Ambassador Khaddour: Syria is a party to most of the international agreements concerned with preventing crime in all its forms

Dr. Hasan Khaddour, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Vienna, affirmed that Syria is a party to most of the international agreements concerned with the prevention of crime in all its forms, and Syria is keen to update and develop its national laws in line with these international agreements.

Khaddour said in a statement delivered yesterday evening before the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in its 32nd session: It is from this standpoint that the Syrian government has issued, during the past years, a package of laws that included fighting human trafficking, combating money laundering, banning terrorism funding, kidnapping and freedom supression and combating information crimes and others.

Khaddour added: President Bashar Al-Assad issued Law No. 20 of 2022 reorganizing the penal legal rules for information crime included in Legislative Decree No. 7 of 2012. This law aims to combat information crime in line with the technological development taking place.

Khaddour pointed out that Syria ranked third in the world in terms of the absence of transnational organized crimes, but unfortunately this situation has changed during the past twelve years, which witnessed the entry of large numbers of the most dangerous terrorist and criminal elements into Syria from various countries of the world.

Khaddour expressed the Syrian Arab Republic’s appreciation over the efforts made by the United Nations Office on Crime and Drugs in providing technical support to member states, and for this reason Syria looks forward to this office’s greater involvement in work and cooperation with Syria, especially in light of the circumstances it has been exposed to since 2011.

The terrorist acts that targeted the civil status departments led to a major destruction of their infrastructure, and the theft of identity cards and passports that were used by armed groups to move from one location to another, which constitutes a real security threat.

Khaddour stressed that the conditions of the war in Syria and the imposition of unilateral coercive economic measures on Syria by the United States and the European Union resulted in waves of displacement of the population to neighboring countries, and this was followed by the growth of the phenomenon of trafficking in persons, especially children in refugee camps.

It is noteworthy that the Vienna-based Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice will hold its 32nd session during the period from May 22 to May 26, under the auspices of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

NR