Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I thank the OSCE Chairmanship, the Secretariat, the participating States and the Partner countries for holding this timely and important conference on advancing security and cooperation in the Mediterranean.
This region has long been on the frontlines in addressing urgent threats facing the international community today.
This includes the targeting of migrants and refugees by organized criminal smugglers and human traffickers.
The Mediterranean is a key priority for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and our support to Member States.
We work with our partners, including the OSCE, to support comprehensive, cooperative responses to the challenges posed by unprecedented flows of refugees and migrants across countries of origin, transit and destination.
At the same time, we are assisting Member States to address the broader threats posed by transnational organized crime, drugs, terrorism and corruption that continue to undermine the rule of law and exacerbate instability and development challenges.
Our work is founded on the landmark Palermo Convention against transnational organized crime and its protocols, as well as the Convention against Corruption, the international instruments against terrorism and UN standards and norms on crime prevention and criminal justice.
To advance Mediterranean security and cooperation in an age of large movements of migrants and refugees, UNODC has developed a strategy to comprehensively address the challenges posed by migrant smuggling networks in the region.
We will soon begin implementing a project funded by Italy to strengthen the transnational response to the smuggling of migrants and maritime crime in West, North, and East Africa.
We continue to cooperate with EUNAVFOR MED to share information and build capacities.
And we support law enforcement in North Africa and the Middle East to conduct intelligence-based criminal investigations, and to manage borders and trade routes to combat all forms of transnational organized crime and trafficking.
Excellencies,
The international community has repeatedly highlighted the need to confront human trafficking and migrant smuggling in view of large-scale movements of refugees and migrants, including in the recent political declaration on the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, adopted this month by the General Assembly.
Reinforcing cooperation between countries and regions is clearly an essential component of a joint response, and this Conference can help to advance efforts towards this objective.
UNODC will continue to support OSCE States and Partners through our integrated country, regional and global programmes and network of field offices, to promote gender-sensitive, rights-based responses to these shared challenges and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
We look forward to continuing our work with the OSCE under our joint plan of action.
I would particularly like to highlight our cooperation with the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, including through the Alliance against Trafficking in Persons.
As always, I welcome your ideas for how we can further strengthen our joint efforts, and I look forward to continuing our dialogue in Palermo.
Thank you.