UN top official warns of global reach of organized crime

UN top official warns of global reach of organized crime

2010-10-19 06:24:13 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- A top official at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Monday warned Member States of the global reach that organized crime has these days.

Yury Fedotov, UNODOC Executive Director, urged the implementation of the world body's convention to combat the global toll taken by transnational organized crime. He said such problem 'have ballooned to global proportions.'

The announcement came as countries have gathered in Vienna, Austria for a week-long UN gathering to review global progress of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The convention was adopted a decade ago in Palermo, Italy and has been ratified by 157 States.

The convention provides new possibilities for law enforcement agencies to cooperate in intelligence-sharing and joint investigations. It also includes new and emerging forms of crime in areas such as trafficking in natural resources or counterfeit medicines into the organized crime category.

UNODOC said that the treaty can be used to hit criminals where it hurts more, in their finances. The UN agency proposed some initiatives to achieve this: to combat money laundering, chase plundered assets and end banking secrecy.

"We also need a comprehensive, system-wide response that strengthens resistance to organized crime at its points of origin, along trafficking routes and at the final destinations for its illicit goods," Fedotov said.

According to its 2010 Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment, UNODC found that drug trafficking continues to be the most lucrative line of business for criminals. Cocaine trafficked from the Andean region to North America and Europe is worth more than $70 billion annually and heroin moved from Afghanistan to Europe has a street value of over $30 billion.

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