As a member of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network of Institutes (PNI), UNAFEI collaborates actively with PNI members and the UNODC. UNAFEI has organized training courses, seminars and workshops on a wide range of crime prevention and criminal justice issues in cooperation with the UNODC. In recent years, senior experts from the UNODC have contributed to UNAFEI’s seminars and training courses as visiting lecturers. At its training programmes, UNAFEI regularly delivers lectures on the United Nations standards and norms on offender treatment, UN conventions and the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 (SDGs) to enhance awareness and understanding of international legal instruments.

Over the last 50 years, more than 6,100 officials from 140 countries have participated in programmes organized by UNAFEI. Each year, UNAFEI holds two international training courses and one international senior seminar, all of which last for several weeks. One international training course is held in spring, and it concentrates on crime prevention and investigation, prosecution and adjudication of crime. The other is held in fall and deals mainly with the treatment of offenders. The international senior seminar in winter targets higher-level criminal justice officials and deals with broader issues of criminal justice In addition, UNAFEI has held the “UNAFEI-UNCAC Training Programme” annually since 2000.

Since 2007, UNAFEI has held an annual regional seminar known as the “Good Governance Seminar” to contiribute to the promotion of the rule of law and good governance in Southeast Asia countries. The aim of the Seminar is to explore ways to strengthen anti-corruption measures and legal systems in the region.

Upon request from recipient countries around the world and the United Nations, UNAFEI provides technical assistance in the field of crime prevention, criminal justice and treatment of offenders. Such assistance includes training courses and seminars both at UNAFEI and overseas locations, and dispatch of an expert to the recipient countries. For example, UNAFEI’s technical assistance projects have included country-focused and regional programmes on transnational crime in Central Asian and French-speaking African countries, promoting community-based treatment of offenders in the Philippines and other ASEAN countries, and advising Kenya on the creation of its juvenile delinquent treatment system.

UNAFEI continues to expand its capacity building activities by developing new training courses and partnerships with criminal justice agencies of the recipient countries. Recently, UNAFEI has started technical assistance project focused on improvement of prison management in Myanmar, and collaborative studies with Nepal and Viet Nam. In addition, UNAFEI has involved in seminars on community-based treatment of offenders for government officials from Cambodia, Lao-PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam hosted by the Ministry of Justice of Thailand since 2017.

During all of UNAFEI’s training programmes, the participants acquire knowledge and skills, and they also benefit significantly from the opportunity to network and interact with professionals from beyond the Asia and Pacific Region, including Africa, Europe and the Americas.