Strengthening the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme, in particular its technical cooperation capacity A/RES/72/196 Promote the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels, and Public Participation, adopted at the Thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, held in Doha from 12 to 19 April 2015, 6 when formulating legislation and policy directives, and to make every effort, where appropriate, to implement the principles contained therein in conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations; 4. Urges Member States that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto, 1 the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, 2 the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, 3 the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988, 4 the United Nations Convention against Corruption 5 and the international conventions and protocols related to terrorism, and urges States parties to those conventions and protocols to make efforts towards their effective implementation; 5. Reaffirms that the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto represent the most important tools of the international community for fighting transnational organized crime, and notes with appreciation that the number of States parties has reached 189, which is a significant indication of the commitment shown by the international community to combating transnational organized crime; 6. Recalls article 32 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 10 and General Assembly resolution 69/197 of 18 December 2014, in which, inter alia, the need for the establishment of a mechanism to review the implementation of the Convention and the Protocols thereto by States parties was reiterated, and underlines that the review of the implementation of the Convention is an ongoing and gradual process and that it is necessary to explore all options regarding the establishment of a mechanism to assist the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in the review of the implementation of the Convention and the Protocols thereto; 7. Welcomes with appreciation the decision of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention at its eighth session to continue the process of establi shing a mechanism for the review of the implementation of the Convention and the Protocols thereto and to elaborate specific procedures and rules for the functioning of the mechanism, which shall include the elements specified by the Conference of the Parties, for consideration by the Conference of the Parties at its ninth session, as well as its decision that the mechanism shall progressively address all the articles of the Convention and the Protocols thereto, in accordance with the clusters of articles a nd the multi-year workplan, and welcomes in particular the recommendations contained in resolution 8/2 of the Conference of the Parties adopted on 21 October 2016 29 and the first session of the open-ended intergovernmental meeting, held in Vienna from 24 to 26 April 2017; 8. Welcomes the decisions of the Conference of the Parties at its eighth session to promote greater use of the Convention by central authorities in extradition and mutual legal assistance and to enhance the effectiveness of these authorit ies and to strengthen, as appropriate, the implementation of the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; 23 __________________ 29 10/18 See CTOC/COP/2016/15, sect. I.A. 17-23196