The 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice is hosted by the Government of the United Arab Emirates and will take place in Abu Dhabi from 26 September to 1 October 2026. United Nations Crime Congresses have been held every five years since 1955 in different parts of the world, dealing with a vast array of topics. They have made a considerable impact on the field of international crime prevention and criminal justice and guided national policies and professional practices.
The last Congress, held in 2021 in Kyoto, Japan, adopted the Kyoto Declaration, which highlighted the importance of partnerships in preventing crime and upholding the rule of law. The Kyoto Congress, which was a hybrid event, was postponed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As a global forum, the Congresses enable the exchange of information and best practices among States and professionals, including from international organizations, civil society and academia, working in this field. Their overall goal is to improve crime prevention policies and criminal justice measures all over the world.
The theme of the 15th Congress is “Accelerating crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: protecting people and planet and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the digital age” as decided by the United Nations General Assembly (resolution 78/223).
There are four substantive items on the agenda covering the following:
The Congress will hold four workshops on:
The Congress will open with a high-level segment, where Heads of State or Government, Ministers and other high-level government representatives will address the main agenda items of the Congress. There will also be high-level events and numerous ancillary meetings organized by participants, including non-governmental organizations, covering subjects relating to crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law.
The Crime Congress is a global forum that brings together the largest and most diverse gathering of policymakers and practitioners in the area of crime prevention and criminal justice, as well as individual experts from academia, representatives of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, specialized agencies and other United Nations entities and youth.
The Congress will adopt a single political declaration, which will contain recommendations based on the discussions and meetings at the Congress. The declaration will be submitted to the reconvened 35th session (2-4 December 2026) of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) for consideration and subsequently to the General Assembly for endorsement. The Congress will also provide a platform for increased cooperation between governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations on the whole spectrum of crime prevention and criminal justice work, promoting more effective international action in this field.
At the 15th United Nations Crime Congress there will be a pledging ceremony where Member States will be invited to make concrete, time-bound commitments to advance justice, support the implementation of the political declaration agreed at the Congress and strengthen global crime prevention and justice efforts.
To gather regional perspectives on the topics to be discussed at the Congress, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), acting as secretariat to the 15th United Nations Crime Congress, organized a series of regional preparatory meetings in 2025, held in Addis Ababa; Bangkok; Marrakesh, Morocco; San José; and Vienna.
The framework of United Nations Conventions and other tools shows the extent to which the international community has agreed to work together to tackle many forms of crime. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the three international drug control conventions (Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) and, the most recent, the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, all explicitly encourage international cooperation and information-exchange at the national level.
With near-universal ratification, the Organized Crime Convention, which commemorated its 25-year anniversary in 2025, remains an important legal basis for international cooperation in criminal matters and a versatile means to combat new, emerging and evolving forms of crime.
The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime was opened for signature in October 2025, following its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2024. The Convention criminalizes 11 forms of cybercrime, contains measures to prevent and counter cybercrime and allows for the sharing of electronic evidence in serious crimes while respecting human rights and protecting personal data.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument.
The three international drug control conventions constitute the cornerstone of the international drug control system. They aim to prevent the abuse of drugs and psychoactive substances and ensure their availability for medical and scientific purposes.
There are also 19 international counter-terrorism instruments, and Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions, some of which are adopted under chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, which form a core part of the international legal framework to counter terrorism.
Alongside the Conventions, the United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice provide universally agreed benchmarks for criminal justice systems worldwide. They cover a range of areas including access to justice, treatment of offenders, juvenile justice, protecting victims, violence against women, judicial independence, alternatives to imprisonment and reducing reoffending.
There will be webcast coverage of the Congress in all six United Nations official languages and statements (speeches) will be available on the Crime Congress website.
Further information for the media is available here.
