Fighting Organized Crime
United Nations launches major international effort
This article was posted on December 15, 2000.
Recognizing that technology and globalization
have created new opportunities for organized crime, the United Nations recently concluded
a four-day conference that included the signing of several treaties intended to fight
international criminal syndicates.
Some 15 heads of state and a number of leading law enforcement officials were among the delegates from 150 countries
at the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime,
held in December 2000 in Palermo, Italy.
Money Laundering Leads the List
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said technology
and internationalizations have allowed crime bosses to
keep one step ahead of authorities in many countries.
One hundred and eighteen countries have
signed a treaty helping authorities tackle international
organized crime. The treaty seeks to:
- prevent countries from offering safe havens to suspected criminals
- make it easier for prosecutors to pursue suspects across national borders
- combat money laundering with more financial regulations
- end bank secrecy laws
- outlaw the opening of accounts anonymously or with false names
- establish financial intelligence units to track money and share information.
Among other things, the treaty
aims at certain financial practices in such tax havens
as the Bahamas or Monaco, whose banking laws facilitate money laundering,
according to critics.
The treaty also wants to facilitate extradition proceedings.
For instance, a number of Italian Mafia suspects have fled Italy for
Spain, which does not allow the extradition of people sentenced by foreign
courts in their absence.
Balkan Leaders Endorse Crime Fighting
The instability in the Balkans, and its
location connecting Europe and the Middle East, has spawned
an enormous increase in organized criminal activity. Therefore, law
enforcement officials were pleased that the presidents or prime ministers from
several Balkan countries—including Albania, Macedonia, Croatia,
and Bosnia-Herzegovina—signed the protocol.
Trafficking in human beings is now the third most profitable activity for international criminal gangs, according to the convention. Only illicit arms sales and drug dealing bring in more money.
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More People Smuggled
Trafficking in human beings is now the third most profitable activity
for international criminal gangs, according to the convention.
Only illicit arms sales and drug dealing bring in more money.
Most people being smuggled are migrants
seeking to illegally enter another nation. Mexicans
trying to sneak into the U.S. have been found suffocated in the
backs of trucks. Chinese gangs may charge $30,000 to smuggle Chinese migrants
into Western Europe, often confining them in dangerous cramped trucks.
Held Captive in Brothels
Women and children destined for (usually unpaid)
work in brothels constitute the second main category of human cargo.
Human rights activists claim some 75,000 women from Brazil, a leading exporter
of sex slaves, work in European brothels against their will.
A UN conference in Thailand in March 2000
estimated that thousands of children are forced to work in
Asia's flourishing sex industry.
Seventy-two nations have signed a second protocol
against trafficking in persons for the sex trade, while 69
countries have signed a treaty against the smuggling of migrants.
Nations Must Ratify Treaties
Once the treaties have been ratified
by 40 nations, which in most cases means endorsed by
legislatures, they will become international law.
Palermo Embarrassment
The convention was held in Palermo
to illustrate the success of Italian law
enforcement against the Sicilian Mafia. Yet, as the gathering got underway,
officials were embarrassed by press reports speculating that a company with ties
to organized crime had built the conference center itself, indicating that
defeating organized crime is easier said than done.
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