Director General/Executive Director
Minister Orlando,
Excellencies,
Professor Falcone,
Ladies and gentlemen,
My thanks to the Permanent Mission of Italy and the Giovanni and Francesca Falcone Foundation.
Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino are true heroes and remain inspirations to all of us.
These courageous men showed that with dedication, intelligence and resolve, it is possible to take on transnational organized crime; that no evil is too great to be overcome, and that with commitment and determination, justice can prevail.
Giovanni Falcone was among the first to recognize the global nature of organized crime and understand the importance of international cooperation. It was Mr. Falcone who pioneered cooperation with law enforcement and judicial authorities, witness protection and investigative techniques to track the illicit proceeds of crime.
It was Falcone again who advocated for the proceeds confiscated from organized crime to benefit the victims, individuals and communities alike.
He was also among the first to appreciate the true nature of organized crime, saying: "the Mafia is a human phenomenon and thus, like all human phenomena, it has had a beginning and an evolution, and will also have an end".
The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and indeed its sister Convention against Corruption, are in many ways indebted to these insights.
The Convention enables the international cooperation he envisioned, and makes it possible to go after the criminals and target their profits, across the globe.
It is now widely recognized that organized crime represents a serious threat to international peace, security and development, and that in a globalized, interconnected world, this cooperation is needed more than ever.
Supporting countries to work together, to leverage their combined strengths and fight organized crime networks with stronger networks of their own, remains a top priority of UNODC.
In the spirit of the anti-Mafia principles established by Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, our inter-regional drug control approach and "networking the networks" initiative help law enforcement increase operational coordination and sharing of criminal intelligence to counter organized crime.
In this and many other ways their work lives on.
As I said at the opening of the Conference this morning, it is not enough to simply honour this legacy. The Convention represents an extraordinary achievement, but we must continue to nurture and take it forward.
There is no room for complacency.
Allow me to conclude with the words of Paolo Borsellino, speaking at the funeral of Giovanni Falcone: "The fight against mafia … must be not only a cold repressive action, but a moral and cultural movement, involving everyone, especially younger generations, the most fit to feel the beauty of the fresh taste of freedom that sweeps away the foulness of moral compromise, of indifference, of contiguity and, hence, of complicity".
Thank you.