A view of the Knowledge Centre at the Qatar National Convention Centre, the venue for the 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

The State of Qatar, recognising the need of delegates to the ongoing 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice for focused, relevant and up-to-date information on various topics, has established a ‘Knowledge Centre’ at the Congress venue in the QNCC.
“The Knowledge Centre has 26 international experts available to answer the queries of media personnel and participants as well,” said Maj Gen Abdullah Yousuf al-Mal, adviser to the Minister of Interior and chairperson of the Preparatory Committee of the Congress which concludes on Sunday.
A total of 17 booths representing 17 institutes under UN and United Nations Office on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice are part of the Knowledge Centre. UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute Turin, Italy; UN Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, Tokyo, Japan; UN Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, Sanjose, Costa Rica; UN African Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, Kampala; Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, Australia; International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy; International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science, Siracusa, Italy; National institute of Justice, Washington DC, US; Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Lund, Sweden; and International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, Milan, Italy; are some of the important institutes taking part in the centre.
Other institutes under the UN participating in the Knowledge Centre are the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, Montreal, Canada; Institute for the Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa; Korean Institute of Criminology, Seoul, South Korea; College for Criminal Law Science, Beijing, China; and European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, Helsinki, Finland.
The subject matter experts can provide links to areas of specific interest on around 100 topics or sub-topics in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice. Specialised materials related to topics of the Congress are also available.
“We supported the concept of the Knowledge Centre when it was first proposed two years ago,” said Abdullah Khalifa al-Muftah, head of the media committee of the 13th UN Crime Congress. “Early on, we recognised that while there is a lot of data in the net and elsewhere, what is required is information that fits the particular cultural, legal, social, economic and political realities that delegates have to deal with if they have questions about criminal justice issues.”
Delegates who have visited the centre expressed interest that there are plans for the Knowledge Centre concept to become a major Qatar’s Ministry of Interior and United Nations service for the world's crime prevention and criminal justice community.
Apart from a comprehensive information and public relations campaign conducted through traditional and social media, Qatar hosted the Doha Youth Forum on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice preceding the Congress.
The forum mirrored the format and agenda of the Crime Congress and was a unique initiative that allowed youth from 35 countries to submit their recommendations on crime prevention and criminal justice to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at the Congress opening.
The Congress Preparatory Committee also conducted an art competition for students to let them visually express their ideas and views towards crime prevention and criminal justice. The artworks are displayed in the associated exhibition of the Congress.
Another project related to the Congress is an exhibition on crime prevention products and services with 60 exhibitors showcasing their offers in an area of 10,000sqm within the venue.

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