Daejeon (Republic of Korea), 23 October 2023 – The CoE hosted the ICCS (International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes) International Conference, jointly organized with Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Aiming to promote the implementation of the ICCS in Asia and the Pacific, the conference showcased national experiences in classifying crime data in a consistent manner across different institutions based on ICCS. The Conference also highlighted the efforts made by the CoE in Asia and the Pacific to promote the adoption of the ICCS, by promoting and providing technical assistance for its implementation within Member States. In total, 86 participants joined the event, including national stakeholders in crime and criminal justice statistics, scholars and international organizations active in Asia and the Pacific
The Conference opened with remarks by Yeonok Choi, Deputy Commissioner of KOSTAT, Angela Me, Chief of UNODC Research and Trend Analysis Branch, and Cheol-Hyun Park, President of the Korean Criminological Association. They highlighted the importance of an internationally standardized classification of crime, and the role of CoE in ensuring the implementation of the ICCS throughout Asia and the Pacific, starting from the Republic of Korea.
In the first session, Jonghee Choi, Coordinator of the CoE, provided an overview of the Centre, including the background of its establishment and current activities carried out in the region. Claudia Pontoglio, Associate Research Officer of the CoE, elaborated on the support CoE provided to implement the ICCS in Indonesia, Mongolia, the Arab Region and the upcoming workshop in Maldives. Then, Angela Me provided an introduction to the ICCS, its structure and praxis, and the benefits of implementation.
In the following session, representatives from the Republic of Korea and Indonesia involved in the ICCS implementation delivered presentations on the process, as well as the challenges faced in the course of implementation. Kyeongbo Sim, Deputy Director of KOSTAT and Dae-Hoon Kwak, Professor at Chungnam National University, discussed the steps in developing the Korean Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (KCCS) and the achieved results. Trophy Endah Rahayu, Associate Statistician at Statistics Indonesia (BPS), and Ni Made Martini Puteri, Head of Criminology Department at University of Indonesia, shared their experience in implementing the ICCS in the national context, including the support provided by the CoE in early 2023.
Closing remarks were delivered by Hyung Ik Ahn, Director General of KOSTAT, who emphasized Korea’s readiness to champion the ICCS implementation on a regional level and emphasized a closer collaboration between KOSTAT and UNODC through the CoE.
Further information on the CoE can be found here. Twitter: @CoE_UNODC and Facebook: @UNODC.KOSTAT.CoE.
