Assembling UN agencies and member states working on criminal justice reform and human rights promotion, the panel on “human rights for all” share their best practices and views on the way forward in propelling reform in post-2015 international development. Ambassador Al-thani opened the panel by restating the intertwined relations between the rule of law and sustainable development, and stated that Qatari commitment to promote criminal justice is exemplified by her hosting of the 13^th UN Crime Congress in 2015.

Likewise, H.R.H. Princess Bajrakitiyabha highlighted that women and children are often victims of ineffective justice system, and brought the audience’s attention to the work Thailand has done in facilitating the Bangkok Dialogue on the Rule of Law and Rules on Women Offenders and Prisoners. The Italian cooperation with Central American states was also mentioned by Ambassador Cardi, who called for more strenuous international cooperation in instituting rule of law and criminal justice reform.

On the issue of international cooperation, Mr. Eliasson suggested the fact that rule of law issue is domestic in nature should not be an excuse of rejecting international cooperation. He believed that now that the community has a consensus on the importance of the rule of law, focus should be put on identifying measurable benchmarks to evaluate the positive social and economic impacts in establishing trusted institutions of justice. Ms. Mohamed pointed out the inseparable link between addressing the underlying issues of poverty and crime prevention, a point which was reiterated by Mr. Shimonovich. He added while disputes remain as to whether access to justice is an enabler of other rights or a right in itself, it is undisputable that it is an element of both the freedom from fear and freedom from want originally enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Meeting Title : High-level event on “The Rule of Law, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in the United Nations Development Agenda Beyond 2015: Engendering a ‘Human Rights for all’ approach”
Speakers: H.E . Mr. Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, H .E. Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development Planning, H.E. Ms. Alya Ahmed Saif Al-Thani, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the UN, H.R.H. Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the UN in Vienna, H.E. Mr. Sebastiano Cardi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN, H.E. Mr. Ivan Simonovic, UN Assistant Secretary General, Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and Ms. Simone Monasebian, Director, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, New York Office.
Date: June 9th, 2014
Location: Conference Room 2, United Nations Headquarters
Summary Written By WIT Representative: Harrison Chung