International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences

The International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC) 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. For 40 years, ISISC has been a major contributor to the development of more effective criminal justice systems worldwide, and in the strengthening of respect for human rights and the Rule of Law.

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 consultative status with the United Nations and the Council of Europe. ISISC 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. The Network assists the United Nations Programme and interested MemberStates in strengthening international cooperation in crime prevention and criminal justice.

Throughout its history, ISISC has organized over 510 conferences, training and educational seminars and meetings of experts attended by 37,278 jurists from 165 countries, including over 5,000 academics from 518 universities. It has also collaborated with 41 intergovernmental organizations, numerous Italian and foreign governmental bodies, and 97 non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations worldwide.

These activities have resulted in 146 published volumes of scholarly and scientific research, as well as conference proceedings relating to international criminal justice, comparative criminal law, human rights and country-specific issues of criminal law and procedure. These publications are in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic and Dari. ISISC’s publications in Arabic are considered the leading texts in the fields of human rights and international criminal law.