1.
GV President of Venezuela Luis Herrera Campins speaking in Spanish at opening of crime conference in Caracas (2 shots)
0.42

2.
GV Delegates listening as Venezuelan president continues speaking (2 shots)
1.12

3.
GV Assembly applauding
1.15

4.
GV U.N. Secretary-General's representative, Jean Ripert speaking in French and delegates listening (2 shots)
1.36

5.
SV M. Ripert continues speaking and delegates listening (2 shots)
2.34




Initials BB/



TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The President of Venezuela, Luis Herrera Campins, on Monday (25 August) formally opened the sixth congress of the prevention of crime. The congresses are held every five years, and are attended by delegates from throughout the world.

SYNOPSIS: The conference being held in Caracas is the first to be held on the American continent. President Herrera said it was appropriate for the conference to have taken as its theme the close connection between crime prevention and the quality of life . He said criminality was a human action.Its diversity lay in the way in which it was expressed or manifested. President Herrera drew attention to the fact that greater effectiveness was needed in multilateral cooperation inn the fight against crime.

President Herrera said that it was imperative that a structural change be made in the United Nations leading to the establishment of a unit which would have as its objectives crime prevention and criminal justice. He also spoke of the need for basic rules to improve the application of criminal justice.

Representing the United Nations Secretary-General was Jean Ripert Under Secretary General for International Economic and Social Affairs. he said that evidence showed that there was a trend to increasing laws creating capital offences, in the number of death sentences imposed and in the number of executions in many countries.

Mr. Ripert said there was an opinion that the death penalty was necessary for the maintenance of law and order. However he said this had been disproved in many of the countries which had abolished the death sentence. It was necessary to give serious consideration to the question of capital punishment because the taking of human life for whatever reason violated respect for the dignity of every person. Mr. Ripert said the United Nations General Assembly had affirmed that one of the conference's main objective was that restricting the number of offences liable to the death penalty with the ultimate view of abolishing the death penalty completely.