ABU DHABI, September 27 — The story begins in a hall in the Emirati capital, where governments adopted a new global blueprint for tackling rapidly evolving forms of crime as the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice opened on Saturday. The Abu Dhabi Declaration was adopted by acclamation at the opening of the Congress, the UN’s largest gathering on crime prevention and criminal justice, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
The Declaration brings governments together around challenges ranging from cybercrime and fraud to the growing criminal exploitation of digital technology, and highlights an increasingly complex landscape in which services, infrastructure and technology can be exploited by criminals.
A changing criminal landscape
At its heart, the document names emerging trends it describes as “crime as a service” and “violence as a service.” At the same time, countries committed to making greater use of technology themselves, including by digitalizing justice systems and harnessing artificial intelligence in criminal justice responses. The Declaration stresses that safeguards must accompany those changes, including human oversight, transparency, due process and data protection. In a video message to the Congress, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said the meeting was taking place 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.” Countries are already being encouraged to put the Declaration into practice through the voluntary Pledge4Justice initiative, under which participating governments are announcing concrete, time-bound actions on crime prevention and criminal justice through 2031.
Juma: an ‘inflection point’
Opening the Congress, UNODC Executive Director Monica Juma framed the gathering as both a response to a changing 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,” Juma said.
“At a time when confidence in multilateralism is faltering, let Abu Dhabi be a testament to international cooperation.” Five years after the previous Congress in Kyoto, Japan, Juma said the world had reached another “inflection point,” with technology and artificial intelligence advancing at extraordinary speed. The same platforms connecting billions of people can also connect criminals, she warned, while digital currencies can conceal illicit profits and digital tools can be used to deceive, manipulate and exploit.
Technology, she argued, is not simply accelerating crime but changing its character, while organized criminal networks increasingly exploit weaknesses across borders and institutions. Juma urged delegates to focus on the people most exposed to harm, including children recruited by gangs, women facing violence at home or online, people unable to obtain legal assistance and young people lured into scam networks with promises of a better future. “Protecting these people must be the measure against which we judge our efforts over the coming week,” she said.
“It must be our north star.” She called for laws and institutions capable of keeping pace with changing threats, greater access to justice and legal aid, and technology that serves as “a force for good” rather than an accelerator of harm. While welcoming the Abu Dhabi Declaration as a starting point, Juma stressed that its impact would ultimately depend on implementation.
The Congress is being held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. What to watch next is whether the pledges made in Abu Dhabi translate into the time-bound actions the Pledge4Justice initiative envisages through 2031 — and whether governments can keep their laws and institutions moving as fast as the technology they are trying to police.
