Crime Congress in Havana to address growing global crime.

• Position: Eighth Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders

The global fight against Crime is to be given renewed impetus through the Eighth Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, to be held in Havana, Cuba, from 27 August to 7 SePtember 1990.

Previous congresses have "influenced national policies and practices", the General Assembly noted in resolution 44/71, adopted on 8 December. The Havana meeting should make a major contribution to the "solution of problems related to crime prevention and criminal justice", it stated.

Violence, terrorism, corruption and illegal trade in narcotic drugs were spreading, the Assembly said, due to an expanding volume in and the transnational character of organized crime.

In another resolution (44/72), the Assembly said the increase both in the incidence and seriousness of crime in many parts of the world" and "its negative effects on the quality of life and the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms" reflected a deteriorating situation.

Recognizing that "economic and technical" constraints impeded many countries in their fight against crime, the Assembly warned that technological advances" could be used in the "perpetration of sophisticated forms of criminality".

High-level government representatives, prosecutors, judges, criminologists, penologists and senior police officials, as well as experts in criminal law, human rights and rehabilitation, are expected to participate in the Eighth Congress, which is being organized by the Crime Prevention and Criminal justice Branch of the Vienna-based UN Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs.

The global meeting will focus on transborder crimes, including illicit drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime, terrorism...