Director-General/Executive Director
[Your Excellency Ms. Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy]
Distinguished Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I want to congratulate you on a successful conference, one where you have proven once again the value of dialogue and international cooperation.
Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are not national or regional issues. They are fundamentally global problems, and they require global, collaborative solutions.
Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are also problems that are not isolated from their wider context.
They are interconnected with each other and linked with broader organized criminal networks.
They are facilitated by corruption and fraud and made profitable through economic crime.
And they are often driven by the demand for a dignified life from people who are suffering the consequences of conflict, economic strife, the climate crisis, and other emergencies, combined with a lack of alternatives for legal migration pathways.
People on the move have rights, hopes, and urgent needs.
And countries of origin, transit and destination all have legitimate and pressing concerns.
The answer is to take a stand and to take collective global action, based on shared values and a common understanding.
And that is where the Palermo Convention and Protocols come in.
Today, your discussions have shown that there is potential for stronger responses with these international instruments.
I want to call on the countries represented here in Palermo, and on the international community at large, to use these instruments to their fullest extent and to be guided by their letter and spirit.
Firstly, countries should target the organized crime groups behind migrant smuggling and the exploitation of people on the move.
National responses that focus exclusively on managing borders and arresting minor facilitators will only divert or partially address the problem.
Countries should be looking to dismantle the broader transnational criminal networks, seize their financial proceeds, and hold them accountable before the law, and the Palermo Convention provides for the criminal justice responses that are needed.
Secondly, countries should look to develop and share knowledge that will help them address realities on the ground.
This means better data collection at the national level and more information-sharing between countries, to better understand criminal structures, as well as the experiences of different countries in investigations, prosecutions, and sentencing.
The UNTOC Review Mechanism is also a vital platform to monitor implementation gaps and technical assistance needs, to improve national capacities to address organized crime, but its potential is yet to be fully used.
To date, only 30 per cent of the reviews are progressing, so I call upon States Parties to engage with the Mechanism more seriously and effectively.
And thirdly, we must keep people, their rights and their dignity at the center of responses to migrant smuggling and human trafficking, and to work with civil society partners to this end.
I urge you to prioritize the need to save and preserve life, always;
To ensure that the rights of migrants are not violated, and that they are not prosecuted for the mere fact of being smuggled;
And to provide assistance to victims of trafficking as well as migrants who have experienced violence, exploitation, and abuse at the hands of smugglers and other actors, and to grant them access to justice.
I also want to underline the need to address demand for migrant smuggling, by providing viable legal pathways to migration, combating corruption at borders, and addressing the root causes that drive people to risk their lives.
In the long-term, the most reliable way to end exploitation by organized crime is to strengthen global solidarity, deliver on the promise of the SDGs, and make sure that every human being has a dignified life and can enjoy their rights and their freedom of movement.
Before I conclude, I want to reiterate my thanks to the government of Italy for hosting this important conference, [and to Prime Minister Meloni for joining us].
Italy has often been at the frontline of migration-related challenges, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling in the Mediterranean, and has a vital role to play.
I also want to assure you that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime stands with all of you, with all Member States, in combating organized crime and protecting people.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Only some days ago, the Italian island of Lampedusa dominated the headlines as it struggled with a huge influx of irregular migrants.
Buried beneath the headlines were reports of a young child, no more than three years old, who arrived on the island alone. No one knew his name, or where his family was.
As a grandmother, it is impossible for me to see this child as anything other than a victim.
A victim of those who have built a business model around trading with his destiny and the destiny of others like him, and a victim of a world where it remains possible for them to do so.
Together, we can stand for people and against organized crime.
Together, we can leverage the promise of Palermo to respond more sustainably to exploitation, to uphold the rule of law, and to protect people everywhere.
Thank you.