The 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice is being held in Kyoto, Japan from March 7 to 12 this year.
The prestigious forum, which is held every five years, is attended by heads of state and government, ministers of justice and internal affairs, prosecutors general, other members of the government, and senior officials of influential international organizations from UN member states.
Azerbaijan is represented at the event by a delegation led by the Minister of Justice Mr. Fikrat Mammadov. The delegation includes Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Japan Gursal Ismayilzade, officials of the Ministries of Justice, Foreign and Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office.
Prince Hisako Takamodo and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Presidents of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, as well as the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General of the hosting country spoke at the solemn opening ceremony of the event, which defines the policy of combating crime at the global level and which the main organizer is the Ministry of Justice of Japan.
After the opening ceremony, the high-level plenary session began. Speaking at the first meeting, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan delivered speeches on behalf of Azerbaijan, as well as 120 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement, chaired by our country.
In a live broadcast on the UN website, the Minister of Justice stressed decisive measures taken under the leadership of the President to prevent crime in our country, large-scale reforms, approved in abroad, to increase the efficiency of justice, including the introduction of e-court, Azerbaijan's high international ratings in these areas, important steps taken to humanize the punishment policy in our country, serious works to combat corruption, as well as the effective operation of the Azerbaijani brand "ASAN service", which is met with great interest abroad.
In his speech, he brought to the attention of attenders that, our ancient lands were liberated from 30 years of Armenian occupation under the leadership of the President of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Mr. Ilham Aliyev, noted war crimes committed by the aggressive enemy, especially the involvement of foreign mercenaries by Armenia in violation of international norms, acquisition of weapons and ammunition via deception by the Armenian Diaspora and by other illegal ways and their illegal shipment to the conflict zone through civil airlines under the name of humanitarian aid.
They noted the destruction of our lands during the occupation, the complete destruction of all infrastructure, including the destruction or looting of historical, cultural and religious monuments, and the use of these areas for illegal economic activities, drug trafficking and other crimes.
The attention of the participants of the Congress and the whole world legal community is drawn to these criminal acts of Armenia, all states were called on to bring to justice the perpetrators of these acts, which are a threat to peace.
The texts of the speech in English and Russian languages were also distributed among the participants of the event.
Speaking at the event on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, a statement was issued reflecting the Movement's position on issues arising from the agenda of the Kyoto Congress. The statement, adopted with the consent of all member states of the Non-Aligned Movement, approved the calls on prevention of use of charities to finance terrorism in accordance with the proposals of the Azerbaijani side, on elimination of vandalism acts during the conflict and the results of destruction or looting of cultural heritage, on return of cultural property to its rightful owner.
Wanting to avoid these well-founded accusations, which attracted the attention of the participants of the Congress, the Armenian side made fabricated statements about our country and Turkey, but their lies were fully exposed by the convincing arguments of the Azerbaijani delegation.
At the same meeting, the Kyoto Declaration was adopted, aimed at strengthening efforts to combat global crime. This important 5-year program document fully reflects the provisions that meet our national interests based on the proposals of Azerbaijan.
Information of the Press Service of the Ministry of Justice
