United Nations African Institute for The Prevention of Crime and The Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI)
United Nations African Institute for The Prevention of Crime and The Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI)
Location : Email : unafri@unafri.or.ug

 

About us

Pursuant to various resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Organization of African Unity, the Conference of Ministers of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), between 1980 and 1989 and the supportive decisions by the United Nations Congresses on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, the idea of founding the United Nations African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFRI) was realized.

The Statute for its establishment was adopted in April, 1989 by the Conference of Ministers of ECA. The establishment of UNAFRI with specified statutory objectives arose out of the recognized urgent need to start servicing, on continuous basis the increasing crime prevention and control problem in the African region.

The justification for its establishment remains the need to endeavor to prevent the problem of crime and delinquency from subverting development and gains of development of the countries of Africa. The establishment of UNAFRI was in fact long overdue considering in the first instance that comparable Institutes had been established for Asia and Far-East (UNAFEI) in 1961, Latin America (ILANUD) in 1975, European countries (HEUNI) in 1982, and the effects of their work underline the suitability/appropriateness of the regional approach to problems of crime prevention and criminal justice.

Consequently, UNAFRI is a useful mechanism in the African region for promoting the active cooperation of Governments, academic institutions and experts in the field, in addition to assisting the countries in mobilizing their human and administrative potential, and deploying efforts for harmonious growth with a view to promoting self reliance and sustained development, while responding at the same time, to the crime problem with dynamic programs

Goals and Objectives

The Development objective of the Institute is to promote harmonious socioeconomic development in the countries of the region through the incorporation, in national planning, of suitable policies and program for crime prevention and criminal justice as a means of reducing the potentially negative side-effects of dysfunctional growth and attendant change, and their human and material costs.

The Institute endeavors to:

Promote collaborative activities and joint action on priority problems bearing on crime prevention and control in the development context; upgrade personnel and standards of performance in criminal justice, as well as impart new skills; provide an empirical basis for decision-making through policy-oriented research; encourage the pooling and exchange of expertise, experience and information; assist in the promotion of indigenous approaches and innovative solutions, drawing on African traditions and orientations, as well as on new developments in the field; direct assistance to Governments at their request; and promote the regional integration of efforts against trans-border and trans-national criminality whose methods and scope pose a particular threat to development and social stability.

The operational objectives include:

i. Assisting in the formulation of policies and program for the prevention and control of crime and the correction of offenders in the context of national developmental planning in the countries of the region;

ii. Upgrading of personnel and standards of performance in policy making, law-enforcement, justice administration, and offender-correction through special interdisciplinary training activities and; impairment of new knowledge and skills;

iii. Provision of an empirical basis for sound decision-making in law- enforcement, administration of criminal justice, and offender correction through policy-oriented research, systematic data collection and the establishment of a crime data bank;

iv. Initiation and promotion of indigenous and innovative approaches, drawing on African traditions as well as new developments in the field of crime prevention and control;

iv. Provision of direct advisory and/or assistance to Governments of African States, upon their own request;

v. Promotion of cooperative activities and joint action on priority needs and problems of crime prevention and control;

vi. Promotion of regional and sub-regional integration of efforts against transnational criminality.

Company Information
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Contact Email: unafri@unafri.or.ug
Contact Phone: +256-41-221 119
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Address1: P. O. Box 10590
Address2: Nakawa