The “4th Asia-Pacific Criminal Justice Forum” was held from 24 to 26 June, 2025.
The 4th Criminal Justice Forum for Asia and the Pacific (the Crim-AP) was held in the International Justice Centre in Akishima, Tokyo, from Tuesday 24 to Thursday 26 June 2025. Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Justice of Japan, Mr. KANDA Junichi delivered the opening remarks.
The Crim-AP is a forum co-organized by the Ministry of Justice of Japan (MoJ) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and was established as part of the realization of the Kyoto Declaration adopted at the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, known as the Kyoto Congress, held in 2021 in Kyoto. The aim of the Crim-AP is to promote international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region in the field of criminal justice, by facilitating mutual understanding and building trust through the sharing of insights among criminal justice practitioners in the region.
In this fourth Crim-AP, criminal justice practitioners from 22 countries and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region were divided into the Working Group on Mutual Legal Assistance (WG-MLA) and the Working Group on Offender Treatment and Rehabilitation (WG-OTR). WG-MLA mainly summarized the discussions of the previous three meetings, while the WG-OTR shared information and exchanged views on the theme “Cooperation of various stakeholders and social approaches to reduce reoffending”.
Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Justice of Japan Mr. Kanda delivered the opening remarks at the opening ceremony on 24 June on behalf of MoJ, and he stated that the Crim-AP has continuously fulfilled its role as a platform for promoting mutual understanding, building trust and international cooperation among practitioners in the Asia-Pacific region.
In this fourth Crim-AP, criminal justice practitioners from 22 countries and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region were divided into the Working Group on Mutual Legal Assistance (WG-MLA) and the Working Group on Offender Treatment and Rehabilitation (WG-OTR). WG-MLA mainly summarized the discussions of the previous three meetings, while the WG-OTR shared information and exchanged views on the theme “Cooperation of various stakeholders and social approaches to reduce reoffending”.
Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Justice of Japan Mr. Kanda delivered the opening remarks at the opening ceremony on 24 June on behalf of MoJ, and he stated that the Crim-AP has continuously fulfilled its role as a platform for promoting mutual understanding, building trust and international cooperation among practitioners in the Asia-Pacific region.
Working groups
On the same day, Mr. Kanda received a courtesy visit by Mr. Benedikt Hofmann, Acting Regional Representative of the UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific (ROSEAP), who came to Japan to participate the Crim-AP. Mr. Kanda and Mr. Hofmann exchanged views on further strengthening the cooperative relationship between MoJ and ROSEAP.
