From illegal mining and wildlife crime to migrant smuggling and online scams, trafficking and more, transnational organized crime can be found in all corners of the globe.
As noted by UN Secretary-General António Guterres: “The activities of transnational organized crime take many forms, but the ramifications are the same: weakened governance, corruption and lawlessness, open violence, death and destruction.”
As the 12th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) gets underway next week, learn more about the Convention and how the world is pushing back against these crimes.
UNTOC, also known as the Palermo Convention, is the only global, legally binding instrument through which governments commit to act and cooperate against organized crime.
It was adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 2000 and entered into force in September 2003. With 192 states parties, it is one of the world’s most widely ratified conventions.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) serves as Secretariat to UNTOC.
Transnational organized crime threatens lives. Whether it's victims of human trafficking, people killed by violent gangs, individuals consuming falsified medicines or others, organized crime puts our safety and rights at risk.
It endangers livelihoods. Hard-earned income may be siphoned away by corruption, extortion or racketeering. Crimes that affect the environment and trafficking in cultural property destroy irreplaceable natural resources and heritage, decreasing tourist revenues and other forms of income generation.
Transnational organized crime undermines the economy as well. Tax evasion, money laundering and illicit financial flows obstruct economic development. “Illicit financial flows are not abstract figures,” said Mr. Guterres. “They amount to billions of missed development opportunities, lost livelihoods and worsened poverty.”
Finally, transnational organized crime jeopardizes peace and security by fuelling conflicts and weakening State institutions and the rule of law.
Transnational organized crime groups are constantly evolving, adapting to new situations, technologies and opportunities. UNTOC was therefore designed to be flexible to apply to existing, new and emerging crimes .
Examples of these crimes include drug trafficking, crimes that affect the environment and trafficking in cultural property, waste, fuel and other commodities.
UNTOC is further supplemented by three thematic protocols which target specific areas of organized crime, namely trafficking in persons, the smuggling of migrants and the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms. These protocols have led to many countries developing laws and institutions to address these crimes for the first time.
The Convention is legally binding, which means that States that ratify the Convention commit to implement its provisions at the national level.
By definition, countries cannot combat transnational organized crime on their own. One innovation of UNTOC is the range of measures it contains to enable and facilitate international cooperation, including extradition, joint investigations, mutual legal assistance and more.
States meet every two years at the UNTOC Conference of Parties (COP) to improve their capacity to combat organized crime and review the implementation of UNTOC and to set the anti-crime agenda for the future.
States also designed the UNTOC Review Mechanism, a peer review process that helps States evaluate how they are implementing the Convention and Protocols and identify and address needs to improve the related responses.
