About the Experts' Meeting on the Draft Basic Principles
The Government of Canada has agreed to host the Experts' Meeting. The meeting is tentatively scheduled to be held in Ottawa from October 29 to November 1, 2001. Although the process for selecting experts for the meeting is not entirely clear at this time, this much is known:
1. Four experts will be invited from every region, which will ensure equitable geographical representation as provided for in the resolution on Basic Principles.
2. The purpose of the Experts' Meeting is to bring together individuals who are well informed about criminal law and criminal justice practices in their country and region and who have credibility with governments. Accordingly, they are able to represent the perspective from their particular legal system and practice. (This is not a meeting of the 20 leading international experts on restorative justice.)
3. The intention is that these experts will return to their respective countries and regions and influence governments to move towards the directions recommended by the Experts' Meeting.
4. Resource persons (such as experts in the field of restorative justice) may be invited to make presentations or moderate sessions, but it is the UN Experts (i.e., the core group of 20) who produce the report of the Experts' Meeting. It is also possible that representatives of NGOs in consultative status with the UN may be present for the discussion.
5. The meeting will be directed by a Chairman and its proceedings recorded by a Rapporteur. Both are generally selected from among the 20 experts. The UN's Centre for International Crime Prevention, located in Vienna, will likely send one or two representatives to serve in a secretarial function for the meeting.
6. Experts' Meetings normally last 2½ or 3 days.
Persons interested in this process can contribute by suggesting names of possible members of the Experts' Meeting. Prison Fellowship International is currently gathering suggestions for experts, particularly from regions other than the Western Europe and Other Group (which includes North America, Australia and New Zealand). Ideal members will be individuals with knowledge or expertise in restorative justice, a good grasp of the legal traditions and practices in their respective regions, standing and credibility within their regions as experts in criminal justice, and an interest in contributing to development of basic principles.
July 2001