In June 1996, Istanbul will host the "City Summit". This is the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), the objective of which is to make the world's cities, towns and villages healthy, safe, equitable and sustainable. Two preparatory commissions have been held so far, one in April 1994 and another in April/May 1995, and a third will be held in February 1996. This provides an important rallying point for efforts to harness expertise from all over the world in solving the crime problems of individual cities and towns. Habitat II will adopt a global plan of action, which is being developed in advance. ICPC is forging a partnership with the Urban Management Programme (a joint programme of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank on urban security issues.
Crime Concern has produced A Practical Guide to Crime Prevention for Local Partnerships (1993), for the British Home Office, [8] to support local communities wishing to develop crime prevention strategies on a partnership basis. It acts as a step-by-step guide to the development ofl locally based crime prevention initiatives, drawing on the successes of similar approaches, and has the potential to help cities in other countries develop effective approaches to crime prevention.
Publications like Crime Prevention Strategies in Europe and North America [9] and investigations and reports by various national commissions can provide information on promising practices. National agencies have prepared their own compendiums of best practice. ICPC is developing a resource and technical assistance service on promising crime prevention practices that will facilitate their adaptation from one jurisdiction to local conditions in another. It has started a resource centre, which includes information on the location and expertise of leading crime prevention agencies and practitioners across the world.
The National Crime Prevention Council, United States, the European Forum for Urban Safety, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Latin American Forum for Urban Safety and ICPC are planning an event to draw on know-how from cities in Europe and the Americas for the more effective reduction of crime. It will identify crime prevention practices from the collective experience of 10 major European cities, five Latin American cities, three Canadian cities and seven United States cities (in Texas). It will mobilize national and international agencies around an action plan to foster the use of preventive solutions to urban crime problems for both industrialized and developing countries, as well as examine the factors to be taken into consideration in adapting practices from across the world to local conditions.
With the international experience gained in educational and public health issues by the Educational Development Center, ICPC is developing efforts to harness promising strategies internationally to break the cycle of violent crime. These efforts will focus on sustainable ways of reducing violence by addressing the needs of children and youth, particularly in the home, school and neighbourhood. They will build on what is known about the effects of violence against women, children and youth. They will access proven and promising strategies from countries that have pioneered efforts, particularly in Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania. ICPC will promote the adaptation of such strategies to local conditions in countries experiencing high levels of interpersonal violence. The International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy is holding training courses on the use of a United Nations resource manual on stra- tegies for confronting domestic violence.[10]
Crime prevention has gained momentum from the involvement and strategic support of the police and justice agencies. ICPC is seeking key partners from the policing and judicial communities to organize annual meetings to identify the most effective ways for the police and justice agencies to work with city and civil society to contribute to effective crime prevention. The goal will be to gather examples of crime analysis packages, legislation, guidelines and training that promote effective crime prevention.
In order to develop regional plans for the implementation of effective crime prevention, ICPC will collaborate with the regional institutes in the network of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme and with others. These institutes plan awareness courses for mayors, city managers, police officials and leaders of human development agencies in Africa, Asia, the Arab States and Latin America. Training activities will also build on the significant work of the European Forum for Urban Safety and Crime Concern.
An international conference for crime prevention practitioners is being planned to be held in Vancouver in April 1996, which will focus on training and awareness relating to urban policies, community mobilization, legal education, health, violence against women and children, and problem-oriented policing. [11]
For further information on urbanization trends, see World Urbanization Prospects: Estimates and Projections of Urban and Rural Populations and of Urban Agglomerations (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.91.XIII.11).Further information on ICPC can be obtained (in French, English and Spanish) from ICPC, 380 rue Saint-Antoine ouest, bureau 3200, Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 3X7, Canada; telephone: 1-514-288-6731; Fax: 1-514-987-1567, e-mail: cipc@web.apc.org.