A/RES/70/175 United Nations Distr.: General 8 January 2016 General Assembly Seventieth session Agenda item 106 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 2015 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/70/490)] 70/175. United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) The General Assembly, Guided by the principal purposes of the United Nations, as set out in the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1 and inspired by the determination to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, without distinction of any kind, and in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Recalling all standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice developed at the request of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and adopted or recommended by the General Assembly, or adopted by a United Nations congress on the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders, and recognizing that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a source of inspiration for the United Nations standards and norms in crime prevention and criminal justice, Bearing in mind the long-standing concern of the United Nations for the humanization of criminal justice and the protection of human rights, and emphasizing the fundamental importance of human rights in the daily administration of criminal justice and crime prevention, Aware that the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners2 have been the universally acknowledged minimum standards for the detention of prisoners and that they have been of significant value and influence, as a guide, in the development of correctional laws, policies and practices since their adoption by the First United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, in 1955, _______________ Resolution 217 A (III). Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments, Volume I (First Part), Universal Instruments (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.02.XIV.4 (Vol. I, Part 1)), sect. J, No. 34. 1 2 15-16929 (E) *1516929* Please recycle

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