Governments adopted the Abu Dhabi Declaration by acclamation. No vote was needed. The text went through as the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice got under way, and it lays out how states mean to deal with crime in a digital age, from cybercrime and fraud to the criminal use of new technology.
At its heart is a blunt reading of the threat. The Declaration points to services, infrastructure and technology that criminals can bend to their own ends, and it names two trends in particular: “crime as a service” and “violence as a service.”
Using the same tools
Countries did not stop at warnings. They also committed to using technology themselves, by digitalizing justice systems and bringing artificial intelligence into criminal justice work. The Declaration attaches conditions to that. Human oversight, transparency, due process and data protection have to travel with it.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed spoke to the Congress by video and said it met at a time of profound change. “Justice cannot be a privilege. It must protect every person, uphold every person’s rights and leave no one behind,” she said. “This Congress is an opportunity to renew our shared commitment to justice and the rule of law, and to translate that commitment into action.”
Action has a vehicle already. Governments are being encouraged to act on the Declaration through the voluntary Pledge4Justice initiative, in which participants announce concrete, time-bound steps on crime prevention and criminal justice running through 2031.
Juma on an “inflection point”
Monica Juma, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, opened the Congress and called it both a response to a shifting criminal landscape and a test of international cooperation. “Today, the world convenes in Abu Dhabi to reaffirm that the rule of law and criminal justice are essential to the safety and security of people and the planet,” she said. “At a time when confidence in multilateralism is faltering, let Abu Dhabi be a testament to international cooperation.”
The previous Congress met five years ago in Kyoto, Japan. Since then, Juma said, the world has reached another “inflection point,” with technology and artificial intelligence moving at extraordinary speed. She warned that the platforms linking billions of people can link criminals too. Digital currencies can hide illicit profits. Digital tools can be used to deceive, manipulate and exploit.
Technology, in her argument, is not just making crime faster. It is changing what crime is, while organized networks work the weak points between borders and institutions.
