International Relations

Partnerships by Region

CSC Partnerships in Asia and the Middle East

Asia
Since 2001, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has developed partnerships with four Asian countries: Afghanistan, Hong Kong, China and Japan. In both Afghanistan and Hong Kong, Canadian correctional experts have undertaken assignments ranging from three months to a year providing advice, guidance and assistance in terms of policy and legislation, the establishment of facilities (in the case of Afghanistan), and in the development of risk and needs assessment tools for evaluation purposes.

Exchange of visits have been conducted between Chinese, Hong Kong and Japanese correctional officials and CSC experts, while CSC continues to pursue correctional rebuilding initiatives through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in Afghanistan. CSC has worked closely with the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR) in providing guidance and technical assistance towards penal reform in China and the implementation of international standards with the Chinese Prison Society.

CSC has experienced an increase in information sharing with Japan as various Japanese officials and journalists, interested in CSC's programs and practices, have visited CSC. One of the delegations included a probation and parole officer who returned to Ottawa in January 2006, to complete a ten-week assignment with CSC's Research Branch. In July 2005, CSC sent Dr. Bruce Malcolm to Japan to provide expertise on Sex Offender programming, followed by a second visit by Dr. Malcom to Japan in 2006.

Middle East
CSC's involvement in the Middle East has a short history but is expanding. CSC began its first collaborative initiative with a Middle Eastern country when it participated in a Needs Assessment in Iraq in 2003. An initiative to train Saudi Arabian correctional managers at CSC's Correctional Management Learning Centre (CMLC) occurred in the summer of 2005, followed by a second initiative in the fall of 2006. In the fall of 2005, CSC conducted a needs assessment in Yemen in cooperation with United Kingdom correctional counterparts.

Relations among CSC and these countries remain strong, and there are plans for future collaborative efforts geared to research and exchanges of best practices in each region.

Please click on the links below to learn more about the various projects conducted with those countries.

• Afghanistan
• China
• Hong Kong
• Iraq
• Japan
• Saudi Arabia

Please visit our Articles and Related Media page to view published articles on CSC's initiatives with various Asian countries and Middle Eastern countries.