HOLY SEE DELEGATE SPEAKS ON CRIME PREVENTION

VATICAN CITY, APR 11, 2000 (VIS) - Msgr. Dominique Rezeau, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations in Vienna, addressed the 10th U.N. Congress on Crime Prevention and the Treatment of Delinquents, which is taking place in Vienna from April 10 to 17.

Msgr. Rezeau remarked that "while the oft-mentioned globalization offers formidable opportunities to the inhabitants of our planet to communicate, to better understand one another and to help one another, it also broadens the field of action and the means of those who place human genius in the service of evil and profit from the exploitation of their fellow human beings."

He identified trafficking in people, especially women, young people, illegal emigrants and the defenseless, as one of the transnational crimes to be combatted internationally, calling it a "sordid commerce." Another crime, he added, is forced emigration. This Congress, he stressed, must look not only at how to prevent such crimes, but must give "due attention to their economic, social and cultural causes."

Msgr. Rezeau observed that the blossoming of such crimes occurs where human rights and human dignity are not respected. Political and institutional leaders must "strengthen - in public opinion, in the media and in social institutions - the values of morality and legality. Without them, Conventions, Declarations and the most sophisticated juridical bodies serve no propose."

In addition to educating and re-awakening consciences, he stated, there must be aid for the victims of transnational organized crime, the organizers and executors of such crimes must be pursued and punished "on all levels," and "programs must be established which aim at the protection and rehabilitation of victims."

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