Dominican Republic begins its journey towards the adoption of the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes

On Thursday, March 24, the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence for Statistical Information on Government, Crime, Victimization and Justice (CoE), jointly with the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic (NSO) held an awareness-raising workshop on the International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) for relevant authorities of security and criminal justice in the Dominican Republic.

Participating institutions included the Council of the Judiciary, the General Comptroller of the Republic, the National Drug Control Directorate, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Interior and Police, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Attorney General’s Office, among others.

The event included welcoming remarks by Miosotis Rivas Peña, General Director of the NSO, and Salomé Flores Sierra, Coordinator of the CoE, who highlighted the importance of the authorities participating in this process, and of the country adhering to international standards for the generation of comparable and useful data for the elaboration of adequate public policies.

The workshop, which had a theoretical and deliberative approach, sought to provide national authorities with an overview of the ICCS. Roberto Murguía Huerta, project specialist, and Carolina Lemus Way, technical assistant, presented key information on the relevance of ICCS, as well as its structure, adoption process and positive outcomes in other countries. For its part, the NSO detailed the national experiences in adapting and adopting international classifications in the country.

The workshop pointed out the importance of the application and use of ICCS as a tool for the fulfillment of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies. In addition, the NSO stated its interest in the implementation of ICCS with the assistance of the CoE. The participating authorities agreed to be part of this process and to appoint focal points to begin activities in the coming weeks.