Overview

The Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto (the UNTOC Review Mechanism) is a peer review process aimed to support States parties in their effective implementation of the Convention and the Protocols, as well as to help States parties identify and substantiate specific needs for technical assistance and ultimately to promote international cooperation.

In brief:

The Mechanism was established by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) , at its ninth session held on 15-19 October 2018, through the adoption of resolution 9/1 entitled Establishment of the Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto to which the Procedures and Rules for the Functioning of the Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of the UNTOC and the Protocols thereto were annexed.

At the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC held in Vienna from 12 to 16 October 2020, the review process was launched through the adoption of resolution 10/1 entitled Launch of the review process of the Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto. In this resolution, the Conference inter alia adopted the self-assessment questionnaires for the review of the implementation of the Convention and the Protocols thereto, the guidelines for conducting the country reviews and the blueprints for the lists of observations and their summaries. The Conference decided to launch the first phase of the review process in accordance with the thematic clusters of UNTOC and the Protocols and multi-year workplan of the Mechanism appended to the Procedures and rules of the Mechanism.

Guiding principles and characteristics of the Mechanism

The UNTOC Review Mechanism, shall – among others:

Be transparent, efficient, non-intrusive, inclusive and impartial;
Not produce any form of ranking;
Be non-adversarial and non-punitive;
Identify, at the earliest possible stage, difficulties encountered by States parties in the fulfilment of their obligations under the Convention and its Protocols, as applicable, and good practices adopted in efforts by States parties to implement the Convention and, where applicable, the Protocols thereto; and
Promote the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols by States parties, as applicable, as well as cooperation among States parties.

In accordance with UNTOC COP resolution 9/1, the UNTOC Review Mechanism follows two tracks:

i. A general review that will be undertaken in the Plenary of the Conference of the Parties, and

ii. Country reviews that will be carried out through desk reviews and discussions pertaining thereto, which will be undertaken during the COP Working Groups consistent with their areas of expertise.

The general review

The general review is carried out in the context of the plenary meetings of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC and its Working Groups. The general review held in the plenary of the Conference of the Parties shall facilitate the exchange of experiences, lessons learned, best practices and challenges in implementing the Convention and Protocols and the identification of technical assistance needs, with a view to improving their effective implementation and promoting international cooperation. It is facilitated by general reports of trends, patterns and best practices prepared on a regular basis by the Secretariat.

The country reviews

The second track of the process consists of country reviews that are conducted through desk reviews. In accordance with the Procedures and rules, each State party is reviewed for each instrument to which it is a party to by two others States parties – one from the same regional group and another from a different one.

To determine the progressive start of country reviews, States parties have been divided through drawing of lots into three groups to allow a staggered start over three consecutive years. To facilitate the review of the implementation of the legal provisions contained in the Convention and the Protocols, the articles contained therein have been divided into four thematic clusters, based on which the four phases of the review process (each lasting two years) have been developed.

The UNTOC Review Mechanism

The Review Process

The Country Review

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Steps of a country review

Each phase of a country review process follows four consecutive steps:

STEP A: The State party under review shall, within six months from the start of its country review, complete the self-assessment questionnaires on the implementation of the thematic cluster of articles, per each instrument under review.

STEP B: The responses to the self-assessment questionnaires will be reviewed by the reviewing States parties, which will provide a joint written feedback to the State under review on the measures taken in the implementation of the Convention and relevant Protocols, as well as on the successes and challenges registered in such implementation. The written feedback shall be provided to the State under review within a timeframe not exceeding six months from the reception of the questionnaire. Within this step, the reviewing States parties have the possibility to request further clarifications or additional information to the State party under review, to be able to prepare their written feedback.

STEP C: The reviewing States parties, in close cooperation with the State party under review and with assistance of the Secretariat, will prepare lists of observations (one per instrument) indicating any gaps and challenges identified in the implementation of the provisions under review, as well as best practices, suggestions and any technical assistance needs. The list will be based on the information provided by the State party under review in the self-assessment questionnaire and the subsequent dialogue among the three States parties. The lists of observations will be shared (in the language in which they are prepared) with the Working Groups of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC (technical assistance, international cooperation, trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants and firearms).

STEP D: Finally, a summary of the lists of observations, not exceeding 1,500 words, will be translated into all six official UN languages and made available for the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC and its Working Groups. The timeline for the STEPS C and D is of a total of 6 months, to be divided between the two steps upon agreement among the three concerned States parties.

Moreover, both the lists of observations as well as the summaries of the lists of observations will be published on an ongoing basis, as they become available, on the present website in the country profiles – unless a State party expressly requests the Secretariat to not do so.

Timeline

To facilitate the progressive review of all the legal provisions contained in the Convention and the three supplementing Protocols, the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC decided to structure the review process in four thematic clusters, i.e. grouping the articles, based on their subject matter, in different “clusters” and addressing the legal provisions following a thematic approach rather than grouping them by legal instrument.

1st Cluster: Criminalization and Jurisdiction.

This cluster is composed of:

UNTOC: Articles 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 15 and 23

Trafficking in Persons Protocol: Articles 3 and 5

Smuggling of Migrants Protocol: Articles 3, 5 and 6;

Firearms Protocol: Articles 3 and 5

2nd Cluster: Prevention, technical assistance, protection measures and other measures.

This cluster is composed of:

UNTOC: Articles 24, 25, 29, 30 and 31

Trafficking in Persons Protocol: Articles 6, 7 and 9

Smuggling of Migrants Protocol: Article 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16

Firearms Protocol: Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14 and 15

3rd Cluster: Law enforcement and the judicial system.

This cluster is composed of:

UNTOC: Articles 7, 11, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27 and 28

Trafficking in Persons Protocol: Articles 11, 12 and 13

Smuggling of Migrants Protocol: Articles 11, 12 and 13

4th Cluster: International cooperation, mutual legal assistance and confiscation.

This cluster is composed of:

UNTOC: Articles 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18 and 21

Trafficking in Persons Protocol: Articles 8 and 10

Smuggling of Migrants Protocol: Articles 7, 10 and 18

Firearms Protocol: Articles 6, 12 and 13

During the negotiations at the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC, the Conference reviewed the order of the thematic clusters and decided through the “Multi-year workplan for the functioning of the Mechanism” (see table 2 of the Appendix to the Procedures and rules) that the review process will progressively address the thematic clusters in the following order:

i) Criminalization (Cluster I)

ii) International cooperation, mutual legal assistance and confiscation (Cluster IV)

iii) Law enforcement and judicial system (Cluster III)

iv) Prevention, assistance, protection measures and other measures (Cluster II)

Cluster Timeline - Summary

Within each thematic cluster, the timeline of each country review – based on the guidelines – is as follows:

Within 2 weeks of start of review: Appointment of Focal Points
Within 4 weeks of start of review: Appointment of Governmental Experts
Within 6 weeks of start of review: Consultations among reviewing and reviewed States parties (through Focal Points)
Within 6 months of start of review: Responses to the self-assessment questionnaires to be submitted by the State party under review
Within 6 months of submission of responses: Written feedback to be jointly submitted by the two reviewing States parties
Within 6 months of submission of feedback: Lists of observations and summaries of the lists of observations to be prepared by the three concerned States parties with the assistance of the Secretariat