International cooperation for the improvement of access to legal aid in criminal justice systems, particularly in Africa

Encourages Member States implementing criminal justice reform to promote the participation of civil society organizations in that endeavour and to cooperate with them; requests the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to continue to provide advisory services and technical assistance to Member States, upon request, in the area of penal reform, including restorative justice, alternatives to imprisonment, the development of an integrated plan for the provision of legal assistance; further requests the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to convene an open-ended intergovernmental meeting of experts, with interpretation, to study ways and means of strengthening access to legal aid in the criminal justice system, as well as the possibility of developing an instrument such as a declaration of basic principles or a set of guidelines for improving access to legal aid in criminal justice systems; requests the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice to include the issue of penal reform and the reduction of prison overcrowding, including the provision of legal aid in criminal justice systems, as a potential thematic topic for discussion by the Commission at one of its future sessions.

Adopted without vote, 45th plenary meeting

In: Resolutions and decisions of the Economic and Social Council, organizational session for 2007, New York, 17 and 22 Jan., 6, 9 and 15 Feb., 2 and 15 Mar. and 16 Apr. 2007; resumed organizational session for 2007, New York, 25 and 26 Apr. and 24 May 2007, substantive session of 2007, Geneva, 2-27 July 2007, resumed substantive session of 2007, New York, 4 and 17 Oct. 2007 - E/2007/99 - p. 62-65 - (ESCOR, 2007, Suppl. no. 1).