Director General/Executive Director
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I thank you for inviting me to brief Members of the Council on this important topic.
UNODC works closely with regional partners to address the terrorism-transnational organized crime nexus, and we are fully committed to further enhancing these synergies.
As the Security Council has highlighted across multiple resolutions, there are a number of areas where crime and terrorism intersect.
Terrorists may directly participate in crimes such as trafficking or kidnapping for ransom.
They may also levy "taxes" from traffickers in exchange for safe passage.
Or the relationships may involve logistical support and exchange of expertise, for example to launder money.
Integrated, interconnected responses are clearly needed.
UNODC has long experience and expertise in providing technical assistance to criminal justice actors in preventing both crime and terrorism.
The main gaps that we see include:
1) Uneven implementation of relevant international instruments and uneven harmonization with national legislation;
2) Insufficient inter-agency cooperation nationally, but also regionally and globally;
3) Inadequate investment in research; and
4) Lack of prevention strategies or measures.
With these challenges in mind, I would like to address four broad areas for strengthening synergies:
Firstly, implementation.
In particular, we need to support more effective implementation of the nineteen counter-terrorism instruments and the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols on human trafficking, migrant smuggling and firearms.
UN-wide and regional coordination is also critical to implementing the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.
A second and related area is capacity building.
Criminal justice actors must have a thorough understanding of both organized crime and terrorism offences.
We need to further develop capabilities to counter terrorism financing and cybercrime, as well as special investigative techniques, analysis and sharing of intelligence data, and border protection.
We can also enhance cooperation in the most vulnerable regions.
For example, as part of a project with the EU and in response to a request from the government of Niger, UNODC is helping to identify and protect child trafficking victims recruited by armed and/or extremist groups.
Thirdly, we need to support more systematic research and analysis to understand the nature and import of the nexus.
In response to UNSC resolution 2331, UNODC will soon publish a thematic paper on human trafficking in conflict situations, which addresses the nexus between this crime and terrorist acts.
UNODC would welcome support for a comprehensive study of the crime-terrorism nexus in the Horn of Africa, North Africa and the Middle East and the Sahel.
Our Office is also seeking to develop an evidence base on the links between illegal firearms trafficking and other serious crimes.
Finally, as the crime-terrorism nexus respects no borders, we need to advance cooperation within and between regions.
The international community should invest more in mechanisms on transnational organized crime and terrorism such as the G5 Sahel.
Practitioners must be made aware of existing formal and informal frameworks for cooperation so they can make effective use of them.
The UN can serve as an overarching mechanism linking regional platforms, thus increasing impact and efficiency.
UNODC has advanced a three-tier national, regional and inter-regional approach to address record drug production in Afghanistan, a challenge with serious implications for the crime-terrorism nexus.
This approach prioritizes dynamic, flexible cooperation, which can also serve as a model for further enhancing synergies and strengthening prevention efforts.
In closing, I thank the Security Council once again for this opportunity, and offer our full support. Thank you.