Brazil and Peru discuss bilateral cooperation to combat transnational organized crime

03 November 2010 - To increase the sharing of information and establish mechanisms for joint action against organized crime. Representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Brazil and the Southern Cone and for Peru and Ecuador, the federal police of Brazil, the judiciary and prosecutors, diplomats and officials from central agencies of international legal in Peru and Brazil met during the 4 th International Seminar on Suppression of Organized Crime - Bilateral Cooperation in Criminal Matters, Brazil - Peru, held this week in Brasilia.

According to the representative of the UNODC in Peru and Ecuador, Flavio Mirella, the deepening of relations in criminal matters is fundamental to the fight against transnational organized crime. "Both countries share a border, they share common goals of integration and this is important be knowledge, since a common border also leads to joint problems. Brazil is a country that has a large domestic market, especially for drugs and Peru is a drug producing country. So it is necessary to strengthen border control, not only on the issue of narcotics but also on smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons. All manifestations of organized crime require that both countries have enhanced cooperation", he says.

During the three-day workshop, working groups met to propose solutions, routines and practical procedures to have quicker bilateral cooperation procedures and discussed possible changes or innovations in the arrangements and rules to facilitate cooperation between Brazil and Peru in the penal area .

For the general director of Drug Control from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Francisco Tenya, the purpose is to achieve greater efficiency in the fight against organized crime."We are working very close with Brazil on the issue of combating illicit drug trafficking, but the intention is to go further and work more closely to achieve a more effective response," he explains.

The meeting marked the end of a series of workshops conducted by UNODC, in collaboration with the Federal Police of Brazil and neighboring countries with which Brazil has recently signed bilateral cooperation agreements in the penal area.

The seminars aim to discuss legal and operational issues relating to cooperation between the countries´ criminal justice systems in order to identify problems and propose solutions. The idea is that countries are able, for example, to develop coordinated and simultaneous investigations, give more agility to capture and extradition proceedings as well as in providing mutual legal assistance, to implement joint surveillance operations in border areas and to overcome bureaucratic obstacles to bilateral cooperation.

"The phenomenon of drug trafficking is primarily multinational. The drug comes from a country that produces, is destined for another country that consumes, or is a transit country. If all countries, and enforcement organizations, do not interact, the bureaucratic barriers established by sovereignty and international relations, become a great disadvantage when facing criminal organizations that do not respect any rule, and have an ongoing and easy transit, mobilizing people and resources. Therefore, it is essential to have an increasing integration and coordination of field offices, the exchange of good practices, so that the bodies of partner countries are able to continuously develop and overcome bureaucracy in favor of a common goal which is the dismantling of criminal organizations", said the director of the Brazilian Federal Police Department for Combating Organized Crime, Roberto Troncon.

As custodians of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, UNODC has the mandate to assist member countries in the constant improvement of their national legislation on the subject and to promote the exchange of good practices among countries, through international cooperation.

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