PRI at the 30th session of the UN Crime Commission

The 30th session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (the ‘Crime Commission’) will be held in Vienna and online from 17 – 21 May 2021. The Crime Commission is the principal policymaking body that guides the UN in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, which takes action through resolutions and decisions, and will transmit the Declaration adopted at the recent 14th UN Crime Congress to the General Assembly for endorsement.

PRI will be at the Crime Commission to raise key trends and emerging issues in prisons and criminal justice systems, including new offences which have criminalised breaching COVID-19-related regulations and contributed to rising prison populations while prisons remains hotbeds for outbreaks of COVID-19 in many countries, as well as the urgent need to reduce overcrowding in places of detention and implement preventive measures to protect the health and lives of people detained and working in prisons, including prioritising prisons in national vaccination plans.

PRI invites you join online side events at the Crime Commission (you do not need to register for the Commission to register for side events):

COVID-19 in prisons: vaccinations and responses (17 May, 13:10 CEST) organised by PRI, UNODC HIV/AIDS Section and WHO Europe’s Health in Prisons Programme.

Addressing the global crisis of mass incarceration of women: Options for drug policy reform in times of COVID-19 (20 May, 14:10 CEST) organised by the International Drug Policy Consortium, PRI, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, the Center for the Study of Justice, Law and Society – Dejusticia, and the Washington Office on Latin America.

Tackling criminalisation of the poor and most marginalised (21 May, 14:10 CEST) organised by the International Legal Foundation, PRI, Fair Trials, and Open Society Foundations.