Global, Virtual, 14-17 June 2021 – The 5th International Conference on Governance, Crime and Justice Statistics was held online from 14 to 17 June 2021. The conference was co-organised by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence, UNODC-KOSTAT Centre of Excellence, in partnership with National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and Statistics Korea (KOSTAT).
The biennial international conference discussed new methodological developments and data sources, improve data collection and comparability, facilitate statistical use for evidence-based policymaking and strengthen international coordination. The 14-session event brought together 69 international experts to a global audience of 2,500 registered participants, from 60 countries, with an average of approximately 500 viewers per session.
The Conference launched with opening remarks from representatives Ms. Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of UNODC, Mr. Keunkwan Ryu, Commissioner of KOSTAT, Republic of Korea and Mr. Julio Santaella, President of INEGI, Mexico.
The UNODC-KOSTAT Centre of Excellence (CoE) organised the session ‘Asia and Pacific Crime-Data Challenges’, held on 15 June 2021. The session introduced three of the most pressing crime challenges in the Asia-Pacific region – trafficking in persons, criminal justice systems and corruption – and explained how data can be utilised to develop effective evidence-based policies at the national level.
Dr. Hyun Jung Park, Coordinator of the CoE, presided over the session with three panellists, Dr. Marika McAdam, Independent Consultant, Professor Raymund E. Narag, Associate Professor of Southern Illinois University, and Professor Kilkon Ko, Associate Professor of Seoul National University.
Dr. McAdam examined the prevalence of trafficking in persons in Asia and the Pacific, their impact on the victims and the need to overcome data gaps resulting from differences in definitions and classification across countries. Professor Narag discussed addressing regional criminal justice system challenges by utilising high-quality data and proposed solutions at the structural, organizational and cultural levels for effective responses. Finally, Professor Ko addressed the impacts of corruption in the region and recommended prevention best practices at the national level, such as multi-dimensional approaches to measure, record, and analyse instances of corruption.
The discussion section of the meeting enabled audience-panellist engagement which focused on the impact and examples of evidence-based policymaking and featured a significant amount of questions from the audience which peaked at 472.
The 6th International Conference will be held in late 2023 – situation depending – in an offline format.
The released advocacy materials can be found at the CoE Twitter @CoE_UNODC and Facebook @UNODC.KOSTAT.CoE.
