15th UN Crime Congress: Plenary meeting 13 – 1 October 2026 Conferences Date: 1 October 2026 Language: English Transcript: https://transcripts.un.org/en/asset/k1f/k1f7a63wn4 Transcripts available through this tool are created by using automatic speech recognition and are not official records nor official documents of the United Nations. Official records and official documents are available on the Official Document System of the United Nations. --- Vice-Chair [8:06]: Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to invite now the chairperson of the Committee II, His Excellency Mr. Jose Antonio Zabalogoitia, to present the report of Committee II as contained in document A/CONF.241/L.5 and A/CONF.241/L.6. conference, .241/L5/Addendum 1. Excellency, you have the floor. Chairperson of Committee II [8:46]: Thank you very much, dear Mr. Vice Chair, and I also want to take this opportunity to request to you that you convey my gratitude to the President of the Congress. I now have the opportunity to present the report of Committee 2, which I had the pleasure to chair. So, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, Committee 2 first turned its attention to Workshop 2 on, and I quote the title, "Ensuring Equal Access to Justice for All Towards Safe and Secure Societies While Respecting the Rule of Law." During the workshop, many speakers highlighted the importance of advancing towards inclusive accountable, effective and people-centred justice systems, focusing on several cross-cutting elements emerged, including the importance of legal empowerment, cooperation across justice institutions and meaningful participation by people affected by justice policies and practices. We next turned our efforts to conducting workshop four, which title was Turning the Digital Age into an Opportunity: Promoting the Responsible Use of Technologies in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. During the workshop, it was highlighted that the responsible use of AI in the criminal justice system has the potential to streamline reporting, assist in the identification of patterns and trends, and enable rapid processing, analysis, and synthesis of large volumes of data. However, along with these opportunities, the use of AI in law enforcement forensics, surveillance, threat prediction, risk assessment and decision making on criminal justice outcomes could threaten the integrity of criminal justice process. It was also underscored that artificial intelligence was reshaping both the commission of crime and the means of preventing and investigating it. Therefore, capacity building for criminal justice actors across these domains was identified as a priority. I am pleased to report that Committee 2 met today 00 a.m. to review and adopt the two reports which flow from these workshops, namely document A/conference.241/L.5, dealing with workshop two entitled Ensuring Equal Access to Justice for All Towards Safe and Secure Societies While Respecting the Rule of Law. document A/CONF.241/L.5/Add.1 on workshop 4, entitled "Turning the digital age into an opportunity: promoting the responsible use of technologies in crime prevention and criminal justice". As mentioned during the committee meetings, the reports contain a procedural summary whereas the rest of each of the reports contain a chair's summary reflecting the elements of the discussion that I as chair consider to be the most relevant. These points were not negotiated by member states and simply reflect the points that I as chair wish to highlight. I want to make that very clear, Mr. Chair. Together, these two reports constitute the whole report of Committee II, which is now before the plenary for its consideration and, hopefully, its adoption. I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to all delegations, observers and panelists for their valuable contributions to the work of the Committee. In particular, I am very grateful to Judge Alblushi, who chaired the Organizing Committee of the Congress and provided me with all the support and all the necessary resources to fulfill my responsibilities. I commend him not only for his hospitality and that of the United Arab Emirates, but for the excellent way he organized the Congress and the works of the Committee Number 2, as well as for his very able and effective chairmanship of the Abu Dhabi Declaration, which I also think that work on the committee to contribute to enrich. I also want to make my express my appreciation to the secretariat, especially to Joe, the Dane, who was always present and supportive during the works as that are leading to the Congress and the ones I had the honor to participate in. And in particular, this latest in this latest responsibility to them was who was assisting me on the chairmanship of the committee, as well as Ms. O'Brien and Anna, who were the ones who were organizing the panels and the workshops. In fact, I think that it is noteworthy, and I should acknowledge the excellent way that the panels were conformed with truly experts on many different fields. So I think that that was that contributed also to the to the good results of our work. So now I would like to thank as well my vice chair in the committee, Ambassador Angela Bigliota, who is a permanent representative of the Dominican Republic to the UN and other international organizations in Vienna, and also very specially to the rapporteur, Ms. Refilwe Timonye, who is the acting deputy director, Department of International Relations and Cooperation from South Africa, for their efforts in ensuring the successful conclusion of the committee's work. So this is my report, dear Chair. Vice-Chair [14:40]: Thank you, Excellency, for your comprehensive report. And I would like to congratulate you for the work and your leadership. So we will move now to the approval of the reports. Are there any comments on document A/CONF.241/L.5 and A/CONF.241/L.5/Ad.1? The distinguished representative of the United States, you have the floor. United States of America [15:17]: Thank you, Chair. We appreciate the Chair of Workshop 2 emphasizing just now that the report does not include negotiated outcomes. In that regard, the United States wishes to make the following statement for the record, and we ask that this statement be included in the final report of the meeting. Quote, "The report summaries prepared by the Chair for workshops were not negotiated by member states." Thank you, Chair. Vice-Chair [15:46]: I thank the distinguished representative of the United States for your observation, which will be reflected in the report of the Congress as statements made upon adoption in plenary. May I take that the meeting wish to approve that the part of the report? I see none. It is adopted. Now I would like to give the floor to the rapporteur general, Her Excellency, Madam Matilda Aku Almatu Osei-Agyeman, to introduce the draft report. Excellency, you have the floor. Rapporteur-General [16:28]: I thank you, Mr. President. With your permission, I'd like to present the draft reports. Document L.3 contains the chapter on organization of the session and administrative matters. Document L.3/Ad.1 contains the chapter on the high-level segment of the Congress. Document L.3/Add.2 contains the chapter on item 3 of its agenda entitled Advancing Innovative and Evidence-Based Crime Prevention Strategies Towards Social, Economic, and Environmental Development. Document L.3/Add.3 contains the chapter on item four of its agenda entitled promoting people centered inclusive and responsive criminal justice systems in a world of continuous change document L.3.4 contains the chapter on item five of its agenda entitled addressing and countering crime including organized crime and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations in new, emerging and evolving forms. Document L.3/Ad.5 contains the chapter on item 6 of its agenda entitled working better together to elevate cooperation and partnerships, including technical and material assistance and training at the national, regional, and international levels in crime prevention and criminal justice. In addition, Mr. President, I'd like to inform the meeting that the report for the 15th Congress will also contain document CONF.241/L.6, the report of the Credentials Committee, CONF.241/L.7; the report of the high-level segment thematic meetings, which is a procedural report, CONF.241/L.4 and CONF.241/L.4/ADD.1; the reports of Committee I, CONF.241/L.5 and CONF.241/L.5/Add.1, the reports of Committee II, and document CONF.241/L.1, which contains the Abu Dhabi Declaration of the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which was adopted on the first day of the Congress during the high-level segment. Mr. President, I would now like to suggest that we proceed with document L3 and then go document by document. Thank you, Mr. President. Vice-Chair [19:38]: Thank you, Excellency. And now we will proceed with adoption of the report. So are there any comments on the draft contained in document A/CONF. on the organization of the session and administrative matters. I see none. Then I see no objection. It is so decided. Are there any comments on the draft report contained in document A/CONF.241/L.3/ADD.1 on the high-level segment on the 15th Congress? I see none. Then it is so decided. It is adopted. And the agenda item 3, are there any comments on the draft report contained in the document A/CONF.241/L.3/Add.2 on the agenda item 3? The distinguished representative of the United States, you have the floor. United States of America [20:59]: Thank you, Chair. We have a series of minor amendments, and we would be happy to submit these in writing to the Secretariat. We would begin with paragraph 4. We would ask that the last sentence, starting with, quote, "Some speakers stressed" and quote, we would ask that that sentence be moved to the beginning of paragraph five. The next proposed amendment would be paragraph seven. After the use of the phrase artificial intelligence, we would add the following, quote, A parentheses referred to as super intelligence by some delegations, parentheses, end quote. The next proposed amendment, the last sentence of this report, Before the word impeded, we would add the following, quote, in their view, end quote. And the last amendment, at the very end of this report, we would add the following statement, quote, One speaker stated that economic sanctions can be a legitimate and effective tool for responding to threats to peace and security, period, end quote. And again, we would be happy to send these in writing. Thank you. Vice-Chair [23:23]: Thank you. I would like to thank you for your observation, which will be reflected in the report. May I take that as the meeting wishes to adopt that part of the report as orally amended? I see none. The report is amended. Now we will move to agenda item 4. Are there any comments on the draft report contained in the document A/CONF.241/L.3/ADD.3 on the agenda item 4? I see none. Then the report is adopted. We move now to agenda item 5. Are there any comments on the draft report contained in the document A/CONF.241/L.3/Add.4 on agenda item 5? I see none. Then the report is Yes, the representative of the United States, you have the floor. United States of America [24:50]: Thank you, Chair. One minor amendment in paragraph four, after the first mention of artificial intelligence, we propose the following, quote, parentheses, referred to as super intelligence by some delegations, parentheses, end quote. I will be happy to submit this in writing as well. Vice-Chair [25:30]: I thank you for your observation, which will be reflected in the report. May I take it that the meeting wish to adopt that part of the report as orally amended? I see none. Then the report will be adopted. Now we will move to the agenda item 5. Are there any comments on the draft report contained in document A.241/L3/4 on the agenda item 5? I see none. Then the report is adopted. We will move now to the point agenda pertaining to item 6. Are there any comments on the draft report contained in document A/CONF.241/L.3, addendum 5, on the agenda item 6? The United States. The distinguished representative of the United States, you have the floor. United States of America [26:48]: Thank you, Chair. A few more minor amendments to propose. In paragraph 11, after the phrase, "one speaker stated that," we propose the following, quote, "in their view," end quote. In paragraph 13, after artificial intelligence, we would add, quote, parentheses, referred to as super intelligence by some delegations, parentheses, end quote. And at the very end, paragraph 15, in the very last sentence, we would add the following, quote, and that his delegation is a global leader in asset recovery and return." Period. End quote. Thank you, Chair, and we'll be happy to provide this in writing. Vice-Chair [28:05]: Thank you, United States. May I take that the meeting wished to adopt that part of the report as orally amended? I see none. I see Iran has asked for the floor. To represent the distinguished representative of Iran, you have the floor. Iran (Islamic Republic of) [28:26]: Thank you, Mr. President. In response to the proposal just orally made, I would like to suggest that wherever in the text that is referring to the one speaker, then in there we should be added, I mean, to make it a balanced text, There are some other references to the text that is talking about one speaker. So to make the whole text balanced, I suggest that in the whole text of the report, in their view, would be added. Vice-Chair [29:10]: It is for agenda item 6. May I take that to meet in wish to adopt that part of the report as orally amended? I see none. Then the report is amended. It's adopted. Now we move to the next document. Are there any comments on the draft report contained in document A/CONF.241/L.7 on the high-level segment thematic meeting held during the Congress, which is a procedure report? I see none. Then the report is adopted. Distinguished delegates, we have adopted each part of the report individually. I therefore propose that we adopt the report of the 15th Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice as a whole. May I take that the Congress wish to adopt the report as a whole? It is so decided. It's adopted. We will now have a short suspension of the meeting before we will start the closure. I kindly request all delegation to remain seated. Thank you so much. Speaker 16 [36:35]: So then the pictures will be taken from there. UAE · Minister of Justice; President [1:01:51]: Assalamu alaikum. Good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished delegates, I have now the honor to invite Ms. Monica Jomaa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, General of the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, to address the plenary in her closing statements. Madame, the floor is yours. UNODC · Executive Director; Secretary-General of the Congress [1:02:34]: Your Excellency, Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Minister of Justice of the United Arab Emirates and President of the 15th Crime Congress. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, last Saturday, on the 26th of September 2026, I stood on this podium to declare the official opening of the 15th United Nations Crime Congress. Today, six days later, I return to join you once again in this hall after what has been a remarkably productive full week. We arrived to the warm welcome of our gracious hosts, the United Arab Emirates, orchestrated by an amazing team And I want to thank you, Excellency Minister Nuaime and your team. You have welcomed us with the extraordinary warmth and generosity for which the UAE is historically renowned. Throughout the week, we have experienced an atmosphere of friendship, shared common cause, and strong efforts to work together. At a very personal level, we have felt and enjoyed a depth of friendship throughout the time we have engaged at this conference center. You have fed us well, looked after us well, and made sure we had the energy to keep going, even after long days of discussions and engagements. You have opened your doors to the world and convened the largest crime congress to date, with governments, civil society, experts and academia, all sharing this space and shaping the conversation. That is no mean achievement. Your Excellency, the UAE has certainly extended a generous hand to the world this week, and as the Arab saying goes, a generous hand is never empty. May the generosity of this past week return to this land manifold. So allow me to extend my congratulations to you, Your Excellency, and UAE on a truly successful Congress. You have set the bar very high indeed. I also wish at the onset to thank all the delegations and participants to the 15th Crime Congress. The depth of exchange in the plenary, high-level events and other sessions including the many bilateral and individual engagements together comprise the composite value of this gathering. There were also the chairs and panelists to the plenary and to more than 200 side events. There is no value that one can place on the benefits that we carry away from Abu Dhabi. So accept my deep gratitude for honoring our invitation and applying yourselves to the discussions that happened over the last week. Throughout the week, I have had the opportunity and honor of meeting many delegations, and I wish to thank each of them for their expressed confidence in the mandate and work of the UNODC, as well as the cadence with which they conveyed their perspectives and guidance on strengthening our partnership and support for the UNODC programming. As the General Secretary of the 15th Crime Congress, I have been backed by an exemplary team that delivered this Congress. I want to thank Bridget, the Executive Secretary of the Congress, the Secretary to the Congress, Joe, and our entire team. This team has been engaged since the last Congress and even extra intensely in the past four to five months. Thank you for your diligence, for your patience, and for your professional commitment. I also express gratitude to all the staff of UNODC and UNOV that have contributed towards the hosting of this Congress. And I wish to single out the team in Abu Dhabi and Vienna, as well as those joining the Congress from around the world. We had some of them animate the sessions as moderators and presenters, as well as guiding discussions. So I thank you, team. A special thank you to all the local staff who have been working incredibly hard around the clock to keep the Congress going. Without you, the Congress would have struggled to achieve its success. The 15th Congress has truly been a team effort. You have all helped the United Nations deliver at its best and made us proud. So please receive my sincere gratitude. So I want all of us to join me in giving us ourselves a very well-deserved round of applause. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, from the people who made this Congress possible, let me now turn to what we have delivered together. This week, we reaffirmed that criminal justice and the rule of law are at the heart of building safer societies and protecting people and the planet. For decades, This Congress has helped move the criminal justice agenda forward, strengthening our shared understanding of crime, advancing criminal justice, and steadily building the international framework we need to meet common challenges. Five years ago, when we gathered in Kyoto under the extraordinary circumstances of a global pandemic, Member States adopted the Kyoto Declaration. That declaration became a bridge between where we were and where we needed to go, laying the groundwork for new normative and international instruments, including the Kyoto Model Strategies on reducing reoffending. This week here in Abu Dhabi, we have kept the legacy alive and have extended that bridge even further. On our very first day, you, the Member States, adopted the Abu Dhabi Declaration by acclamation, setting out a global blueprint for confronting crime as it evolves in today's digital age. By that confirmation, Abu Dhabi demonstrated that consensus is still possible, even at a time when multilateralism is considered under considerable pressure. Even when countries come to the table with different perspectives, different priorities, and different interests, we can find common ground when we focus on collective challenges that we face. This is especially so when we are guided by our true North Star, namely the needs of the people we are here to protect. The trends and the dynamics of crime are changing rapidly. The nature and scale of crime worldwide and its impact on our common aspiration for security, development and the rule of law are evolving towards an existential threat to humanity and the planet. This reality calls for more, not less, cooperation. For more, not less, interoperability. This, ladies and gentlemen, is an important message to take home from Abu Dhabi. Yet, we also know, and some may say, that a declaration is only the beginning, that what really matters is what happens after the cameras leave, the documents are signed, and the delegations return home. The good news is that we have a plan to guide us in ensuring effective follow-up. On Saturday, we launched the Pledge for Justice initiative. Over the course of the last week, Member States have put commitments behind the words of the Declaration. Each pledge represents a concrete promise, and together, they represent a shared determination to translate the Abu Dhabi Declaration into tangible change. I am therefore pleased to announce that member states made 61 pledges this week. I am also aware of many more commitments made at various levels between agencies, institutions, countries, and between regions. These publicly announced pledges represent 61 steps forward, 61 commitments to carry with us, 61 checkpoints on the road ahead. Together, they give us a clear direction for the next chapter of our journey. As host of the 15th Crime Congress and in recognition of the leadership of the UAE in bringing this initiative alive, it is my great pleasure to present the collective record of the pledges made here to Minister Al-Naemi. Minister. With this, and we have seen what we have done, I really want to underscore and invite the UAE to continue championing the initiative and helping us in carrying this momentum forward. Of course, the responsibility for delivering pledges rests with each and every member state that made them. Our collective responsibility is to keep them in view to return to these commitments, to track the progress, and to maintain momentum through the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice as the intergovernmental follow-up body of this Congress. Throughout the week, delegation after delegation has emphasized the urgency of action and the need for scaling impact. The support pledged by the UAE will help us keep that course and advance implementation of the Abu Dhabi Declaration towards 2031. On our part, UNODC, as the custodian of this journey, will be there alongside the Member States, helping to carry these commitments from this room into real change in people's lives. So, this is not the end of the road. In many ways, it is not even the end of this Congress. It is the beginning of the Abu Dhabi cycle. The pledges made here will now travel with us into our work and into national action. And when the time comes, the baton will then pass to Uzbekistan, our next host, who will give this journey its next chapter. So, Excellencies, we leave Abu Dhabi not with a full stop, but with a comma, because the work goes on. Let us carry forward what we have built here in Abu Dhabi And let us keep our eyes on the horizon, because when we meet again in five years' time, we must be able to look back and say that the work we have started here has helped to make justice stronger, criminal networks weaker, enabled better protection for victims, and made people and the planet safer. That is the journey we are setting ourselves on together today. I congratulate you once again on a successful 15th Crime Congress. And while I look forward to continuing conversations that we held here in different formats and places, I take this opportunity to wish you all a safe journey home. Once again, thank you for joining us in Abu Dhabi, for your invaluable contribution and for your kind attention this afternoon. I thank you all. UAE · Minister of Justice; President [1:15:48]: My closing remarks will be in Arabic, so you may use the headset for translation purposes, please. In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, guests of the United Arab Emirates, Today, we conclude the work of the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. However, we do not conclude its message. The conclusion of this Congress marks, at the same time, the beginning of our shared responsibility to transform the Abu Dhabi Declaration from agreed principles into concrete actions, and from commitments into tangible results that strengthen justice, uphold the rule of law, and contribute to protecting our societies. Our meetings in Abu Dhabi have confirmed that criminal challenges with their evolving and transnational nature cannot be confronted through isolated efforts. Rather, they require genuine international cooperation where political will converges, expertise is exchanged and responsibilities are shared. Excellencies, I would like to seize this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the participants in the Congress for their active engagement and for their valuable contributions, which enriched its proceedings and discussions and enhance the exchange of views and expertise on the challenges facing crime prevention and criminal justice systems. I would also like to extend my gratitude and thanks to Her Excellency Ms. Monica Zuma, the Secretary General of the Congress and Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for her efforts and role in supporting the work of the Congress, as well as to the UNODC team for their continued fruitful cooperation. We express our deep pride in the national efforts made in order to make this Congress a success. which reflected the high level of cooperation and integration among the various institutions of the state, including the excellent organization, the warm hospitality, and the positive image presented by this Congress. This was the result of collective national action in which efforts were united and roles complemented one another. This reflects the great importance that our wise leadership place on justice, the rule of law, and support for joint international cooperation and action in combating crime and enhancing the security and stability of our societies. One of the indicators of this Congress's success was the broad and high-level international participation. A total of 121 countries took part in the Congress, including 31 ministers, alongside 205 governmental and non-governmental organizations, and 137 experts from diverse fields. Attendance at the Congress's events reached approximately 9,000 participants. reflecting the breadth of engagement and the level of international interest in the Congress and its outcomes. Ladies and gentlemen, international consensus on the first day of the Congress on the Abu Dhabi Declaration was one of the most important outcomes of this Congress. This reflects a shared determination to move from agreement on principles to practical action. in order to strengthen international cooperation in combating crime and to support justice and the rule of law. From Abu Dhabi, we look forward to this declaration becoming the starting point for a path of joint international action We are confident that all participating countries will spare no effort in translating their pledges into tangible results that enhance the security and justice of our societies. The Congress may conclude today, but our work begins today. We bid you farewell from Abu Dhabi, and we thank you for your participation and for contributing to the success of this conference. We hope that the Abu Dhabi Declaration will remain a testament to the international resolve that came together in the United Arab Emirates to confront the challenges and to build a world that is a safer, more just, and better equipped to meet those challenges. May the peace and blessings of God be upon you. I'd like now to give the, to open the floor for the distinguished representative who may wanted to speak, and I'll start with Morocco. The floor is yours, Your Excellency. Morocco [1:21:55]: Mr. President, Madam Executive Director of UNODC, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of Delegation, Distinguished Guests, On behalf of the delegation of the Kingdom of Morocco, and as we conclude the 15th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the United Arab Emirates, the host country, as well as its leadership, government, and people for the warm hospitality and welcome, and for the excellent organization which has provided us with the best means for success. This is a sign of the high status of the UAE as a space for international conversation and dialogue. It also reflects the brotherly ties between the UAE and Morocco under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God protect him, and his brother, His Highness Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, may God protect him. We express our sincere thanks and appreciation to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and to the Congress's Secretariat for the tremendous work that went into preparing for this Congress. We commend their high professionalism and their support to Member States, as well as their preparation of documents, which helped make this Congress a success. My thanks also go to you, Mr. President, and to the Bureau members for your able leadership. My thanks also go to the interpreters and to all staff members that work together behind the scenes. Mr. President, we leave Abu Dhabi After days of hard work, we leave it with a stronger conviction that the challenges facing criminal justice today recognize no border, and therefore, confronting such challenges cannot happen individually. Our discussions have proven that crime is rapidly evolving, taking advantage of technology and crossing border with links with other crimes, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, cyber crime and terrorism, as well as other emerging threats. This session has allowed us to share promising experiences in protecting victims and in human-centered justice, as well as alternative sentences and rehabilitation, reintegration data analysis and collection, digital justice and the use, the responsible use of AI, as well as strengthen judicial cooperation. We have agreed on a principle, namely that modernizing justice should not force it to lose its human dimension and that the use and that technology should always be a tool in the benefit of humans and should not replace the guarantees of justice. Ladies and gentlemen, The Kingdom of Morocco has participated in this conference and was open to exchanging experiences with others based on an approach that makes cooperation, justice, human dignity, institutional construction, and international cooperation the main pillars of criminal justice and crime prevention. Our pledge reflects our willingness to continue our reforms and to translate our shared commitments into programs, measures, and measurable outcomes. We were also afforded the opportunity to meet with a number of delegations and regional and international organizations. These were an opportunity to exchange expertise, to discuss further avenues of cooperation, especially in the area of criminal justice and digitalization, combating corruption and organized crime, and building capacity as well as judicial cooperation. Mr. President. The King of Morocco welcomes the adoption of the Abu Dhabi Declaration, which is a compass and an inspiring roadmap for the international community in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice for the next five years. It reflects our shared will to counter the new emerging and evolving forms of crime in a framework of cooperation and shared responsibility. The value of our achievements in Abu Dhabi will not only be measured by the number of documents adopted by so by our ability to implement such documents once we return to our countries. Our main challenge will be to move from declaration to action, and from coordination to effective cooperation, and from the exchange of experiences to capacity building, and from international commitments to real results that benefit people and make them feel secure and safe. In this regard, the Kingdom of Morocco stands ready to continue cooperating with Member States and with the UNODC and other regional and international partners to share our accumulated experiences and at the same time to take advantage of the experiences and best practices presented during this Congress. We leave Abu Dhabi with a shared responsibility to bring justice closer to human, to make it more capable of protecting victims and more effective in countering crime, more able to adapt to digital changes without losing its essence based on human dignity, rule of law, and trust. In closing, on behalf of my delegation, I express our sincere thanks and appreciation to the brotherly UAE for their warm hospitality and welcome. I also thank the presidency of the Congress and UNODC. and the Secretariat, as well as all delegations and participants. We congratulate them all on a successful Congress and on the constructive spirit that dominated our Congress. Thank you to Abu Dhabi for bringing us together, and thank you to everyone that helped make this Congress a success. May the peace and blessings of God be upon you. UAE · Minister of Justice; President [1:28:47]: I now give the floor to the European Union. The floor is yours, Your Excellency. EU · EU [1:28:54]: Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union and its member states. As this Congress draws to a close, we warmly thank the United Arab Emirates for your generous hospitality and leadership, the President and Chairs for guiding us so well through our deliberations, and Executive Director Monica Juma, our Executive Director, and the Secretariat for your dedication and excellent support. The report of the Congress brings together the Abu Dhabi Declaration, the deliberations in the plenary, and the salient points and conclusions emerging from the workshops. These priorities should guide our follow-up in Vienna and our cooperation on the ground. We encourage the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to draw on the Congress report in carrying forward the declaration and the conclusions emerging from our discussions, through focused exchanges on implementation, practical challenges and results. We also thank the practitioners, civil society representatives, researchers, and young people whose contributions have enriched these discussions and helped connect our policy commitments with experience on the ground. Our responsibility is now to ensure that the work recorded in the Congress report leads to sustained cooperation and tangible improvements in people's lives. Mr. President, the discussions in plenary and the workshops have brought together questions that must be addressed together in practice. How to prevent crime, how to ensure equal access to justice, how to anticipate emerging threats, and how to strengthen cooperation in the digital age. On prevention, we must invest in the conditions that enable people and communities to resist violence and exploitation. Education, social inclusion, support for families and opportunities for young people belong at the heart of this effort. Women, children and young people must have a meaningful role in shaping the policies intended to protect them. Preventing the recruitment of children by criminal networks requires both early support and effective action against those who exploit them. On access to justice, our institutions must be independent, impartial, accessible and accountable. Legal aid, fair trial guarantees and effective remedies must be available throughout the criminal justice process. Victims need protection, information and support adapted to their circumstances. Child-friendly, Gender-transformative and trauma-informed approaches, alongside appropriate restorative justice opportunities, can help justice systems respond more effectively to the people they serve. On effective international cooperation, we should strengthen our capacity to understand emerging criminal markets, identify vulnerabilities, and assess whether our responses work. Better data collection and analysis should inform prevention, operational cooperation, and the allocation of resources. We encourage closer collaboration among public authorities, researchers, and civil society, with safeguards for privacy and personal data. On technology, we must equip justice professionals to respond to rapidly evolving threats and cooperate effectively across borders. Digital tools can improve access to justice and support investigations, but their use requires clear legal safeguards, accountability and meaningful human oversight. Digital transformation must also remain accessible to those who cannot use online services. Mr. President, The European Union will contribute through partnerships, technical assistance, and our Pledge for Justice commitment, including the forthcoming TEMIS and INTERCEPT initiatives. We remain committed to helping partners strengthen criminal justice capacities and cooperation against organized crime and terrorism. Throughout this work, respect for international law, human rights, and the rule of law must remain our foundation. We reiterate our unequivocal opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances. Mr. President, we leave Abu Dhabi with a shared responsibility to ensure that the commitments made here lead to stronger institutions, more effective cooperation, better protection for victims and safer communities. The European Union and its Member States stand ready to work with all partners to fulfil this responsibility. Thank you very much, Mr. President. UAE · Minister of Justice; President [1:34:17]: Since no additional speaker wanted to take the floor, I'll move now and give the floor to the Secretary. UN Secretariat · Secretary [1:34:28]: Thank you very much, Mr. President. And now I would like to ask my colleagues from Conference Management Services to show a video that we as Secretariat have prepared as a sign of appreciation to yourself and United Arab Emirates for having hosted the 15th United Nations Crime Congress. Thank you. Speaker 25 [1:35:21]: Your Excellency. Minister Al Nuaimi, President of the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Your Excellency, Judge Al Bloushi, Chair of the National Organizing Committee. Representatives of the host country. Thank you very much for this extraordinary week. You brought us together here and you enabled us to talk to each other, to listen to each other, to learn from each other. Thank you very much. Shukran. Thank you all. Thank you. Merci beaucoup. Xie xie. Fei chang gan xie. Muchas gracias. Bolshoe. Spasibo. Shukran. Bohomistuti. Tack so mycket. Arigatou. Muito obrigada. Shira jakoyo. Trima kasih. Vielen Dank. Merci. Thank you. Thank you. Gracias. Gracias. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank. Arigatou gozaimashita. Tuoyanzizhe. Muy bueno. Aneka nekdonovat. Xie xie. Grazie. Shukran. Thank you. Ainya. Thank you. Socha besako. Magaming salamat. Khwala. Kyoksaolon. Merci beaucoup. Varem tak. Aoni che, aoni baraji, ala kausara. Thank you. Muchas gracias. Khawpun ka. Shukran. Spasiba. obrigada. Danke schön. Muchas gracias. Thank you. Thank. You. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank. Thank you to the United Arab Emirates for warmly hosting us here at the 15th Crime Congress and to all the participants who joined us in Abu Dhabi this week. UAE · Minister of Justice; President [1:38:03]: I might have to revise the number of country that attendees. It seems to be beyond 121 countries attended the event. Thank you so much, Your Excellency. This Congress is not the end. It is just the beginning of the Abu Dhabi cycle. Intergovernmental follow-up will happen within the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, starting at the time of its reconvened 35th session in early December. The Abu Dhabi cycle will pave the path towards the 16th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which will be hosted by the Uzbekistan in 2022. Now, I would like to ask the Congress, sorry, the conference management to display a video prepared by Uzbekistan. Thank you. I will now officially close the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. For those returning home, I wish you a safe journey back and pleasant return. Once again, thank you so much for being part of this Congress in Abu Dhabi. Thank you.