UK National Statement at United Nations Crime Congress
28 Sep 2026 11:43 AM
Speech given yesterday (27 September 2026) by Alex Davies-Jones MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Victims, Violence Against Women and Girls and International Justice.
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen…
It’s a huge honour to be here…
Thank you to the United Arab Emirates Government for bringing us all together…
And to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and Executive Director, for their leadership.
The United Kingdom greatly values its partnership with the UAE, including our work to tackle illicit finance.
That partnership goes right to the heart of this Congress:
Crime does not respect borders.
It’s ever more organised…
Ever more sophisticated.
So our response has to be every bit as connected, and relentless…
It has to be built on co-operation, and a determination to act– together.
That could not be more important than in tackling violence against women and girls.
At home, the UK has an ambitious goal:
To halve this violence in a decade.
But I do not want the fight to stop at our own borders.
We want women and girls to live free from fear wherever they are in the world…
And whether they are online, or offline.
As more of our lives move into a digital space, abuse follows.
The technology that connects and empowers…
Also intimidates, and harms.
On Sunday, the United Kingdom will host a side event on technology-facilitated violence against women and girls …
And I hope you’ll join us later today…
So that together, we can find truly global solutions to protect our women.
We need for a genuinely global response applies to fraud, too.
The United Kingdom was proudly the main donor to this year’s UNODC-INTERPOL Global Fraud Summit.
But now we need to turn commitments made there into actual action…
And I’m looking forward to discussions and commitments made on maintaining momentum this week…
And strengthening our response even more.
The United Kingdom is also committed to UNODC’s Global Programme on Implementing the Organized Crime Convention…
And promoting the Organized Crime Strategy Toolkit…
Supporting thousands of practitioners in 20 countries worldwide.
And this year, we’re investing £1.5 million more into initiatives to counter organised crime
But these criminals increasingly operate online…
And today, almost every serious investigation relies on digital evidence.
So our capabilities also have to keep pace.
Making sure agencies can access the data that they need to counter serious, organised crime…
Coupled with the right oversight…
That is a priority for the UK…
And we will also carry on working with our friends around the world…
To strengthen policing and justice systems…
And also share our expertise and knowledge.
But we also need to look ahead.
AI gives us huge opportunities to deliver swifter, faster, fairer justice for the public we serve.
The UK is pursuing this responsibly, through our AI Action Plan…
And while keeping public trust, human rights and the rule of law at the heart of everything we do.
Friends, no country can tackle these challenges alone.
It’s only by sharing expertise…
And working together…
That we can build justice systems that are stronger…
More effective…
Trusted….
And safer societies for all.
I can’t wait to see what this Congress will achieve.
With a view to advancing crime prevention and criminal justice, I pledge that, between 2026 and 2031, the UK will:
- Provide financial support to dismantle transnational scam compounds in Southeast Asia and strengthen our collective response to fraud.
- Build capacity across Ukraine’s justice system, including prisons, probation, and rehabilitation, with continued support for law enforcement and criminal justice reform.
- Launch a call for evidence on online misogynistic image-based abuse, to identify new harms and how we respond to them.
- Introduce effective protections on phones and tablets, to stop our children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images, legislating to secure compliance if required.
- Continue supporting the UNODC’s Global Programme on Implementing the Organized Crime Convention, helping states develop evidence-based responses to transnational organised crime.
- And protect survivors when they cross borders, hosting the first ever Hague Conference Working Group meeting in London later this year, to strengthen international cooperation.
Thank you.