The Legal Affairs Department at the General Secretariate of the League of Arab States (LAS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are holding the sixth steering and follow-up committee meeting of the Regional Programme for the Arab States to Prevent and Combat Crime, Terrorism and Health Threats and Strengthen Criminal Justice Systems in Line with International Human Rights Standards (2016-2022) during the period of 13 – 15 December 2022 in Cairo.
The meeting is in the framework of the annual review and examination of activities and projects implemented within the Regional Programme (2016-2022) and in preparations for the “Regional Framework for Arab States (2023 – 2028).
The Regional Framework for the Arab States (2023 – 2028) will act as the overarching strategic framework for cooperation between UNODC, 18 participating Member States and LAS.
It frames how UNODC will strengthen, prioritize, customize, and deliver support to the Arab region in effective response to some of the most pressing challenges faced by these countries and in connection with UNODC’s mandates and specialties.
It lays out a roadmap to guide UNODC programming and to accelerate progress towards Agenda 2030 in pursuit of key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and deliver better in response to latest recommendations issued by the fifth meeting of the Steering and Follow-up Committee Meeting such as investing further in research and information gathering and the response to emerging forms of crime.
The Regional Framework articulates six focus areas for guiding UNODC-implemented programming at the regional and national levels, whilst applying six key accelerators across all programmatic interventions to speed up progress and maximize efforts towards fast-tracking the SDGs: A balanced approach to drug control; Strengthening the response to organized crime; Combating trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants; Action against corruption and financial crime; Preventing and countering terrorism and violence; and Strengthening crime/violence prevention and criminal justice.
The programme will also support UNODC’s partnership expansion with Member States in the region to include current vital Ministries and Institutions relevant to youth, solidarity, education, culture, human rights, countering corruption; in addition to previous partnerships with the Ministries of Justice, Interior, and Health.
The meeting will be attended by representatives of the relevant ministries and bodies of the Arab States, namely: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
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