The present publication contains the travaux préparatoires (official records) of the negotiations of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (General Assembly resolution 55/25, annex I) and its three supplementary Protocols, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (resolution 55/25, annexes II and III, respectively) and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition (resolution 55/255, annex).
The purpose of the publication is to track the progress of the negotiations in the open-ended intergovernmental Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which was established by the General Assembly by its resolution 53/111 of 9 December 1998, with terms of reference supplemented by the Assembly in its resolution 53/114 of 9 December 1998, and requested to finalize the draft texts and submit them directly to the Assembly for adoption (resolution 54/126). It is intended to provide a comprehensive picture of the background of the Convention and its three Protocols and, by presenting the evolution of the texts, to provide the reader with an understanding of the issues confronted by the Ad Hoc Committee and the solutions it found. Thus, the publication is intended to provide a better, in-depth understanding of the Convention and its Protocols.
By resolution 53/111, of 9 December 1998, the General Assembly established an Ad Hoc Comittee open to all States, for the purpose of elaborating the international convention against transnational organized crime and three additional international legal protocols. The first session of the Ad Hoc Committee took place in Vienna, Austria, from 19-29 January 1999.
