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Direct Link to Full 314-Page Report:
Executive Summary: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/tocta-2010.html
UN Convention on Transnational
Organized Crime & Trafficking in Persons Protocol
___________________________________________________________________________
UNODC - UN Office on Drugs &
Crime - Website:
17
June 2010 - A report released today by UNODC shows how organized crime has
globalized and turned into one of the world's foremost economic and armed
powers.
The
Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment, released at the
Council of Foreign Relations in New York, looks at major trafficking flows of
drugs (cocaine and heroin), firearms, counterfeit products, stolen natural
resources and people (for sex and forced labour), as well as smuggled
migrants. It also covers maritime piracy and cybercrime.
"Today,
the criminal market spans the planet: illicit goods are sourced from one
continent, trafficked across another and marketed in a third," said
UNDOC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. "Transnational crime
has become a threat to peace and development, even to the sovereignty of
nations," warned the head of UNODC. "Criminals use weapons and
violence, but also money and bribes to buy elections, politicians and power -
even the military," said Mr. Costa. The threat to governance and stability
is analysed in a chapter on regions under stress.
Among the
findings in the new report, which features a number of high-impact maps and
charts that illustrate illicit flows and their markets are: Europe is the
highest-value regional heroin market (US$ 20 billion), while the Russian
Federation is now the single largest national heroin consumer in the world (70
tons). Countries that grow most of the world's illicit drugs, like Afghanistan
(opium) and Colombia (coca), receive the most attention and criticism. Yet,
most drug-related profits are made in the destination (rich) countries. For
example, out of a global market of perhaps US$ 55 billion for Afghan heroin,
only about 5 per cent (US$ 2.3 billion) goes to Afghan farmers, traders and
insurgents. The report shows that the North American cocaine market is
shrinking because of lower demand and greater law enforcement, which in turn
has generated a turf war among trafficking gangs, particularly in Mexico, and
new drug routes.
Regarding
human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants, the report shows that an
estimated 140,000 people become victims of trafficking for purposes of sexual
exploitation in Europe alone, generating a gross annual income of US$ 3 billion
for their exploiters. The two most prominent flows for smuggling migrants are
from Africa to Europe and from Latin America to the United States. Between 2.5
million and 3 million migrants are smuggled from Latin America to the United
States every year, generating US$ 6.6 billion for smugglers.
The number
of counterfeit goods detected at the European border has gone up by a factor of
10 over the past decade, for a yearly value of more than US$ 10 billion. As
much as half of medications tested in Africa and South-East Asia are
counterfeited and substandard, increasing, rather than reducing the chance of
illness.
The report
shows how illegal exploitation of natural resources and the trafficking in
wildlife from Africa and South-East Asia are disrupting fragile ecosystems and
driving species to extinction. UNODC estimates that illicit wood products
imported from Asia to the European Union and China were worth some US$ 2.5
billion in 2009. Regarding cybercrime, the report reveals that more than 1.5
million people a year suffer the theft of their identity for an economic loss
estimated at US$ 1billion, and that cybercrime is endangering the
security of nations: power grids, air traffic and nuclear installations have
been penetrated.
Work on the
report was initiated following concerns expressed by United Nations countries,
the Security Council, the Group of 8, and other international organizations
about the threat posed by transnational organized crime, and the need to counteract
it. Producing the report was a challenge due to the fact that evidence on the
subject has thus far been limited and uneven. "Despite the intrinsic
difficulty of doing research on crime, UNODC was able to document the enormous
power and global reach of international mafias," said Mr. Costa.
The report
makes a number of suggestions on how to deal with the threats posed by the
globalization of crime, including "disrupting the market forces"
behind these illicit trades and global responses on the basis of the United
Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (also known as the
Palermo Convention), which was adopted in 2000.
"Crime
has internationalized faster than law enforcement and world governance,"
said Mr. Costa. "The Palermo Convention was created precisely to generate
an international response to these transnational threats, but is often
neglected," he said. "Governments that are serious about tackling the
globalization of crime should spur the nations that are lagging behind in the
implementation of the Convention," said the head of UNODC.
"When
States fail to deliver public services and security, criminals fill the
vacuum," said Mr. Costa. "Reaching the Millennium Development Goals would
be an effective antidote to crime, that in itself is an obstacle to
development," he added. He also called for greater attention to criminal
justice in peacebuilding and peacekeeping operations. "Since crime creates
instability, peace is the best way of containing crime," he said.
"Criminals
are motivated by profit: so let us go after their money," said Mr. Costa,
adding that "We must increase the risks and lower the incentives that
enable the bloody hand of organized crime to manipulate the invisible hand of
competition". He called for more robust implementation of the United
Nations Convention against Corruption, more effective anti-money-laundering
measures, and a crackdown on bank secrecy.
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