Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Over the past decade, we have witnessed the increasing sophistication of links between transnational organized criminal networks and terrorists in many regions of the world.
Countering the grave and growing threat to global peace and security posed by this nexus of transnational organized crime and terrorism is a key challenge facing the international community today.
Terrorist groups including ISIL/D'aesh, ANF, Al-Qaida, Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram are raising funds through the illicit trafficking of drugs, arms, cultural property and natural resources, kidnapping for ransom and other crimes.
To address the crime-terrorism nexus and counter violent extremism, we need swift, flexible and cooperative responses, based on effective legal and operational frameworks, and rooted in the rule of law, due process and human rights.
UNODC is fully engaged in supporting Member States in these efforts, in coordination with our UN partners.
We have tools at our disposal and a strong international framework for joint action. We need to make sure that we use them.
I therefore urge every Member State to ratify and fully implement the international counter-terrorism instruments, as well as the conventions on corruption and transnational organized crime.
UNODC's experience has shown that with the organized crime-terrorism nexus, the criminals represent the weaker link, exposing themselves to potential detection through their illicit activities.
We can disrupt terrorist threats by going after the illicit financial flows, corruption and money-laundering that enable their activities.
We need to build national criminal justice capacities, as well as strengthen the regulatory frameworks for banks and other financial institutions, so we can identify and prevent terrorist funding, and effectively detect, investigate and prosecute related crimes, including through the freezing of assets.
To counter violent extremism and stem the flow of foreign terrorist fighters, we must also stop terrorists from abusing the internet to radicalize and recruit young people, as well as address risk areas for radicalization in prisons.
Excellencies,
The groundbreaking global goals agreed here recognize that there can be no peace without sustainable development; no sustainable development without societies free from fear and violence.
If we want to build a more peaceful, prosperous and just world, we must leave no gaps for the terrorists and criminals to exploit.
Thank you.