Saudi Arabia endorsed the recommendations made by Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres in his report entitled “Implementation of the Mandates of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Program.
Saudi Arabia will allocate particular attention to the technical cooperation activities of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, submitted by the Secretary General in his report entitled “International Cooperation Against the World Drug Problem, which provides an overview of the world drug situation and the implementation of recommendations related to its international control.
This came in the speech of the third secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations Mohammed bin Issam Khashan, which he delivered Thursday before the Third Committee of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly on item 110-111 on crime prevention, criminal justice, and international drug control.
Khashan said that Saudi Arabia appreciated the report inclusion of the importance of each country deciding its own drug policies, while respecting the relevant international legal principles and treaties at the same time with a human-centered, results-based and not biased approach.
He explained that the most important indicators that reflect the Saudi keenness to achieve comprehensive justice are the establishment of an advanced judiciary capable of dealing with the various variables within the state of law frame where the government has granted the Public Prosecution a complete independence from the executive authorities.
In the efforts of the Kingdom’s government, he pointed out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been working to harness the potential to combat the scourge of drugs, which is fueled by terrorist organizations hosted by neighboring countries aimed at discouraging development efforts in the Kingdom.
He added that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is proud to be a member of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and was continuing to take the necessary national actions to give effect to the obligations contained in treaties and conventions relating to combating persons trafficking, preventing and combating human organs trafficking.
The Kingdom initiated the establishment of the World Center for the fight against extremist ideology (ETIDAL) in May last year in Riyadh which is an international center fighting intellectual extremism, by media and digital means, to promote the values of coexistence and tolerance among peoples.
In order to promote and facilitate international cooperation in those fields, Saudi Arabia had submitted a draft resolution to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-third session, in May 2014, entitled “International Cooperation in Criminal Matters, which had been endorsed by the General Assembly at its 69th session.
In the field of bilateral and regional cooperation, the Kingdom has ratified several conventions in the field of combating crime with specialists from the GCC and the Arab League on judicial cooperation in criminal matters.
Khashan confirmed that the Kingdom also ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) in 2005 and the three protocols to the Convention.
In conclusion, Khashan stressed on the need to respect the right of all countries sovereign rights to develop their own legal systems, including the identification of appropriate legal penalties for these heinous crimes in accordance with their obligations under international law.
Source: International Islamic News Agency