At the occasion of its 76th plenary meeting, the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) gathered on the 25 and 26 April 2019 in order to establish its priorities for 2020. Different activities were identified within its area of competence: developing common standards in the field of criminal law and in preventing and combating organised crime. Several themes were covered in the meeting such as prison overcrowding, smuggling of migrants, the links between artificial intelligence and criminal law responsibility, and the need to enhance judicial co-operation in criminal matters between member States.

It was decided that prison overcrowding is one of the Committee’s main working priorities for the years 2020-2021. During its plenary meeting, the CDPC organised a high-level conference on prison overcrowding.

During this plenary meeting, the Committee also considered the latest developments in the work carried out by the working group of experts of smuggling of migrants. The main objective of this project is to identify opportunities where the Council of Europe can play a crucial role in fostering international co-operation and investigative strategies in fighting the smuggling of migrants.