The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights is , an Italian not-for-profit foundation (ONLUS) acknowledged by a Decree of the President of the Republic of Italy, dedicated to education, training and research in the fields of international and comparative criminal justice and human rights. It is also a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) recognized by a Decree Law of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From more than 45 years it contributes to the development of more effective criminal justice systems worldwide, and in the strengthening of respect for human rights and the Rule of Law. Unitl 2017, the Institute was known as "International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences" (ISISC). Established in Siracusa (Italy) on September 1972 by the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP/IAPL – the largest and oldest association of scholars and professors in the field of criminal law), in cooperation with the City, Province, and Chamber of Commerce of Siracusa, it enjoys special consultative status with the United Nations. The Siracusa Institute has also a special cooperation agreement with the United Nations Office in Vienna (UNOV), and it is one of the eighteen organizations comprising the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network. Throughout its history, the Siracusa Institute has organized over 640 conferences, training and educational seminars and meetings of experts attended by 53,854 jurists from 172 countries, including over 5,000 academics from 492 universities. It has also collaborated with 51 inter-governmental organizations, numerous Italian and foreign governmental bodies, and 124 non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations worldwide. These activities have resulted in 149 published volumes of scholarly and scientific research.