Keynote Speech
by
Pino Arlacchi
Under-Secretary-General
Executive Director
International Conference on
Strategies of the EU and the US in
Combating Transnational Organized Crime
Ghent (Belgium)
24 January 2001
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
During three days in December, Heads of Government, Heads of State and Ministers from around the world came to Palermo to a Signing Conference for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. By the end of the three days, representatives of one hundred twenty-four countries had signed the Convention.
No United Nations Convention has ever had so many signatories immediately upon its opening for signature and less than one month after its formal adoption by the General Assembly. The implication is clear: the Palermo Convention strikes a chord that echoes throughout the world.
Evidence of this began to emerge even before the event in Palermo. The drafting process, which took a relatively short period of less than two years, was carried out in a positive spirit. Consensus was achieved without compromising the quality of the new instrument and without making it any less functional. The world was ready for concerted action against organized crime.
The reason for this is in my view clear. The level and intensity of international crime have gone beyond what governments and the general population are prepared to accept. A few examples will suffice:
Trafficking in human beings is now the fastest growing form of international crime. As many as a million women and children are trafficked every year across national borders by criminal groups (1), adding to the already existing millions living under modern forms of slavery. There are even reports of drug traffickers switching to human cargo because of the higher profits and lower risks involved.
Corruption, drug trafficking and other crimes are generating so much profit that the numbers become difficult to imagine. Some sources estimate the total funds stolen by Nigeria's leaders to be one hundred six billion dollars over the 1986 to1999 period. That is equivalent to the gross domestic product of Nigeria for a period of two and a half years.
Organized crime is being perceived as a threat to human security and the rule of law. In a growing number of cases, we can see a criminalization of the political process. The profits from organized crime are used to finance conflicts. This is not a new phenomenon, of course. But it is taking on worrying dimensions because of the large amounts of money available from crime.
Human security is being challenged in new ways as well. Cybercrime frightens people by bringing child pornography, hate literature and credit card fraud directly into the home through the family computer. Corruption has taken on new dimensions and has become in many parts of the world a fact of day-to-day life. In countries with high levels of corruption, millions of ordinary citizens find themselves sinking rapidly into poverty while an elite few become immensely wealthy. The services to which all citizens are entitled - police protection, justice in the courtroom, a level playing field in the academic and business sectors - cease to be rights and become privileges available only to those prepared to pay for them with bribes.
The successful launch of the Palermo Convention is a reflection of public concern over all these developments. Because of the high degree of consensus around the need for action, it was possible to achieve a shared language in defining organized criminal groups. With this solved, the drafters were in a position to look at best practices around the world and incorporate them into a state-of the-art instrument for fighting transnational crime, both domestically and through cooperation between countries.
A major breakthrough is the agreement to criminalize the simple participation in an organized criminal group, whether or not the individual actually carried out a crime personally. The ability to cast a wider net has proven to be a very useful tool in Europe and North America and will now become the global standard.
In ratifying the Convention, governments also commit themselves to criminalizing money-laundering and corruption, based on clear and agreed definitions of these two forms of crime. The language on bank secrecy is blunt: "States shall not decline to act . . . on the ground of bank secrecy". (2) This may ultimately prove to be the most effective element of the Palermo Convention, since organized crime loses much of its appeal if the profits from it cannot be safely held.
The new Convention provides a framework, again built around agreed definitions, for the confiscation and seizure of the proceeds of organized crime and of property or equipment used in criminal acts. Special provisions are included for international cooperation in this respect, a very important tool for the recovery of assets stolen through corruption and placed abroad.
The longest article in the Convention is devoted to mutual legal assistance, addressing a wide range of very practical ways in which states can cooperate with each other. Straightforward guidance is given on how this should work. In addition, separate articles cover joint investigations and the use of special investigative techniques.
State-of-the-art techniques which have proven useful in bilateral cooperation arrangements are now elevated to global status. For example, the electronic transmission of requests from one country to another is allowable under the language used in the Convention.
The intimidation of potential witnesses has been a major hindrance to successful prosecution of organized crime. The Palermo Convention requires states to establish procedures for the physical protection of witnesses. In addition to the more established practices in this regard, states are encouraged to use modern techniques like video links.
Victims who testify against organized crime groups are also vulnerable to retaliation or intimidation. Signatories are required to provide assistance and protection where needed, as well as compensation and restitution when appropriate.
The protection of victims is central to the two protocols which were also opened for signature in Palermo. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, is in fact a strong humanitarian instrument that advances the cause of human rights. The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants also addresses the special problems of victims in some detail.
Both the Protocols and the Convention itself incorporate a new element that also reflects today's thinking on how to fight organized crime. For the first time, specific articles address the prevention of crime. Linkages between crime and poverty are explicitly addressed, and the importance of public opinion as a prevention tool is stressed.
I have spoken at some length about the nature of the Palermo Convention. But let us turn to the future. The Convention is the cornerstone of an emerging international strategy to combat transnational organized crime.
But it will remain of limited value if it does not come into force rather quickly. Forty ratifications are required for this to happen. Given the broad consensus around the text and the record number of initial signatories, we are optimistic that the Convention will come into force in a reasonably short period of time, probably in the course of 2002.
At our Vienna headquarters we have drawn up a Plan of Action to promote ratification. It includes a pre-ratification assistance project to help developing countries through the process. The Plan will be discussed with UN Member States in the very near future.
The Convention itself contains important strategic tools to promote effective implementation. Instead of the more traditional self-reporting machinery used in other conventions, this time a Conference of the Parties will come into existence after the Convention comes into force. The signatories will themselves take responsibility for monitoring implementation through a body that exists solely for that purpose. This should permit constructive dialogue to address problems which develop with the Convention itself or within individual countries trying to implement it. Amendments to the Convention are also the responsibility of the Conference of the Parties, following a simple fast-track approach.
The Convention and the Protocols emphasize the need for technical cooperation as an important implementation strategy. States are encouraged to help other states directly through training and other institution-building measures. They are also urged to contribute to a special fund under United Nations auspices, to be used for the financing of assistance to countries which lack the resources needed to take full advantage of the Convention. This facility is already operational and forms the basis for the technical cooperation programme of the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention.
In tandem with the drafting of the Convention, we have set up Global Programmes against Corruption and the Trafficking of Human Beings. These are now operational in several countries and have the capacity to expand in line with the resources made available. In addition, our Global Programme against Money Laundering constitutes an important part of the strategy to address the specific forms of organized crime stressed in the Convention.
We will also continue and reinforce our work in the analysis of organized crime. We are already conducting a global research project to assess the comparative dangerousness of criminal groups around the world.
Additional international legal instruments are in preparation. A third Protocol to the Palermo Convention addresses the traffic in firearms. The Ad Hoc Committee that drafted the Convention will reconvene next month to complete work on the text.
The Member States of the United Nations decided last month in the General Assembly to draw up a convention against corruption. Actual drafting is likely to begin early next year. We expect this new convention to facilitate the recovery of assets from corruption. In fact, we are already drawing up practical strategies for technical cooperation in this complex area.
The area of cybercrime is already receiving attention, but as yet there is no consensus-based approach to the issue on a global basis. The development of this consensus and the building of a strategy around it will no doubt be a priority in the near future.
Looking more narrowly at the Palermo Convention, success will depend to a very large extent on the strategies adopted by individual states for its implementation. This type of convention must have universal application to succeed. Any gap becomes not just a weak link but a genuine hole, quickly attracting organized crime groups looking for safe havens.
In this respect, the industrialized countries, most of which are present at this Conference, bear an important responsibility. The strategies they adopt will in many ways set the tone for the rest of the world.
The industrialized countries are often in a much better position to apply the provisions of the Convention. Many of the state-of-the-art measures were first used in Europe and North America, and machinery is already in place. These countries will be the natural leaders of the drive for ratification and full implementation.
The resource question also comes into play. It will cost money to implement the Convention. In fact, the national budget planning process should already be looking at the concrete implications, in both rich and poor countries.
The generosity of the rich countries will be an important factor. We are especially pleased that the Government of Italy has decided to donate twenty-five per cent of the value of forfeited assets to the fund administered by the United Nations to support technical cooperation against organized crime.
Despite the large degree of consensus, some elements of the new instruments are politically sensitive. For example, the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants is especially delicate. The developing countries, although they joined the consensus, will be watching closely to ensure that the Protocol is used only to control the crime of smuggling of migrants and not as a measure against legal migration.
The Palermo Convention is intended to be a working tool. The strategy to be followed by all of us, at both the national and international levels, should be simply to put it to work. Ratification as quickly as possible. Necessary adjustments in national legislation. Allocation of the needed resources at the national level. Intensive technical cooperation for capacity-building in the developing countries. Pro-active approaches to mutual legal assistance. Insistence that the Conference of the Parties becomes a dynamic mechanism.
The greatest need of all is for a strategy that will keep alive the spirit of consensus. The good faith that characterized the drafting process will be the foundation of successful implementation.
I extend my thanks to the Belgian Presidency and to Professor de Ruyver and his team for their initiative in organizing this important conference and for inviting me to participate. The bringing together of so many specialists in one event at this vital moment is itself part of a winning strategy for defeating transnational organized crime.