Vienna (Austria), 1 March 2024. “Through the establishment of the UNTOC Review Mechanism, the international community renewed its pledge to strengthen the capacity and cooperation to address transnational organized crime,” noted in his opening statement Mr. John Brandolino, Director of UNODC’s Division for Treaty Affairs, during the briefing on the UNTOC Review Mechanism, organized by its Secretariat on 27 February 2024.“As the real owners of the Mechanism, States parties’ active participation ensures that it will make a difference” he further emphasized.
193 representatives from Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Vienna and States parties’ Focal Points and Governmental Experts for the UNTOC Review Mechanism gathered for the briefing, with 28 UN Member States represented in person in Vienna and 61 connected online.
During the event, the Secretariat of the Mechanism provided information on the status of the review process, presenting a global overview as well as five regional snapshots, and highlighting achievements and challenges encountered so far.
Examples of collaboration with other UNODC Global Programmes as well as with UNODC Field and Liaison Offices were also presented to highlight the valuable synergies that the Secretariat is committed to scale up to further strengthen the Mechanism.
Ms. Hannah Stallard from the UNODC Liaison Office in New York highlighted ways in which the Office supports the progress of the UNTOC Review Mechanism, particularly in relation to Member States exclusively represented at the UN Headquarters.
Mr. Maruf Khakimov from the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, further presented on the Office’s cooperation with the Mechanism’s Secretariat in organizing dedicated national briefings in Central Asia.
Mr. Billy Batware from the UNODC Civil Society Unit introduced the joint pilot initiatives on the UNTOC Review Mechanism designed to facilitate the engagement of non-governmental stakeholders in the Convention and Protocols’ review process.
“Your attendance today is a testimony to States Parties’ commitment to engage in the review process,” highlighted Ms. Loide Aryee, Chief of UNODC’s Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch in closing the event. “It also demonstrates the strong will to collaborate with each other to further strengthen joint efforts in preventing and combating transnational organized crime,” she added.
The UNTOC Review Mechanism was established by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2020 and is a peer review process whereby States parties are engaged in the review of implementation of the Convention and its three supplementing Protocols.
