CCPCJ35: Pre-session consultations – 29 May 2026

Good morning everybody. Dear Excellency, ladies, distinguished delegates and most of all, dear friends. Good morning to everybody. I'm pleased to welcome you all to this informal consultations before the 35th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal justice, which on this occasion. At this occasion I'm chairing at the request of the Chair of the Commission, His Excellency Ambassador Rue de Garbonne of Germany. I am very much honored by the confidence placed in me by the Chair to serve as a chair of the Committee of the Whole. I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to bring the Committee to a good outcome. With the agreement of the room, we will now adopt the draft agenda that was distributed before this meeting of informal pre session consultations done on Friday 29th. Any objections? Any request for the floor to offer your comments? I see none. I see only a nodding face with part of which smiling. So it is so decided. Thank you very much. In accordance with this agenda item, we start with the agenda item 1. Organization of the 35th session. I try to explain a little bit more information informative presentation about the forthcoming session of the CCPCJ. The 35th regular session will be held from 1st to 5th June 2026. The provisional agenda and program of work is contained in document E CN 1520261 and its level 1. The plenary will be held in the Plenary Room in the M Building. The Committee of the hall will be held in Boardroom A in the M Building starting on Monday afternoon. The session will have four days of plenary meetings with the Plenary suspended on the Wednesday 3rd June 2026. You may have all known that due to the postponement of the 15th Congress with its pre Congress consultations now planned to be held to be held in late September, the Congress follow up it items in CGPJ namely the thematic discussion on the report of the 15th United Nations Crime Congress and the consideration of the draft resolution on the Abu Dhabi Declaration have been postponed to the reconvene session on December 2, 2026. As you are all aware of it all plenary meetings of The CCPCJ forthcoming CCPCJ 35th session will be held with interpretation in all UN official languages and publicly webcasted. Owing to the ongoing liquidity situation, however affecting the United nations regular budget which was explained in the meetings of the Extended Bureau and subsequently shared with all delegations. The work of the Committee of the Whole will be conducted in English only. There will be no evening sessions beyond the regular working hours of 10am to 6pm to recapture the meeting times are as follows. The Plenary of CCPCJ will hold two sessions each day besides Wednesday, namely from 10am to 1pm and from 3pm to 6pm without evening session. The Committee of the hall will hold, according to the plans to date, eight meetings starting on Monday afternoon 1st of June from 3pm to 6pm and ending on Friday from 10am to 1pm the updated annotated agenda and program work have been posted on the Commission website and are available through the UN Journal. The Journal provides real time information on scheduled meetings as well as the links to all documentation and related webcast on UN Web tv. Statements submitted to Conference services will also be made available through the Journal. Kindly inform the Secretariat if you do not want your statement to be published. I would like to remind you that the CCPCZ sessions are paperless. In session, documents will be made available in electronic format only, including for the adoption of the report on Friday, June 5th. This paperless method of working was introduced two sessions ago and has functioned well. The parts of the Report for adoption will be available on the UN Official Document system ODS and in addition and for ease of reference linked on the Commission referring website. Now I turn to the opening of the session. The session will be opened on Monday 1st of June 2026 at 10am As I said in the Plenary hall of the M Building, His Excellency Ambassador Rudiger Born of Germany, Chair of the Commission will open the 35th session followed by a video message by His Excellency Ambassador Lok Bahdul Thapa, President of the Economic and Social Council and remarks by Ms. Monica Juma, the newly appointed Executive Director of UNODC. Then I turn to the next part of my presentation with regard to the general debate which is the Agenda Item 3 of CCPCJ. After the formal opening session, the session will continue with the general debates. The list of speakers was established with a distinction between Cabinet rank, Ministers and other speakers on the first come first serve basis and a provisional list has been distributed. On Thursday 28th of May, we will start the general debate with the statement by the Chairs of the regional groups. I understand that the statement will be delivered by His Excellency Ambassador Shambhu Santakumarang of India as chair of G77 and China his Excellency Ambassador Mohammed Nasser of Egypt, Chair of the African Group His Excellency Ambassador Abdullah Hadid Taula from Saudi Arabia as Chair of the Asia Pacific Group His Excellency Ambassador Alejandro Garofari Acosta of Uruguay, Chair of Glulak and His Excellency Ambassador Karl Halagar, Permanent Representative of European Union Delegation to the United Nations. Vienna Speaking times have been established at three minutes. Speaking time for representatives speaking in their national capacity with a maximum of 5 minutes is allotted to regional groups. Longer statement can be posted online. All statements can be found in the Journal of the Session. Delegations are kindly requested to provide a copy of their statement in advance to the Conference Management Services of the United Nations Office in Vienna for the interpretation services Now I turn to the Agenda Item 5 of the CCPCJ which is the thematic discussion as mentioned before. Given that the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal justice has been postponed and will now be held from September 26 to October 1, 2026 with pre Congress consultation to take place on 25th of September, the Commission's thematic discussion will be held during its reconvene 35th session in December 2026 and with regard to this Item 5 and Item 3 general debate, I have one additional announcement. This is related to the afternoon session of Monday. The 4th Global Youth Forum on Culture of Lawfulness took place in Japan in early March 2026 under the vein Thema Youth and Community Engagement in Preventing Reoffending through Social Reintegration with successful adoption of its recommendation to the ccpcj. In the past, the handover of the youth recommendations happened during the CCPCJ Intersectional Thematic Discussions on the progress made with the implementation of the Kyoto Declaration. Given that the series of the intersessional Thematic Discussions on the implementation of the Kyoto Declaration has concluded, the Extended Bureau agreed on an exceptional basis and without creating a precedent to invite one of the two Co Chairs of the Youth Forum to present the recommendation during the regular session of the Commission instead, as the young delegate would be in Vienna only at the beginning of the session, it was agreed that the handover would take place at the beginning of the afternoon meeting on Monday 1st of June. Agenda item number seven on UN standards and norms would be opened for the sole purpose of this handover and then after the ending of this handover, the Commission would immediately afterwards resume the general debate. Only short time slots will be allotted for the handing over ceremony for this sole purpose. Agenda item 7 will be shortly opened and afterwards closed and back to the agenda item number seven which is the general debate. All right. Other agenda items on the CCPCJ depending on the progress with general debate, the provisional agenda foresees item 4, which is strategic management, budgetary and administrative questions, which has four sub items to be discussed on. Two the sub items will be introduced together and hence one intervention of maximum three minutes can be made under this agenda item. Now Agenda Item 6 because Agenda Item 5 is postponed. Agenda Item 6 entitled Integration and Coordination of efforts by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime and by Member States in the field of crime prevention and Criminal justice. This agenda item 6 contains again several sub items. As per established practice, sub items A on transnational organized Crime and B on Corruption will be introduced and considered jointly. For jointly considered sub items, delegations are kindly requested to make one intervention of no more than three minutes per cluster. The other sub items C on terrorism prevention, D on Cybercrist and E concerning other crime prevention and criminal justice matters and F other activities in support of the work of UNODC respectively will be considered separately. We will hopefully be able to start consideration of agenda item 6 already on Tuesday. The remaining part of agenda item 66 will be dealt with on Thursday, 4th of June, to be followed by the consideration of agenda item 7 on use and application of the United Nations Standards and Norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, agenda item 8 on world climate trend and emerging issues and responses in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice and Agenda Item 9 under Agenda Item 9, Crime Congress Matters, the discussion will focus on the status of preparation for 15th crime Congress and after agenda item 10, which is the contribution to the work of the ecosystem, the Commission would proceed to Agenda Item 11 on the Provisional Agenda for the 36th Session of the Commission. The draft Provisional agenda for the 36th section must be approved by the 35th session of the Commission for adoption by the Economic and Social Council. Excuse me. Draft Provisional Agenda was circulated through the Extended Bureau following its meeting on May 30, 2026 and the chairs of the regional groups were asked to seek the views of their respective members. All right then. I now turn to the explanation about side events and exhibitions. We have a program of 105 side events and 16 exhibitions. Side events will be held throughout the day to accommodate the large number of individuals events within working hours. The side events will also be held on Wednesday when the plenary is suspended. That's the information with regard to the CJSRT fifth session. At this juncture, are there any requests for the flow for clarification or any comments or questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Of course, you can raise any time, any sort of questions or comments or requirements for more clarity in terms of the information. So now I move to. We moved up to the next part of today's informal pre session which is the main business of today's session, namely the preliminary consideration of draft resolutions to facilitate the work of the Committee of the Whole next week. I would now like to give the floor to Ms. Zeynep Ogud Peg, the Chief of Section Budget of UNOF and UNODC to provide information on financial implications of draft proposals. Ms. Beck, you have the floor, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In line with the rules and procedures of the Economic and Social Council and the General assembly, the Secretariat is issuing oral statements only for resolution that carry implications for the United nations regular budget. I would like to inform Member States that the review of the draft resolutions submitted so far indicated that there would be no regular budget implications. Hence, the Secretariat would not be issuing any oral statements for resolutions L2, L3 and L4. In the course of deliberations of the Committee of the Whole, UNODC program managers will be available to provide information on the extra budgetary resource requirements as appropriate. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Peck, for your explanation. The Committee of the Whole will consider draft resolutions from Monday afternoon. As I said, June 1st through Friday morning, June 5th, in accordance with the provisional agenda and proposed organization of work contained in document E CN 152026 1.Rev 1. I would like to remind delegations that updates of the draft tax and co sponsorship resolutions are administered in the Edelegates online tool. Delegations can co sponsor resolutions on edelegate until Monday, June 8 noon. Until Monday, June 8 noon. Co sponsorship can also be declared in person at the time of adoption of the resolution. Now I propose we proceed with a short presentation of all draft proposals by the respective Sponsors. I ask all sponsors to provide an update on where we stand for each proposal in terms of the informal consultations and will then then invite general comments from the floor after each introductory statement. First I call on the representative of the United States to introduce the draft resolution contained in the document ESRA CN 1520 6L2 entitled Preventing and Combating Transnational Sextus Extortion of Children. United States, you have the floor please, Ma'. Am.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Colleagues, the United States would like to provide a brief update on our resolution entitled Preventing and Combating the Transnational Sextortion of Children. To date we have held two pre session informals totaling approximately six hours of discussion and we appreciate the constructive engagement and thoughtful feedback provided by delegations and attendance. Our goal is to circulate a Rev1 text as soon as feasible that reflects many of the useful suggestions and areas of convergence identified during informals at the outset, let me briefly explain what we mean by sextortion, as this term may still be unfamiliar to some delegations. Simply put, sextortion is sexual extortion or financially motivated extortion involving minors, meaning persons under the age of 18. Typically, a criminal manipulates or pressures a child into sending intimate content online and then threatens to distribute that material unless the child sends money, provides additional content, or complies with further demands. Increasingly, these crimes are transitional, transnational in nature, and an offender in one country may target a child in another using social media platforms, gaming applications, encrypted messaging services, cryptocurrencies, and digital payment systems that operate across borders. We are also seeing criminal groups exploit emerging technologies including artificial intelligence to generate exploitative material and expand coercion schemes at greater scale and speed. This is not a theoretical issue. It is a rapidly growing form of cyber enabled organized crime with devastating real world consequences for children and families. Our resolution seeks to focus the Commission's attention on three core areas. First, strengthening international law enforcement cooperation including investigations, prosecutions, extradition and efforts to deny safe haven to offenders. Second, modernizing our response to evolving technologies by strengthening legal frameworks, improving technical capacity and encouraging responsible cooperation from digital platforms and third, protecting victims and preventing future harm through awareness raising, victim support and stronger international coordination. The United States believes this issue falls squarely within the technical mandate and expertise of the Commission and represents an area where practical international cooperation can make a meaningful decision difference. We also believe there is strong potential for consensus on this issue. We have listened carefully to delegations throughout informals and remain committed to a transparent, inclusive and solutions oriented process as negotiations continue. In that spirit, we would also like to encourage delegations to further educate themselves on this rapidly evolving issue and engage directly with experts in the field. The United States will host a side event on Monday from 1:30 to 2:30 in boardroom A featuring Executive Director Lauren Coughran from the national center for Missing and Exploited Children, also known as NCMEC due to time constraints. During the formal side event we will also host a follow on informational and informal Q and a session at the Vic Pub from two to three, also featuring ncmec and that will be on the Tuesday following to allow delegations the opportunity to to ask questions and engage in a more detailed discussion on the nature and scope of this threat. We hope all Delegations will continue engaging constructively towards a consensus outcome that sends a clear message that the international community will not tolerate the online exploitation and extortion of children. Thank you.

Thank you, distinguished delegates from United States for the introduction of this resolution. Draft resolution. Are there any comments on this draft resolution at this stage? From the floor. All right, thank you. Thank you very much for your attention and I appreciate once again for the presentation from the United States States on this draft resolution. I now call on the representative of Kazakhstan to introduce the draft resolution contained in document L3, entitled Countering Trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced Criminality. Kadafstan distinguishes Turges from Khalafstan. You have the floor, please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Distinguished delegates, it's a real honor for me to introduce in general our draft resolution entitled Countering Trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced Criminality. The draft is tabled by Kazakhstan in partnership with Belarus. For those who have questions regarding the order in which the co sponsors are listed in the draft, allow me to clarify from the outset that Belarus is indicated first simply in accordance with the established UN practice under which co sponsoring countries are reflected in alphabetical order. Why did Kazakhstan choose this topic and why together with Belarus? For Kazakhstan, the issue is highly relevant. As a country located at the heart of Eurasia, we are not isolated from the evolving challenges related to trafficking in persons. We therefore see it both our responsibility and our privilege as a member of this commission to contribute to Internet efforts in this area and to put forward a document that can bring practical value to all delegations. Our co sponsorship with Belarus is rooted in its long standing engagement on this issue, especially within the framework of icat, supported by Kazakhstan and its readiness, the readiness of, and in readiness of belonging to work jointly with us on such an important initiative. We were therefore very pleased to work closely with our Belarusian colleagues and to benefit from their substantive experience while developing this draft. Distinguished delegates, the resolution before you is truly the product of joint work. It's not simply a Kazakh or Belarusian draft. We exchanged ideas extensively, carefully, reviewed different approaches and invested considerable time in finding balanced language that would be constructive, practical and broadly acceptable. One of the key principles that guided our work was restraint. Naturally, there was a strong temptation to make the draft more nationally driven or highlighting our own achievements or specific national perspectives. However, we deliberately choose the right course and our objective was not to create a narrowly national document or political one or image driven project, but rather than a job genuinely collective product, a one capable of serving as a common platform for strengthening international cooperation against trafficking in persons Regarding the substance of the Draft resolution, allow me to underline several important points. First, the Draft addresses an increasingly relevant and rapidly evolving challenge. Criminal network adapt quick and the international community must be prepared to respond just as effectively. According to the 2024 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, trafficking for the purpose of forced criminality has increased significantly in recent years. While in 2016 it represented only 1% of detected trafficking cases globally, it now accounts for approximately 8%. This concerns victims who are forced through violence, coercion, deception or abuse of vulnerability, and they were forced to engage in criminal activities such as cyber fraud, theft, drug related offenses, forced begging and other illicit acts. Too often such victims are misidentified as offenders arrested, prosecuted or punished, while traffickers themselves remain beyond the reach of justice. Importantly, the Draft resolution does not create new international obligations or establish new legal frameworks. It builds firmly upon existing international instruments, including the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Trafficking in Persons Protocol. The objective of the Draft is practical to assist Member States in applying existing international frameworks more effectively in response to this growing phenomenon. The text reading reaffirms the principle of non punishment of victims for unlawful acts committed as a direct consequence of being trafficked. It also highlights the importance of specialized training for law enforcement officials, prosecutors, judges and frontline practitioners in order to improve victim identification and protection. In addition, the the draft encourages stronger data collection, analytical work, information sharing and technical assistance through unodc. Practical attention is also paid to the growing role of online recruitment and digital exploitation schemes, including through engagement with Internet intermediaries and financial institutions. Throughout the text, we sought to maintain a very victim centered, practical and inclusive approach. Special attention is given to vulnerable groups including children, women, migrants, persons with disabilities and persons affected by conflict and post conflict situations. Overall, we believe the Draft is balanced, practical and firmly grounded on previously agreed language and exists existing UN frameworks. At the same time, we fully recognize that certain formulations may require further discussion and refinement. Language that may previously have been considered agreed is not always viewed in the same way in the current context. We therefore remain fully committed to engaging constructively and flexibly with all delegates delegations in the spirit of Vienna cooperation, many delegations have already approached us privately to express support and to share valuable, constructive suggestions aimed at improving specific parts of the text. We are sincerely grateful for this engagement and would encourage them to share to present openly during the upcoming informal consultation which we intend to hold over the course of next week. Some colleagues have asked why these consultations were not organized earlier. The Reason is quite simple. We expected experts from our capital Astana to participate directly in the process. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, they couldn't come. Come now. They equipped me with all materials and entrusted me with conducting these consultations here in Vienna on their behalf next week. So we are planning to have at least three consultations and the concrete dates we are expecting from the Secretariat as well as it is clear we will inform you officially. So I count on your support and sincerely hope that delegations will approach this draft in the same constructive and cooperative spirit in which it was prepared. And we very much look forward to working together with all partners during the upcoming negotiations. I thank you.

I thank distinguished delegate from Kazakhstan for the introduction of this draft resolution. L3 Are there any comments on the draft resolution at this stage? From any. I recognize distinguished delegates from European Union. Floor is yours please, Sir.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman. I have the honor to speak on behalf of of the European Union and its member states. Albania, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine align themselves with this statement. The EU attaches great importance to the topics of the three resolutions under discussion for the third party 25th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal justice, including the fight against trafficking in persons. For us, it is essential to take a comprehensive and human rights based, gender responsive and child sensitive approach in line with the obligations under international law, including the UNTOK Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children. This approach should consider, inter alia, operational cooperation, judicial training, online dimensions and persons in vulnerable situations. In this regard, we recall the adoption in 2024 of the revised EU Anti Trafficking Directive which further strengthens the EU legal frame work to prevent and combat trafficking, including by reinforcing the elements I just mentioned. And while we welcome this issue to be tackled at the ccpcj, we regret the prominent role of Belarus in these negotiations. A country that violates its obligations under international law, in particular international human rights law, through its involvement in RA Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and by instrumentalizing migration, we will continue to oppose any leadership by Belarus on actions against trafficking in persons. We sincerely thank you Chair for your leadership and we trust that you will be able to bring this session to a successful outcome. We also thank the Secretariat for its tireless work. Thank you, Chair.

I thank distinguished delegate from the European Union for his statement. I recognize distinguished delegate from France. Madame, floor is yours please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Chair, my delegation associates itself with a statement made by the European Union and would like to add a few remarks in its national capacity, we fully recognize the role of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal justice in strengthening our collective efforts in the prevention and fight against crime and the strengthening of our justice systems. This year you can count again on our active participation in the work that will take place during the 35th session. Among the cross cutting threats that affect the stability of our societies, violate the rule of law and undermine respect for fundamental rights, the fight against fraud, against the sextortion of children and against all forms of trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced criminality are priority issues for our collective action. In this regard, we thank the sponsors of these three useful draft resolutions, the United States, Japan and Kazakhstan. We are engaged in the informal negotiations that have begun for two of them in order to consolidate, for example, references to human trafficking, references to the identification, support and protection of victims and to ensure the effective implementation of this text. The fight against forced criminality is a priority for our delegation. Nevertheless, we would like to express our concern concern on Belarus involvement in this draft in light of its attempt to destabilize its EU neighbors by causing migrant arrivals at their borders and its involvement in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. This war, with the support of Belarus, has already caused the massive displacement of millions of people and as a consequence increased their vulnerability, especially to exploitation. Today, as the conflict has entered its fifth year, serious facts that may be qualified as human trafficking arise. An international survey published on 29 April by the NGO Truth Hounds and the International Federation of Human Rights shows a recruitment since the beginning of the war of at least 27,000 foreign national from more than 130 countries to participate in the war in Ukraine. In the Russian armed forces, these recruitments largely target vulnerable people. In this context, we deplore the cynicism of Belarus and its attempt to showcase itself at the forefront of the fight against human trafficking on the international scene. Mr. Chairman, threatening international cooperation to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings is a major priority for France. We are committed to fighting discourage particularly within UNODC and believe that our response to this threat must be comprehensive, coordinated and concerted. Because the rise of forced criminality among forms of exploitation requires collective action, we will actively participate in the negotiations to reach a robust and hopefully consensual resolution which will value an inclusive approach centered on victims, respect for fundamental rights and a strengthening of international cooperation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank distinguished Egate from the France for her statement. Thank you very much. I recognize recognize distinguished delegate from Mexico for requesting the floor Floor is yours, please.

Thank you very much. Mr. Chairperson. Good morning to you and to colleagues and firstly help of our delegation. Congratulations and thank you for taking this responsibility. Needless to say that you will have all our support at the committee of the whole. The same applies for our distinguished colleagues and friends from Kazakhstan. We're looking forward to beginning the negotiations with them. I will advance my initial comments notwithstanding the nature of this meeting in order not to lose time. Then when we do start with the negotiations, the reception by the government of Mexico the draft is quite positive. So we're looking forward to engaging in a very straightforward negotiation process. But I took the floor, Mr. Chairperson, understanding that perhaps you will have a meeting with co sponsors and we will be receiving a schedule later in the day regarding both informal negotiations and how the cow will look throughout the week. But can we already have any type of indication by preliminary on how Monday afternoon could look like so we can start organizing ourselves as delegations, Please. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much for the question. I will put my answer to this specific question later on once we have finished all the presentation and consideration. Preliminary consideration on the all three proposed resolutions afterwards. But I have taken note. Thank you very much for this needful clarification from the distinguished delegate from Mexico. Thank you very much. I recognize distinguished delegate from Poland requesting the floor. Floor is yours, please.

Thank you. Mr. Chair. Poland fully aligns herself the statement delivered by the European Union. On my national capacity. I wish to briefly stress two things. Firstly, we recognize crucial importance of the effective prevention and combat trafficking in person. Secondly, we regret that this important issue is brought to the attention of the Commission by Belarus, a country that violates its obligation under international law. This is detrimental to our efforts to effectively address the issue of trafficking in person. I thank you, Mr. Chair and wish you all success in guiding us through the work of the committee of the whole. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I thank distinguished from the from Poland for your statement with warm regards to to our team. Thank you very much. I recognize distinguished delegate from Belarus for requesting floor. Floor is yours, ma'. Am. Please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Delegation of Belarus Listen carefully to the comments made by number of delegations in which the initial sponsorship of Belarus of the draft resolution on combatant trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced criminality was questioned and cast into doubt. In this regard, we consider it necessary to note the the mandate of the UN Commission on crime prevention and criminal justice is defined by Ecosystem Resolution 199222 of 1992. This resolution clearly defines the areas and Directions of work of the Commission. There is not a single word in this resolution indicating that that the Commission should discuss issues of any kind of politics, whether global, regional or bilateral. The comments we have just had amount to nothing other than the politicization of the reg of the Commission and therefore do not correspond to the spirit of the key ecosystem resolutions of 1992 which I have referred. As a result, the Commission is ceasing to function in accordance with the well known Vienna spirit. Who will benefit from this? I will leave this question to the critics of Belarus. I would like to emphasize the following. Belarus has been actively promoting the issue of combat trafficking in person at the international level for more than two decades. We are proud of our contribution in this area. At Our initiative In 2010, the UN General assembly adopted the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Person. Also at our initiative, the General Assembly, ECOSOC and the Commission have adopted dozens of resolutions aimed at combating this crime. Thank you.

I thank distinguished delegate from Belarus for her statement. Thank you very much, Ma'. Am. Since I see no other requesting for the floor for any comments or clarification of its positions or any request for the information, then I now move on to the last resolution. I call on the representative of Japan to introduce the draft resolution contained in document L4, entitled Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to Combat Fraud. The resolution was tabled by Japan, United States and the United Kingdom. I may now ask the floor. I may ask the representative of Japan to take the floor. You have the floor, please.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairs. First, I would like to briefly explain the purpose of this draft resolutions. In light of the fact that fraud methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated and that significant harm is being caused across countries worldwide. This resolution aims to encourage Member States to strengthen crime prevention and criminal justice responses to the rapidly growing global threat of fraud through comprehensive and action action oriented measures. I would also like to stress that a fraud is a common challenge shared by all countries, regardless of political positions. We, the sponsored countries, have made every effort to ensure that this resolution provides a highly technical and action oriented framework outlining practical measures that Member States may take to effectively combat fraud. In this regard, and also in the light of the UN reform, the sponsor countries have intentionally kept the overall draft resolution simply short and concise, and we would like to maintain this approach. Then I would like to briefly report on the progress of the informal consultation which we have already made. To date, we have held four rounds of informal consultations and we completed the first reading of the text. Primary. I would like to thank all those who engage in this negotiation for your constructive and active attitude for our negotiations and the consultations. Today we're going to have the 5th round wing informal consultation that is scheduled for this afternoon. We are going to briefly review the streamlined text reflecting our discussion so far to identify the areas where consensus is emerging as well as us the issues that still need to be addressed. Based on this, we will prepare level one and circulate it as soon as possible so that everyone can be well prepared for the negotiations starting next week. We are aim for that adaption by consensus. So I would sincerely encourage and ask all member States to engage constructively and with flexibility throughout the process to prove our Vienna spirits. Thank you very much.

I thank distinguished delegate from Japan for his statement. Any comments or any questions or further requirements for the more information. Yes, I recognize distinguished from the United Kingdom. Flores US Ma' Am, please.

Many thanks and good morning colleagues. We thank Japan for tabling this practical action over oriented resolution and we're pleased to co sponsor this is a timely opportunity to follow up on the UNODC Interpol Global Fraud Summit and build on the good momentum that that event created. Fraud is a devastating crime that knows no borders and impacts all of us. It causes severe financial harm and in additional, the impact of fraud on our citizens across the globe is profound. Not only that, innovation in technology, the globalization of organised crime and advances in criminal tactics are driving the growth of fraud globally. The abuse of technology has allowed criminals to develop and increase the scale, the scope and the speed of their illicit activities. We together face a simple reality. This is a problem so vast that no country can tackle this threat alone. We thank Japan for bringing us together to face this reality jointly. There is international consensus to take action to prevent and combat fraud and there is consensus that taking action is urgent. We hope that through our joint efforts here in Virginia, Vienna we can adopt an effective impactful resolution together by consensus that helps all of us in our efforts to tackle fraud. Thank you.

I thank distinguished delegate from the United Kingdom for her statement. I recognize distinguished delegate from Brazil, Ambassador Saboya Eduardo Prize.

Thank you very much. Thank you so much and thank you for convening this meeting. I think we look forward to working with you and with all the delegations on this important opportunity to strengthen our cooperation. We are fully committed to reaching working constructively on the resolutions. I asked my colleague how the negotiations are going. He did like this. I don't know if he's optimistic or not, but I think we'll figure out a way to reach consensus. I just like to say that, you know, I think next week will also be an opportunity to highlight the topic of the Cybercrime Convention and I think all the three resolutions, the topics that are mentioned in the three resolutions, sexual extortion, human trafficking and fraud are connected have connections with the cyber crime. So I hope that we will be able to get some political impetus for the signing and ratifying of the convention. And I recall that right after the next week's meeting we will have the first round of open ended informal consultations. And actually today is the last day for possible inputs on the scope, objectives and structure of a potential protocol. But of course we will be focusing our discussions on the draft rules of procedure. But so I hope I can count on all those who will be engaged in these topics next week to also talk to their principals and engage with those who are working working towards having this convention on Cybercrime fully operational. Thank you.

I thank distinguished delegate from Brazil for his statement. Okay, thank you very much. I appreciate once again for the presentation and introduction introduction and presentation done by three respective sponsors and co sponsors from these three important endeavor of putting forward this draft resolution with the respectively dealing with such an important dema and also active engagement of all other relevant delegations on this specific point before, before going forward I would like to provide my idea with regard to the point and the question raised by the distinguished delegate from Mexico with regard to the scheduling of the committee of the whole especially on Monday. My idea at this juncture is to listen once more again the sponsors and quotes sponsors and update myself on the status of each and every negotiations right after this informal session of pre session. And as you have already heard from distinguished delegate from Japan, the next round of this informal session on L4 will commence this afternoon. It's again the representation of workaholicness of Japanese diplomats. Sorry for that. And anyway I will inform all of you in duri within today's through appropriate channel in terms of whether or not I will commence. I will convene the afternoon part of the Monday, I mean afternoon part of the whole of committee of whole on Monday. So please be keep posted and I will update in due course. Course that's my best answer at this juncture and once the older picture is cleared then I will announce or I will let you inform. I will inform you as soon as possible. Is that acceptable for everybody? Thank you very much for your indulgence. And now, now again I thank you very much for the presentation and active engagement. As I said, to date we have eight meetings of the Committee of Whole to discuss these proposals with a view to reaching agreement on texts. Once the COW has considered and approved a draft resolution, it will be submitted to the plenary for adoption. I will work with the sponsors of draft proposals to coordinate the work of the Committee as well as Informal consultations. Due to the liquidity crisis of the UN regular budget and the resulting limits to conference services, no meetings can be held in the m building after 6pm after normal working hours. Informals without support can be held in the C building. Sponsors can book a room with conference management services and clarify technical matters in advance. With that we move to now to the end item under agenda item for this informal precision consultation which is the other businesses. Are there any delegations wish to take up any other businesses at this juncture? I see none. Okay, thank you very much with this we have come to the end of this meeting today. Thank you all the thank you all for attending this pre session consultations and see you at the opening on Monday. I wish you a present weekend. Thank you very much. Meetings Ajahn.