UNIS/CP/504
27 October 2004
Francophone African Countries Determined to Comply with the Instruments against Terrorism, Organized Crime and Corruption
VIENNA, 27 October (UN Information Service) -- Ministers of Justice of Francophone African countries today adopted the Port-Louis Declaration, at a three-day Regional Ministerial Conference of Francophone African Countries. The document is devoted to promoting the ratification and full implementation of the universal instruments against terrorism and the United Nations Conventions against Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption. The Conference, which was held in Port-Louis, Mauritius, was jointly organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (AIF) and the Government of Mauritius.
By the adoption of the Declaration, the Ministers expressed their commitment to expeditiously ratify and implement all the universal instruments against terrorism, as well as the United Nations Conventions against Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption. They also approved the Legislative Guide for the implementation of the universal instruments against terrorism proposed by UNODC and recommended its broadest dissemination. In addition, they requested UNODC and AIF to elaborate training curricula for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers on the relevant conventions and protocols, as well as on related international cooperation in criminal matters, and called upon donor countries and relevant international and regional organizations to support the implementation of these activities.
The Ministers also appreciated the participation of the African Union, the League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Commission de l’Océan Indien in the conference.
The event was organized as a follow-up to the Cairo Declaration (4 September 2003), in which the Ministers of Justice committed their Governments to ratifying and implementing all the United Nations instruments against terrorism, organized crime and corruption.
As a result of the discussions and various presentations from the Heads of Delegations and the UNODC Representatives at the Conference, the review of the progress made by Francophone African countries of the ratification, these instruments showed an increase of about 50 per cent since the adoption of the Cairo Declaration, last year.
UNODC expects a further significant increase in the ratification process by participating countries of the United Nations Conventions against Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption, as well as the universal instruments against terrorism, on the occasion of the Third Conference of Ministers of Justice of Francophone African Countries, which will take place in Dakar, Senegal, in 2005.
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