ABSTRACT
Environmental offences damage the natural heritage, and so-called "street crime" creates a haunting sense of insecurity in many modem cities. Victimization through crime and related abuses often has not only immediate but long-term effects. Crimes involving violence, such as assault and robbery, may cause extensive physical injuries, even death, or permanent disability. Violent offences against particularly vulnerable targets, such as the elderly, women, and children, can have devastating effects. United Nations meetings, including the Crime Congresses and the 1994 World Ministerial Conference on Organized Transnational Crime, have drawn attention to the plight of such victims. The alarming spread of organized crime across national frontiers in some years is claiming an increasing human toll. The concern of the United Nations about victims of crime is longstanding but has often been implicit rather than explicit. The protection of basic human rights and proscription of their infringements is of direct relevance.
