crime-ridden environments.
UNICRI assists in the development of integrated actions by bringing together various actors (social services and law enforcement) and leading joint efforts in the design and implementation of joint initiatives. The Institute also provides a sound base of knowledge on the functioning of criminal organizations by taking advantage of social, political, institutional and legal weaknesses.
Archive
Archive
One of the objectives of UNICRI is to enhance the capacity of national governments through training and technical assistance. The project Improving the Implementation of the International Drug Control Conventions through Enhanced Cooperation between INCB and National Drug Control Administrations aims to address the principal inadequacies faced by national competent authorities in the implementation of the Conventions.
The three international drug control treaties, namely the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances are the pillars of the international drug control system. Many governments are facing inadequacies in the full implementation of the provision of the conventions.
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is mandated to publish each year two reports based on the data parties of those treaties are obligated to submit, which provide details on estimates of the annual legitimate requirements of each country, as well as data on the licit production, manufacture, trade and consumption of drugs worldwide.
Due to a lack of expertise in the national drug control administrations, more than 20 per cent of countries fail to comply with their reporting obligations. As reported in the INCB Annual Report 2012, “up to 50 per cent of countries and territories in Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania do not submit the required statistical forms on psychotropic substances. This might be an indication that those Governments have yet to establish the necessary legal or administrative structures to enable their competent national authorities to collect and compile the required information and that those Governments may not be fully aware of the specific reporting requirements on psychotropic substances as they relate to their territories and that they require capacity-building in that regard”.
Statistical data and the provision of estimates and assessments, as required by the international drug control treaties and related resolutions of the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, are often late, incomplete or delayed. In many countries, monitoring and control of licit activities related to narcotics drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals are insufficient or inadequate, resulting in diversion and abuse.
At the same time a fundamental aim of the international drug control conventions is to ensure the adequate availability of internationally controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes. However, large disparities in consumption levels of psychotropic substances still prevail among countries and regions. Many countries are challenged by various impediments to availability of controlled substances, including regulatory and economic impediments, health infrastructure inadequacies, cultural differences. An important objective of the project is therefore to help countries to identify the particular impediments for the scientific and medical use of internationally controlled substances.
To address these disparities, to enhance governance of national drug control systems and to improve governments’ ability to ensure availability of controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, UNICRI, in collaboration with the INCB Secretariat, is implementing a programme towards the objectives of achieving: (i) increased cooperation and support to Governments to improve the statistical returns system and the existing international system of estimates of licit requirements for narcotic drugs and voluntary assessment for psychotropic substances; (ii) increased cooperation and support to Governments to improve their reporting of statistical data to the Board; (iii) improving domestic reporting mechanisms and cooperation among government agencies involved; (iv) improving the ability of governments to increase the availability of controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes; (v) preventing the diversion and abuse of pharmaceutical preparations containing narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; (vi) preventing the illegal sale of internationally controlled substances through the Internet; and (vii) the control of precursor chemicals.
A training course with participation of 12 Governmental Delegations from West African countries was delivered in June 2013 at the UNECA HQ in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the INCB, the WHO Regional Office for Africa and the UNODC.
UNICRI is currently seeking support to replicate the training programme in South East Asia and in the Pacific Islands, where some governments face serious challenges, both in terms of failure in reporting and in crime control. According to the cited INCB report, “Oceania is currently the region with the largest number of non-parties to the International drug control conventions, being affected by high prevalence rates of cannabis and methamphetamine abuse and increased trafficking in and illicit manufacture of drugs, easily being used by traffickers in facilitating the supply to the Australian and New Zealand illicit markets”.
The training materials can be accessed through the following link
To date, there is extensive evidence of the differences between women and men regarding substance use. Epidemiological studies show that even though women are less likely to initiate drug use than men, they start earlier and are more susceptible to develop an addiction. Women are also more vulnerable to drug-related pathologies, such as liver and cardiovascular diseases, and are more exposed to sexual and physical abuse and violence and to sexually transmitted diseases. At the same time studies of gender differences in drug treatment show that reasons why women and men seek help are often dissimilar, and that psychological, biological and social gender differences are important factors for the success of diverse types of treatment and for retention into treatment.
Most strategies for drug prevention and recovery in the world are, however, tailored to men, with the result that they have little or no impact on women. In many countries, especially in developing countries, women who use drugs are facing cultural, social and religious barriers and stigma that hinder them from accessing the existing health and social services, even more so as regard the services dedicated to treatment and recovery from substance use disorders.
In 2010 UNICRI initiated the project “DAWN – Drugs, Alcohol and Woman Network”, supported by the Department for Drug Policy of the Presidency of the Council of the Ministers of the Government of Italy, to address gender differences in drug use and addiction, and to promote gender-responsive drug policies in drug prevention and recovery.
The aim of the project has been to establish a network of experts on gender differences in substance use and addiction recovery, who can advocate and assist in the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions, policies and best practices which are tailored to the particular needs of women.
The project is enshrined within the UN Sustainable Development Agenda, with regard to access to justice and social development, access to health and promotion of women’s rights and empowerment in their social, cultural and religious position in society.
The project is also carried out within the 2012 Resolution, Promoting strategies and measures addressing specific needs of women in the context of complete and integrated drug demand reduction programmes and strategies approved during the 55th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). The resolution calls on Member States "to consider incorporating female-oriented programmes in their drug policies and strategies" and encouraged "to integrate essential female-specific services in the overall design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes addressing drug abuse and dependence"
Download the resolution:
Through this Resolution, UNICRI received a specific mandate to continue in assisting and supporting Member States in developing and adapting measures and strategies, at the national, regional and international levels, addressing the specific needs of women as an essential element of more effective, just and human rights-based policies.
In this framework, the project has supported collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to establish guidelines on the prevention, treatment and recovery from substance use tailored for women and girls.
To download the UNODC Guidelines on Drug Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation for Girls and Women click here:
The DAWN project also works as a Think Tank, to gather the most advanced research findings and scientific evidences from the international expert community and to stimulate scientific debate and knowledge diffusion on the most effective approaches to gender-responsive drug use prevention and recovery strategies. Innovative approaches are diffused through participation in conference and meetings and through advocacy activities to facilitate gender mainstreaming in policy and operational agendas. To this end, the project published in 2013 a good practice manual “Promoting a gender responsive approach to addiction”, which provides practical examples of gender mainstreaming in addiction services, as well analyses the most relevant factors influencing the development of addiction in women and girls. Protective and resilience factors, as well as the association with violence and trauma and the specific characteristic of female recovery processes are some of the issues presented in the book.
To download the DAWN book :
Over the years, the project has organized networking conferences, advocacy events and training opportunities to assist professionals and policy makers in mainstreaming gender considerations in their working agenda. Among those, Project DAWN has developed a multilingual distance learning platform, available 24/7 free of charge, with the assistance of its network experts.
To access the E-learning platforms click here.
As with other gender related health aspects, the recognition that female substance use has different roots than male substance use should serve to redirect working practices towards the goal of ensuring that women and men receive information, assistance and care tailored to their needs. In this process of recognition and redirection, the consideration of female addiction could be reframed within a more coherent policy incorporating social and health determinants. To this regard, project DAWN promotes discussion on the concepts of Accessibility, Affordability and Acceptability of health and social services and their alignment with women’s needs. Policy coherence across different areas would facilitate the effective use of resources, in order to close the gaps in treatment, overcome barriers to equitable care and build clinical capacity in creating a female focused research agenda.
Related documents and links:
- Sex and Gender Differences in Substance Use
- Substance Abuse in Women
- Commission on the Status of Women
- WHO Guidelines for identification and management of substance use and substance use disorders in pregnancy
- The gender dimension of non-medical use of prescription drugs in Europe and the Mediterranean region
- Violences, subies ou produites, et usage de substances psychoactives chez les femmes en Europe et dans la région méditerranéenne
- Introduction to Women and Substance Use Disorders
- Gender differences in drug use: a student population survey in Italy: