At its 87th Plenary meeting, the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) took important decisions on the advancement of cooperation and prevention in criminal matters. The CDPC is the Council of Europe’s steering committee responsible for overseeing and coordinating the Council of Europe’s activities in the field of crime prevention and crime control. It identifies priorities for intergovernmental criminal law co-operation, and implements activities in the fields of criminal law and procedure, criminology and penology. Two subordinate committees assist the CDPC: the Committee of experts on the operation of European conventions on co-operation in criminal matters (PC-OC) and the Council for penological co-operation (PC-CP).

At its 87th Plenary meeting from 17 to 19 June 2025 in Strasbourg, the CDPC welcomed the adoption of the following acts:

• The new Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, which is due to be opened for signature in December 2025. The Convention will be the first legally binding instrument with global impact to address environmental crime. It will allow tackling a wide range of criminal acts detrimental to the environment, such as pollution, hazardous waste, illegal logging, trading in wildlife species, mining and the disruption of protected habitats. Delegations were encouraged to raise awareness of the instrument and consider steps toward signature and ratification.
• The Third Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, which will be opened for signature on 19 September 2025 in La Valletta, Malta. The Protocol will modernise the existing, multilateral provisions governing mutual assistance, extend the range of circumstances in which mutual assistance may be requested, facilitate assistance and making it quicker and more flexible. In this context, the CDPC took note of PC-OC's work, in particular as regards mutual assistance confidentiality, transfer of sentenced persons, supervision of conditionally sentenced or released offenders, and the relationship between asylum procedures and extradition.
• The Committee of Ministers' Recommendation CM/Rec(2025)2 on the promotion of the mental health of prisoners and probationers, which was adopted in February 2025. The Recommendation is considered an important milestone in the promotion and protection of prisoners/probationers regarding their healthcare and management of mental disorders.

Another important item on the agenda of the CDPC plenary meeting was the fight against migrant smuggling. The CDPC will support the drafting of a Recommendation on deterring and fighting the smuggling of migrants through legal means and other actions, which was initiated by the Council of Ministers in February 2025. The initiative builds on the Council of Europe Action Plan on Fostering International Co-operation and Investigative Strategies in Fighting the Smuggling of Migrants (2021-2025), which was adopted in 2020.

Other topics that were discussed during the meeting included:

• Accountability for combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (a respective Recommendation is currently prepared by the Committee GEC/PC-eVIO);
• Artificial intelligence and criminal liability (continued deliberations);
• Asset recovery (in particular regarding the work of the PC-RAC Committee on a draft Additional Protocol to the CoE AML/CFT Convention).

In addition, the CDPC discussed developments in other areas of its mandate, including ongoing cooperation with the European Forum for Restorative Justice, and work related to child-friendly justice, the Medicrime Convention, trafficking in human organs, drug trafficking, protection of cultural property, and hate crime.