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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:47 am
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Results for transnational crime
63 results foundAuthor: Manwaring, Max G. Title: A Contemporary Challenge to State Sovereignty: Gangs and Other Illicit Transnational Criminal Organizations in Central America, El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil Summary: The purposes of this monograph are to (1)introduce the gang phenomenon as a major nonstate player and a serious threat in the global and regional security arenas; (2) examine the gang phenomenon in Central America in general and in El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil more specifically; and (3) summarize the key points and lessons and make brief recommendations. Details: Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2007 Source: Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116539 Keywords: GangsOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Leggett, Ted Title: Transnational Trafficking and the Rule of Law in West Africa: A Threat Assessment Summary: West Africa is arguably the poorest and least stable area on earth. It is also afflicted by a number of transnational trafficking flows, attracted by and aggravating the special vulnerability of this region. This report examines these flows in a similar way, looking at the potential impact on the rule of law, with an eye to facilitating comparison and prioritization. Details: Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2009 Source: Year: 2009 Country: Austria URL: Shelf Number: 115646 Keywords: TraffickingTransnational CrimeWest Africa |
Author: Martin, Esmond Title: The ivory markets of East Asia Summary: This monograph reports on a survey of the ivory trade in four East Asian nations and one Special Administrative Region: China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. The purpose of the survey was to establish a set of baseline indicators on aspects of the trade in the selected countries. From this, conservationists will be able to monitor and evaluate future changes, in accordance with CITES Resolution Conf 10.10 (Rev.). The target users are national government officers, nongovernment organizations (NGOs) involved in wildlife conservation, and CITES officials. The information in this report can be used to assess the effectiveness of policies, laws and enforcement activities related to ivory trading nationally and internationally. The data can also be used to infer the demand for illegal ivory, which is correlated with elephant poaching. Two investigators working independently between March and May and in December 2002 carried out the surveys. Martin visited Japan and Hong Kong while Stiles covered China, South Korea and Taiwan. The main findings were: - Over 54,000 ivory items were seen in 413 retail outlets in the 11 cities visited. - Hong Kong had by far the most (35,884), followed by China (9,096 in three cities) and then Japan (7,565 in two cities). Taiwan (1,849 in four cities) and South Korea (36 in Seoul) had small quantities of ivory items. - Japan has the most active legal ivory carving industry in East Asia. Most ivory is used to make name seals (~80%), followed by musical instrument parts (10%). - Almost all Japan's worked ivory production is bought locally and stays in Japan. - The most expensive raw and worked ivory is in Japan. Beijing, China, has intermediately expensive worked ivory, while Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwanese cities have roughly comparable, lower prices of worked ivory. - China has emerged as the main ivory manufacturing centre for all Asia, surpassing Hong Kong and Japan. Often with the involvement of Hong Kong businessmen, smuggling rings import African ivory, process it, and re-export it through Hong Kong and Macau to Europe, Japan, North America, Singapore and Thailand (the order of importance is unknown). China is probably also the only country in East Asia that has more worked ivory retail outlets now than in 1990. - China had the largest illegal ivory industry in East Asia and was the main destination of illicit African ivory in 2002. Small, private ivory workshops have replaced the larger, governmentowned factories since 1990. These arc unlicensed to deal with ivory and are therefore illegal. Most are located in Guangdong Province. They often use mammoth ivory, bone and stone as cover for elephant ivory working and exports. - Foreigners buy most of China's ivory items. They purchase it either in China or in neighbouring countries. Chinese nationals have been increasing their share of ivory purchases since 1990 as the economy grows. - Both Taiwan and South Korea were primarily transit and/or processing and re-export centres for ivory in the 1 980s and 1 990s. Today the ivory industry of Taiwan is dying and it is already dead in South Korea because of lower global demand for ivory products and increased government law enforcement. - The main buyers of East Asian worked ivory are ethnic Chinese of various nationalities and Japanese. Europeans and Americans also continue to buy worked ivory in Asia. - The internal ivory markets of all the countries surveyed have declined considerably since the CITES ivory international trade ban in 1990. The number of ivory craftsmen has plummeted in East Asia from about 2,200 in 1989 to fewer than 300 in 2002. Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea have no full-time ivory carvers. - The CITES-approved raw ivory sales to Japan from southern Africa in 1999 were not seen as important by ivory dealers outside Japan. Non-Japanese traders interviewed did not think it heralded a relaxing of the international ivory trade ban. Most ivory business people in East Africa were pessimistic about the future of the industry. Taiwanese vendors of worked ivory (the only ones interviewed after the CITES 12th Conference of the Parties in 2002) were not even aware that a second one-off southern African ivory auction had been approved for 2004, subject to certain conditions. - East Asian ivory business people attribute the decline in the industry to the activities of Western conservationists and journalists, which have resulted in a significant drop in Western buyers, who previously were the principal customers. They do not see this situation as susceptible to change. - In recent years East Asian governments have begun to pay more attention to controlling the ivory trade. China and Taiwan, in particular, have introduced new laws and have increased efforts to stop illegal ivory imports and to prosecute smugglers. - More needs to be done by East Asian governments to control effectively the ivory trade and to implement recommendations made in CITES Resolution 10.10 (Rev. CoP 12) and CITES Resolution 12.39. Details: London: Save the Elephants, 2003, 112p. Source: Internet Source: Accessed April 13, 2018 at: http://www.traffic.org/publications/the-ivory-markets-of-east-asia.html?no_redirect=true Year: 2003 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.traffic.org/publications/the-ivory-markets-of-east-asia.html?no_redirect=true Shelf Number: 116671 Keywords: AsiaIllegalIllegal HuntingIllegal tradeIvoryPoachingTransnational Crime |
Author: Kego, Walter Title: Counteracting Transnational Organized Crime: Challenges and Countermeasures Summary: According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, transnational organized crime is one of the major threats to human security, impeding the social, economic, political and cultural development of societies worldwide, and involved in trafficking in human beings, drugs and firearms, money laundering, etc. This report outlines the origins of transnational organized crime, describes how it manifests itself and identifies possible threats against societies. Money laundering is dealt with in some detail since it facilitates transnational crime activities and their expansion into the legal economy. The challenges posed by financial crime are identified and guidelines for its prevention are outlined. The EU strategy against transnational organized crimes is an example of how the common European model of crime prevention can be implemented elsewhere. Details: Stockholm, Sweden: Institute for Security and Development Policy, 2010. 30p. Source: Internet Resource; Stockholm Paper Series Year: 2010 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 118591 Keywords: Drug TraffickingFinancial CrimesHuman TraffickingMoney LaunderingOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Bichou, Khalid Title: Security and Risk-Based Models in Shipping and Ports: Review and Critical Analysis Summary: The primary aim of maritime security assessment models is to assess the level of security within and across the maritime network. When managing risk through legislation, regulatory assessment models are used to assess risk levels and examine the impact of policy options, usually in terms of the costs and benefits of a regulatory proposal. This paper reviews the development, application and adequacy of existing risk assessment and management models to maritime and port security. In particular, it examines the problematical issues of security perception, value and impact, and discusses the limitations of the current regulatory framework in providing an integrated and effective approach to risk assessment and managment, including for supply chain security. Details: Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, International Transport Forum, 2008. 38p. Source: Internet Resource; Discussion Paper No. 2008-20 Year: 2008 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 118796 Keywords: Harbors, Security MeasuresMaritime LawMaritime SecurityPort SecurityRisk AssessmentShipping, Security MeasuresSupply ChainsTransnational Crime |
Author: Global Witness Title: For a Few Dollars More: How al Qaeda Moved Into the Diamond Trade Summary: This report examines whether the terrorist group, al Qaeda, has used, and is continuing to use, rough diamonds. The report presents evidence that confirms that al Qaeda have been involved in the rough diamond trade since the 1990s. First in Kenya and Tanzania and then in Sierra Leone and Liberia, where they began to show an interest in diamond trading in 1998, following the crackdown on their financial activities in the wake of the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The report argues that there are several reasons why al Qaeda has used rough diamonds: 1) As a means of raising funds for al Qaeda cells; 2) To hide money targeted by financial sanctions; 3) To launder the profits of criminal activity; and 4) To convert cash into a commodity that holds its value and is easily transportable. Details: London: Global Witness, 2003. 95p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2003 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 118825 Keywords: al QaedaDiamonds, TradeMoney LaunderingTerrorismTerrorist FinancingTransnational Crime |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Title: The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment Summary: "In The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment, UNODC analyses a range of key transnational crime threats, including human trafficking, migrant smuggling, the illicit heroin and cocaine trades, cybercrime, maritime piracy and trafficking in environmental resources, firearms and counterfeit goods. The report also examines a number of cases where transnational organized crime and instability amplify each other to create vicious circles in which countries or even subregions may become locked. Thus, the report offers a striking view of the global dimensions of organized crime today." Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2010. 303p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 119407 Keywords: CounterfeitingCybercrimeHuman TraffickingMaritime CrimeMigrant SmugglingOrganized CrimePiratesTransnational Crime |
Author: Alcantara, Mariana Del Rocio Title: Mara Salvatrucha and Transnational Crime in North and Central America: Uncovering the External Links and Internal Dynamics Summary: The assimilation of organised crime into transnational crime has had detrimental effects on the national and regional security of countries around the world. Transnational crime has increasingly become a security concern, as organised gangs have permeated across borders with enhanced sophistication with minimal regard for law enforcement. Mara Salvatruchal (also known as MS or MS-13) is an organisation that has rapidly spread from its initial location on the West Coast of the United States to other parts of the country as well as neighbouring nations in Central America. The main aspect of this thesis is the activities of Mara Salvatrucha in North and Central America and the analysis of the internal and external dynamics that have enabled the organisation to expand and become one of the most feared organised gangs in the American Continent. Hence, this thesis critically analyses the anti-crime prevention measures put into action in the hope of curbing and eliminating the security threats that MS and its members provide within the region. Transnational crime theory is a core component of this thesis as it identifies numerous factors that are associated with this transnational organisation and will effectively put internal and external dynamics of MS into perspective. The objective of this thesis is therefore to use a case study methodology on Mara Salvatrucha to emphasise the law enforcement strategies that have thus far been deployed to control the increasing level of gang related violence taking place in the United States and Central American nations. Details: Adelaide, Australia: School of International Studies, University of South Australia, 2007. 106p. Source: Internet Resource; Thesis Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119512 Keywords: GangsMara SalvatruchaOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Sjolinder, Henrik Title: Fighting Organized Crime in the EU: A New Era with the Lisbon Treaty and the Stockholm Programme Summary: The EU´s actions to counter transnational organized crime have paved the way for a process aimed at harmonizing and unifying national structures on legal matters in order to combat transnational crime. This brief will outline novelties relevant for the prevention and fight against organized crime as presented in the recently ratified Lisbon Treaty and the Stockholm Programme. Details: Stockholm: Institute for Security & Development Policy, 2010. 3p. Source: Internet Resource: ISDP Policy Brief, No. 23: Accessed September 2, 2010 at: http://www.isdp.eu/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2010_sjolinder_fighting-organized-crime.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Europe URL: http://www.isdp.eu/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2010_sjolinder_fighting-organized-crime.pdf Shelf Number: 119726 Keywords: Organized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Gillmore, Edward Title: The Expansion in the EU of Baltic Organized Criminal Groups Summary: Two recent reports have highlighted the expansion into the EU of organized criminal groups trafficking drugs, human beings and arms. The reports analyze the structural and functional features of these groups as well as the economic mechanisms supporting their activities. Details: Stockholm: Institute for Security & Development Policy, 2010. 3p. Source: Internet Resource: ISDP Policy Brief, No. 24: Accessed September 2, 2010 at: http://www.isdp.eu/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2010_gillmore_the-expansion-in-the-eu.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Europe URL: http://www.isdp.eu/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2010_gillmore_the-expansion-in-the-eu.pdf Shelf Number: 119727 Keywords: Drug TraffickingHuman TraffickingOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Kalacska, Margaret Title: Technological Integration As A Means of Enhancing Border Security and Reducing Transnational Crime Summary: “This report examines the porosity of the Canada-US border, focusing on the areas between ports-of-entry. Such locations have traditionally been perceived as low risk areas, but actually facilitate criminal activities that endanger the national security and economies of both countries. This analysis also considers the root causes of major illicit activities that flourish as transnational ventures in these border regions, and reiterates the need for increasing security without imposing further restrictions on legitimate travel and trade. This report makes eight recommendations to improve security between the major ports-of-entry: • Increase technological infrastructure for the Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET) and Coast Guard teams between the ports-of-entry. • Increase basic security and communications measures at the small and medium rural ports-of-entry. • Increase international interoperability and communication (such as real-time, integrated shared databases on criminal records, investigations in progress, and outstanding warrants) between the Canadian Border Services Agency, US Customs and Borders Protection, IBET and municipal, provincial, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Such a united, coordinated effort will be more successful at intercepting transnational crime and cross border insurgency. • Develop a mechanism to enable agents from one country to pursue fleeing suspects across the border to maintain visual surveillance on their whereabouts until authorities from the other country are able to respond. • Harmonize the sentences for smugglers and traffickers of narcotics, arms and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora-related products between Canada and the US without eligibility for early release for those convicted in Canada. • Remove the allowance of acquiring and possessing methamphetamine and methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) chemical precursors that do not have any legitimate industrial use. • Increase the use of operationally proven technology to improve security in the areas between ports-of-entry to provide real-time information on threats to enforcement teams. • Increase the number of IBET teams: these teams should have the capability to respond to threats near real-time. Identifying the most likely between-ports-of-entry crossing points from actual data, and the field experiences of the officers on the ground, will increase the number of individuals apprehended for illegally crossing the border having significant impacts on illicit enterprises. If used correctly, appropriate technology will augment the effectiveness of the agents on the ground, especially when resources are limited.” Details: Toronto: Canadian International Council, 2009. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 6, 2010 at: http://www.onlinecic.org/research/research_areas/border_issues Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.onlinecic.org/research/research_areas/border_issues Shelf Number: 119748 Keywords: Border SecurityDrug TraffickingIllegal ImmigrantsSmugglingTransnational Crime |
Author: Canada. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Criminal Intelligence Title: Human Trafficking in Canada Summary: Project SECLUSION was prepared for the Immigration and Passport Branch as a national overview of human trafficking activities in an effort to identify the extent of organized crime involvement, transnational associations, source countries, as well as issues and challenges faced by law enforcement. This report also serves as a preliminary baseline of human trafficking activities affecting Canada in both the transnational and domestic perspectives. Details: Ottawa: RCMP, 2010. 49p. Source: Year: 2010 Country: Canada URL: Shelf Number: 119806 Keywords: Forced LaborHuman TraffickingOrganized CrimeProstitutionSexual ExploitationTransnational Crime |
Author: Raidt, John Title: Advancing U.S., African, and Global Interests: Security and Stability in the West African Maritime Domain Summary: This report presents the analysis and recommendations of the Atlantic Council’s Michael S. Ansari Africa Center in cooperation with the On the Horizon Project to advance U.S. strategic interests in West Africa. Unaddressed problems of poor governance, severe poverty, widespread public corruption, and growing insecurity from the presence of criminal and militant enterprises engaged in theft, terrorism, trafficking, piracy, poaching, and pollution will continue to punish local populations and create conditions of instability that undermine public order from greater levels of armed confl ict and mass migration and threaten the reliable flow of oil from the region. As noted in a recent United Nations report, the “combination of coups from the top and insurgencies from below render West Africa in the opinion of the UN the least politically stable region in the world.” While this report focuses on the maritime domain, the Atlantic Council approaches the regional security challenges from a broad perspective. Security issues are holistic and must be addressed as such. The dynamics and consequences of insecurity in the maritime domain are part of a wider, more complex political and security dynamic encompassing rule of law, governance, public capacities, and economic and human development across geographic, societal, and national domains. Just as the causes, manifestations, and consequences of insecurity are comprehensive, so too must be the preventatives and remedies. This document provides a broad strategic-level analysis and corresponding recommendations for action that can, and we believe should, be supported and implemented by U.S. and allied policymakers, African leaders, and key stakeholders. Details: Washington, DC: Atlantic Council, 2010. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 1, 2011 at: http://www.acus.org/files/publication_pdfs/3/advancing-us-african-global-interests-security-stability-west-africa-maritime-domain.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Africa URL: http://www.acus.org/files/publication_pdfs/3/advancing-us-african-global-interests-security-stability-west-africa-maritime-domain.pdf Shelf Number: 120632 Keywords: Maritime CrimeMaritime SecurityPiracy/PiratesPoachingTerrorismTraffickingTransnational Crime |
Author: Haken, Jeremy Title: Transnational Crime In The Developing World Summary: This report analyzes the scale, flow, profit distribution, and impact of 12 different types of illicit trade: drugs, humans, wildlife, counterfeit goods and currency, human organs, small arms, diamonds and colored gemstones, oil, timber, fish, art and cultural property, and gold. Though the specific characteristics of each market vary, in general it can be said that these profitable and complex criminal operations originate primarily in developing countries, thrive in the space created by poverty, inequality, and state weakness, and contribute to forestalling economic prosperity for billions of people in countries across the world. Details: Washington, DC: Global Financial Integrity, 2011. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2011 at: http://www.gfip.org/storage/gfip/documents/reports/transcrime/gfi_transnational_crime_high-res.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.gfip.org/storage/gfip/documents/reports/transcrime/gfi_transnational_crime_high-res.pdf Shelf Number: 120716 Keywords: Art CrimeCounterfeitingDrug TraffickingFinancial CrimesHuman TraffickingIllicit TradeOffenses Against the EnvironmentTransnational CrimeWildlife Crime |
Author: Marenin, Otwin Title: Challenges for Integrated Border Management in the European Union Summary: The expansion of the European Union has required a rethinking of how the external borders of the EU can best be protected against transnational crime, illegal immigration, trafficking in goods and people, non-legitimate asylum seekers and terrorist-related threats. The history, strategic logic, issues faced and current policies for securing the expanding external borders of the EU through the integrated border management (IBM) vision and strategy will be described and critically analysed. The paper is based on information in publicly available documents from EU institutions, scholarly writings on borders and the management of border controls, my own prior writings on border controls and police reforms, and a few interviews with participants involved in creating a new EU integrated border management system. Details: Geneva: Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, 2010. 161p. Source: Internet Resource: DCAF Occasional Paper - No. 17: Accessed February 14, 2011 at: http://www.dcaf.ch/Publications/Publication-Detail?lng=en&id=114407 Year: 2010 Country: Europe URL: http://www.dcaf.ch/Publications/Publication-Detail?lng=en&id=114407 Shelf Number: 120756 Keywords: Border SecurityHuman TraffickingIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrationTrafficking in GoodsTransnational Crime |
Author: Sloan, Britt Title: Terrorism, Crime, and Conflict: Exploiting the Differences Among Transnational Threats? Summary: Despite their diverging strategic objectives, terrorists, criminals, and insurgents appear increasingly to collaborate. The deep connections among terrorism, drug production, and insurgency in Afghanistan and Colombia are well known. In the Sahel, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is funded at least in part through the paid protection of trafficking routes and through criminal kidnapping campaigns. In southern Nigeria, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) long has mixed oil bunkering, kidnapping, and ethnic rebellion, and it recently may have added terrorism to its repertoire. In Somalia, there is increasing concern about the possibility of Islamist militants taxing, controlling, or even investing in the piracy industry. In Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) made millions of dollars from sophisticated cybercrime, including extensive credit card fraud, and for years used its resulting military might to exercise de facto control over a large territory. Fragile states, with their ready pools of unemployed labor and populations inured to and traumatized by violence, frequently represent sites of competitive advantage for terrorist organizations, criminal networks, and violent political leaders alike. Collaboration among them may benefit all three —financing terrorism, protecting crime, and securing political control. The UN Security Council has gone so far as to suggest that such conjoined transnational threats may represent a threat to international peace and security. Yet, policymakers appear unclear about how to handle the confluence of these threats. This policy brief offers eight targeted policy recommendations for combating the convergence of terrorism, crime, and politics. Rather than simply warning about the potential for interaction and synergy among terrorist, criminal, and political actors, this policy brief aims to explore possibilities for exploiting their divergences. In particular, it emphasizes the need to grapple with the economic, political, and combat power that some terrorist groups enjoy through their involvement in crime and conflict. This requires an approach to counterterrorism that incorporates policy proscriptions from the criminological, conflict transformation, peacebuilding, development, and sociological arenas, while developing a coordinated interagency strategy for deploying common tools, such as macroeconomic reform; disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) efforts; security sector reform (SSR); improved border control; financial sector reform; and legal-institution capacity building. Above all, this approach requires taking the social power of violent organizations more seriously. Details: Washington, DC: Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, 2011. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed March 14, 2011 at: http://www.globalct.org/images/content/pdf/policybriefs/BS_policybrief_117.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.globalct.org/images/content/pdf/policybriefs/BS_policybrief_117.pdf Shelf Number: 120928 Keywords: Counter-TerrorismTerrorismTerroristsTransnational Crime |
Author: International Peace Institute Title: Transnational Organized Crime: Task Forces on Strengthening Multilateral Security Capacity Summary: The paper highlights how states and international organizations so far have largely failed to anticipate the evolution of transnational organized crime (TOC) into a strategic threat to governments, societies, and economies. At the international level, a largely outdated understanding of TOC does not adequately contemplate the strategic impact of TOC, and commonly fails to ensure that international efforts are not working at cross-purposes. The Blue Paper lays out recommendations on how to 1) improve information sharing; 2) develop international investigative, policing, and prosecutorial tools; and 3) integrate strategic decision making into international peace efforts and international crime fighting. Details: New York: International Peace Institute, 2009. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: IPI Blue Papers, No. 2: Accessed March 16, 2011 at: http://www.ipacademy.org/publication/policy-papers/detail/83-transnational-organized-crime-ipi-blue-paper-no-2.html Year: 2009 Country: International URL: http://www.ipacademy.org/publication/policy-papers/detail/83-transnational-organized-crime-ipi-blue-paper-no-2.html Shelf Number: 121029 Keywords: Organized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Killebrew, Bob Title: Security Through Partnership: Fighting Transnational Cartels in the Western Hemisphere Summary: The most dangerous threat to the United States and its allies in the Western Hemisphere is the growth of powerful transnational criminal organizations that threaten law, order and governance in Mexico and the seven states of Central America. Over 35,000 Mexicans have died in drug-related violence since 2006 when Mexican President Felipe Calderón began to crack down on the cartels; in 2010 more than 3,100 have died in Ciudad Juarez alone. In neighboring Guatemala, the government declared an official “state of siege” along its northern border with Mexico to permit its military to fight the los Zetas cartel. Unfortunately, efforts to counter cartels and drug trafficking have largely failed thus far. Worsening violence and instability in the region threaten U.S. national security interests and demand a stronger response. To address this threat, the United States and its partners in the region should look to Colombia for guidance and assistance. Colombia has fought similar threats with some success and is emerging from three decades of crisis fueled by drug trafficking organizations and violent cartels. While Colombia will face many challenges for some time to come, it is increasingly secure, democratic and able to help its neighbors. The United States and its partners throughout the Western Hemisphere stand the best chance of securing the region against the most dangerous cartels by attacking them together. A regional security framework such as the “Mesoamerican Security Corridor,” proposed by the U.S. Department of State, offers a new opportunity to link U.S. and Colombian assistance and counternarcotics programs in Mexico to address challenges in the Central American states to Mexico’s south. Such a regional security framework will be necessary to defeat the cartels and reinstitute the rule of law and justice. A key element of the framework should be greater synergies between major U.S. security assistance programs including the Mérida Initiative, Plan Colombia and nascent bilateral Colombian-Mexican cooperation. Details: Washington, DC: Center for a New American Security, 2011. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed April 7, 2011 at: http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/CNAS_Partnership_KillebrewIrvine.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/CNAS_Partnership_KillebrewIrvine.pdf Shelf Number: 121268 Keywords: CartelsDrug CartelsDrug TraffickingOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Graham, Euan Title: Transnational Crime in the Fishing Industry: Asia’s Problem? Summary: On 13 April 2011 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a report on transnational organised crime in the fishing industry. It focuses on three areas: trafficking in persons to work within the fishing industry, people smuggling and drug trafficking. There are other linkages to environmental crime, corruption and piracy. The findings have particular relevance for Asia, which accounts for 85 per cent of the world’s fishers and 75 per cent of motorised fishing vessels. Southeast Asians, including children, also feature prominently among the victims of trafficking for forced labour. Details: Singapore, S. Rajaratnam School of International STudies, 2011. 3p. Source: Internet Resource: RSIS Commentaries, no. 62: Accessed July 12, 2011 at: http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/Perspective/RSIS0622011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Asia URL: http://www.rsis.edu.sg/publications/Perspective/RSIS0622011.pdf Shelf Number: 122032 Keywords: Illegal Fishing IndustryMaritime CrimeOffenses Against the Environment (Asia)Transnational CrimeWildlife Crime |
Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Studies and Threat Analysis Section Title: The Transatlantic Cocaine Market Summary: Key Findings of this report include: Global demand for cocaine has shifted. Demand in the United States was more than four times as high as in Europe in 1998, but just over a decade later, the volume and value of the West and Central European cocaine market (US$33 billion) is approaching parity with that of the US (US$37 billion). Two thirds of European cocaine users live in just three countries: the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy. With Germany and France, these countries represent 80% of European cocaine consumption. European cocaine seizures increased rapidly between 1998 and 2006, peaking at some 121 tons. They have dropped off sharply since then, to some 53 tons in 2009, while at most, European demand has stabilized. There have been increases in seizures in South America, but the price of pure cocaine has not increased greatly in Europe, suggesting that traffickers have found new ways of evading law enforcement. In the last decade, most (about 60%) of the cocaine seized was taken at sea or in ports. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was the most prominent country of origin for direct cocaine shipments to Europe, with the cocaine coming mainly from Colombia. It appears that most of Europe’s cocaine enters by sea, primarily via Spain. Nearly half the cocaine seized in Europe was taken by Spanish authorities, two-thirds of which was detected in international waters and 11% in containers. Excluding what is imported for local consumption, it is estimated that about 21 tons of cocaine were trafficked from West Africa to Europe in 2009. This is down sharply from two years before, when the total could have been as high as 47 tons. Much of the trafficking to West Africa used to be carried out by large ‘mother ships’ that unloaded the drugs on to smaller, local vessels off the West African coasts. Today, large maritime shipments have virtually disappeared, suggesting that traffickers have changed their tactics. There is evidence of shipments in large commercial aircraft purchased second-hand by traffickers for this purpose. There are also indications that containerized shipping is being utilized, but very few of these shipments have been detected. Most of the recently reported seizures of cocaine from container consignments from South America to West Africa had Nigeria or Ghana as their destination. Most of these containers originated in Peru or the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Commercial air flights used to be the most common vector for trafficking cocaine from West Africa to West and Central Europe (97% of seizure cases over the last decade, or 58% of all cocaine seized). But the number of detections have declined drastically in recent years, suggesting again that traffickers have changed their tactics. There appears to be some trafficking of cocaine from West Africa to Europe across the Sahara to countries in northern Africa, although very few seizures have been made. There is some evidence of use of the traditional cannabis resin trafficking routes from Morocco to Spain. Although it appears that Colombian organized crime groups still dominate trafficking of cocaine to Europe, domestic markets are often in the hands of traffickers of other nationalities. In addition to the health consequences of cocaine use, the impact of cocaine trafficking includes drug-funded violence, political instability and corruption in many areas. In line with the principle of shared responsibility and a balanced approach to the drug problem, the expansion of the cocaine market across the Atlantic and, more recently, in South America, highlights the importance of developing strategies on the scale of the cocaine threat. Efforts must be increasingly coordinated and integrated into an international approach that adapts to new developments as quickly as the traffickers. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the capacity of the international community to achieve a significant reduction of the global cocaine market during the present decade. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2011. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 15, 2011 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Studies/Transatlantic_cocaine_market.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Studies/Transatlantic_cocaine_market.pdf Shelf Number: 122077 Keywords: CocaineDrug MarketsDrug TraffickingOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: U.S. White House. National Security Council Title: Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime. Addressing Converging Threats to National Security Summary: Transnational organized crime refers to those self-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate transnationally for the purpose of obtaining power, influence, monetary and/or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means, while protecting their activities through a pattern of corruption and/or violence, or while protecting their illegal activities through a transnational organizational structure and the exploitation of transnational commerce or communication mechanisms. There is no single structure under which transnational organized criminals operate; they vary from hierarchies to clans, networks, and cells, and may evolve to other structures. The crimes they commit also vary. Transnational organized criminals act conspiratorially in their criminal activities and possess certain characteristics which may include, but are not limited to: ••In at least part of their activities they commit violence or other acts which are likely to intimidate, or make actual or implicit threats to do so; ••They exploit differences between countries to further their objectives, enriching their organization, expanding its power, and/or avoiding detection/apprehension; ••They attempt to gain influence in government, politics, and commerce through corrupt as well as legitimate means; ••They have economic gain as their primary goal, not only from patently illegal activities but also from investment in legitimate businesses; and ••They attempt to insulate both their leadership and membership from detection, sanction, and/or prosecution through their organizational structure. Details: Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Security Council, 2011. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 2, 2011 at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/2011-strategy-combat-transnational-organized-crime.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/2011-strategy-combat-transnational-organized-crime.pdf Shelf Number: 122247 Keywords: Organized CrimesTransnational Crime |
Author: Lindley, Jade Title: Vulnerabilities to Trafficking in Persons in the Pacific Islands Summary: There is emerging evidence that the Pacific Island region is vulnerable to the crime of trafficking in persons. Using information from a range of Pacific Island stakeholder forums and consultations conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), together with a review of the literature, key issues relevant to trafficking in persons in the Pacific Islands region are identified in this paper. Existing patterns of people movement, weak border and immigration controls, states affected by poor governance, failing rule of law and corruption, the impact of cultural practices entwined with poverty and a limited capacity to respond to natural disasters are identified as key vulnerabilities to trafficking in persons. It is noted that the factors that facilitate susceptibility to trafficking also provide focal areas for strategies to prevent and suppress trafficking in persons and to address transnational crime in the Pacific Islands region more generally. This paper provides a foundation for ongoing research on trafficking in persons in the Pacific Islands region and the identification of effective prevention strategies, which will be undertaken by the AIC in the future. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 428: Accessed November 23, 2011 at: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/C/1/9/%7BC19D723B-44B8-4B02-9FA5-CB4470207AE7%7Dtandi428.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/C/1/9/%7BC19D723B-44B8-4B02-9FA5-CB4470207AE7%7Dtandi428.pdf Shelf Number: 123444 Keywords: Human Trafficking (Pacific Islands)Sexual ExploitationTransnational Crime |
Author: Rinehard, Britta Title: Armed Guards on Merchant Vessels Summary: The threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia, as well as in the Gulf of Aden (GoA), Horn of Africa (HoA) and the Indian Ocean has sparked a new discussion on the use of privately contracted armed security personnel (PCASP) on board merchant vessels to prevent pirates from successfully boarding and hijacking a vessel. Vessels with low freeboard and/ or low speed are more vulnerable to pirate attacks. Therefore hiring armed guards on these vulnerable vessels are more likely. However, employing private armed guards to protect commercial vessels traveling through pirate-prone waters is controversial for a number of reasons, such as legal issues, safety concerns for seafarers and varying national regulations. This paper will provide a brief overview of the on-going debate over the use of PCASPs as well as recent movements related to this matter. Details: Norfolk, VA: Civil-Military Fusion Centre (www.cimicweb.org), 2011. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 26, 2012 at https://www.cimicweb.org/Documents/CFC%20Anti-Piracy%20Thematic%20Papers/CFC_Anti-Piracy_Report_Armed%20Guards%20October%202011_Final_rmb.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: https://www.cimicweb.org/Documents/CFC%20Anti-Piracy%20Thematic%20Papers/CFC_Anti-Piracy_Report_Armed%20Guards%20October%202011_Final_rmb.pdf Shelf Number: 123774 Keywords: Maritime CrimeMaritime SecurityPiracy/PiratesPrivate SecuritySecurity GuardsTransnational Crime |
Author: Elliott, Lorraine Title: Transnational Environmental Crime: Applying Network Theory to an Investigation of Illegal Trade, Criminal Activity and Law Enforcement Reponses Summary: In his National Security Statement to Parliament in December 2009, the Australian Prime Minister observed that "transnational crime – [including] the illegal exploitation of resources – will remain a continuing challenge" (Office of the Prime Minister of Australia, 2009). According to Sandro Calvani, the Director of UNICRI – the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute – governments face multiple challenges in dealing with the illegal exploitation of resources. Those challenges include "scarce awareness and knowledge of the phenomenon, … insufficient regulation, … growing involvement of organized crime … high profits [and] … scarce international cooperation" (Calvani 2009, p. 14). While this illegal exploitation, captured in the concept of transnational environmental crime (TEC), has become a matter of growing concern for Australian and international security, environmental and criminological policy, the nature and extent of the associated illegal trade and criminal activity remains under-researched. Nor has there been a comprehensive and critically-informed analysis of the nature and extent of international cooperation on policy, compliance and enforcement in response to TEC. This research project therefore has three key objectives: to advance our understanding of the ways in which environmental commodities that are either sourced illegally or destined for illegal markets are traded; to draw on International Relations theories of networks to develop and apply conceptual tools that can aid in understanding the organizational structures of TEC networks and the political, social and economic assets that sustain illicit chains of custody; to examine and analyse existing transnational policy and operational law enforcement responses, particularly those that function through network arrangements, to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the ways in which governments and other actors are responding to the challenges of TEC. This short working paper provides an overview of the background to this research project, expands on these three key themes, canvasses the conceptual framework that informs the research, and introduces the methodologies that will guide our investigations. Details: Canberra, Australia: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Department of International Relations, School of International, Political and Strategic Studies, The Australian National Library, 2011. 17p. Source: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Working Paper 1/2011: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 28, 2012 at http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ir/tec/publications/TEC_Working_Paper_1_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/ir/tec/publications/TEC_Working_Paper_1_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 123849 Keywords: Environmental CrimeEnvironmental LawHazardous WastesIllegal LoggingTransnational CrimeWildlife Smuggling |
Author: Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference Title: Final report of the Working Group on Trafficking in Human Beings Summary: Trafficking is an international cross-border crime that requires international cooperation and concerted action across borders. According to the Working Group the most important elements in the fight against this crime are to secure long term funding of for instance public authorities, specialized agencies, NGOs and intergovernmental organizations and projects, to apply victim-based, with particular emphasis on children, approach respecting human rights and to follow the money flows stemming from trafficking. Details: Copenhagen, Denmark: NORDEN, 2011. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 5, 2012 at http://www.norden.org/en/publications/publikationer/2011-416/at_download/publicationfile Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.norden.org/en/publications/publikationer/2011-416/at_download/publicationfile Shelf Number: 123987 Keywords: Human SmugglingHuman Trafficking (Europe)International CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Sullivan, Clare Title: Trade-based money laundering: Risks and regulatory responses Summary: This report examines a form of money laundering based on the trade of goods and services, commonly known as trade-based money laundering. Although the global response to trade-based money laundering has been limited so far, more research needs to be conducted into the nature and impact of trade-based money laundering before avenues for reform are pursued in Australia. Details: Canberra, Australia: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011. 42p. Source: AIC Reports, Research and Public Policy Series 115: Internet Resource: Accessed February 10, 2012 at http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/A/0/3/%7BA03716CB-BFD3-46B3-93EC-66FD9D9029A7%7Drpp115.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/A/0/3/%7BA03716CB-BFD3-46B3-93EC-66FD9D9029A7%7Drpp115.pdf Shelf Number: 124041 Keywords: International CrimeMoney Laundering, Trade-Based (Australia)Transnational Crime |
Author: Kar, Dev Title: Mexico: Illicit Financial Flows, Macroeconomic Imbalances, and the Underground Economy Summary: This study provides estimates of illicit financial flows (IFFs) from Mexico over the period 1970 – 2010 and examines the underlying drivers and dynamics in the context of a simulation model. Since the data needed to run the simulation model are only available for the period 1971-2008, the analysis of the factors driving illicit flows is confined to this shorter period. In our definition, money is deemed to be illicit if the source, use or movement of the funds is illegal. All flow estimates are based on cross-border transfers of illicit money and do not take into account illicit money being laundered inside the country. Moreover, illicit flows resulting from drug trafficking and other illicit activities that are settled in cash are not captured by economic models such as the ones used in this study. Given the inherent understatement of illicit flows estimated through economic models and methods, we use the non-normalized (or robust) estimate of illicit flows throughout the study, although normalized or conservative estimates are also presented in the Appendix for purposes of comparison. That said the magnitude and growth rate of illicit flows out of Mexico are indicative of the severity of the problem faced by policymakers. Details: Washington, DC: Global Financial Integrity, 2012. 96p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 11, 2012 at http://www.gfintegrity.org/storage/gfip/documents/reports/mexico/gfi_mexico_report_english-web.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.gfintegrity.org/storage/gfip/documents/reports/mexico/gfi_mexico_report_english-web.pdf Shelf Number: 124088 Keywords: Drug TraffikcingFinancial Crime (Mexico)Transnational CrimeUnderground Economy |
Author: Walters, Julie Title: Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing across the globe: A comparative study of regulatory action Summary: Most developed countries across the globe have enacted legislation to proscribe acts of money laundering and financing of terrorism, and to enable the proceeds of crime to be recovered from offenders. Such legislation reflects the principles developed by the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF-GAFI) 40 plus Nine Recommendations to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism (FATF-GAFI 2004) to varying degrees. FATF-GAFI was established in 1989 as an international body to examine techniques employed by criminals to launder the proceeds of crime and the approaches taken internationally to counteract such activities, as well as to identify policies to impede money laundering and the financing of terrorism. FATF-GAFI issued 40 Recommendations to combat money laundering in 1990 and expanded these to deal with the problem of financing of terrorism after the 11 September 2001 attacks by adding a further Nine Special Recommendations on terrorism financing. Details: Australia: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2011. 119p. Source: AIC Reports, Research and Public Policy Series 113: Internet Resource: Accessed February 12, 2012 at Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 124104 Keywords: Counter-TerrorismInternational CrimeLegislationMoney LaunderingTransnational Crime |
Author: Liang, Christina Schori Title: Shadow Networks: The Growing Nexus of Terrorism and Organised Crime Summary: Key Points: there are growing links between terrorist and organised crime groups who are sharing expertise and are cooperating in kidnapping, arms, drugs and human trafficking, as well as drug production, cigarette smuggling, extortion and fraud; The growing nexus of shared tactics and methods of terror and crime groups is due to four major developments: globalization, the communication revolution through the Internet, the end of the Cold War, and the global "war on terror"; Both terrorist and organised crime groups are leveraging the Internet for recruitment, planning, psychological operations, logistics, and fundraising. The Internet has become the platform for both organised crime and terrorists to conduct cybercrimes ranging from video piracy, credit card fraud, selling drugs, extortion, money laundering and pornography; The growing nexus has facilitated terrorists to access automatic weapons, including stand-off weapons and explosive devices, empowering them to challenge police, land and naval forces with the latest sophisticated weaponry and intelligence; The growing nexus of terrorism and organised crime is exacerbating efforts in war-fighting and peacemaking in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, West Africa in general and the Sahel in particular have become a dangerous new trafficking hub uniting both terrorists and organised crime cartels across a wide and mostly ungoverned land mass; The growing nexus of terrorism and organised crime groups is challenging international and national security by weakening democratic institutions, compromising government institutions, damaging the credibility of financial institutions and by infiltrating the formal economy, leading to increased crime and human security challenges. Details: Geneva: Geneva Centre for Security Policy, 2011. 6p. Source: GCSP Policy Paper No. 20: Internet Resource: Accessed February 21, 2012 at http://gcsp.ch/content/download/6607/61163/download Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://gcsp.ch/content/download/6607/61163/download Shelf Number: 124228 Keywords: InternetOrganized CrimeTerrorismTransnational CrimeViolenceWeapons |
Author: Kleinig, John Title: Security and Privacy: Global Standards for Ethical Identity Management in Contemporary Liberal Democratic States Summary: This study is principally concerned with the ethical dimensions of identity management technology – electronic surveillance, the mining of personal data, and profiling – in the context of transnational crime and global terrorism. The ethical challenge at the heart of this study is to establish an acceptable and sustainable equilibrium between two central moral values in contemporary liberal democracies, namely, security and privacy. Both values are essential to individual liberty but they come into conflict in times when civil order is threatened, as has been the case from late in the twentieth century, with the advent of global terrorism and transnational crime. We seek to articulate legally sustainable, politically possible and technologically feasible global ethical standards1 for identity management technology and policies in liberal democracies in the contemporary global security context. Although the standards in question are to be understood as global ethical standards potentially to be adopted not only by the United States (US) but also by the European Union (EU), India, Australasia and other contemporary liberal democratic states, we take as our primary focus the tensions that have arisen between the US and the EU. This tension provides a good example of the kinds of challenges involved in developing global standards. It is exemplified by the 2006 disclosure concerning the US government’s access to SWIFT transactions and the controversy that has followed it, as well as the earlier and ongoing controversy over the 2004 US–EU Passenger Names Records (PNR) agreement. It also makes itself known in the ongoing debate over national identity cards. The first two conflicts make it clear that, however difficult it may be to develop global standards for the management of personal data, such standards are needed and that every effort should be made to develop them or at least to implement procedures for addressing conflicts among them. Naturally, authoritarian states do not share the liberal values underlying this project – values such as individual autonomy and privacy. Nevertheless, to the extent that such authoritarian states are evolving or are likely to evolve toward some form of liberal democracy, the results of this study will also be relevant to these states. Our purpose is to articulate standards and institutional initiatives that are sufficiently specific to determine – or at least substantially constrain – the requisite detailed security and privacy policies and prescriptions in national as well as international and transnational jurisdictions. The project distinguishes itself from other work in this field in two major respects. Firstly, the multi-disciplinary team of experts brought together for this project has enabled the integration of: (a) ethical principles, (b) national and international legal considerations, (c) effective law enforcement practices, (d) oversight and accountability concerns and (e) knowledge of existing and emerging technology, such as database mining and knowledge discovery technology, in the development of a framework of determinate and feasible ethical standards for identity management technology in the global security context. Secondly, the study has drawn on an international team of experts and focuses on common international standards and solutions, as befits the trans-jurisdictional and transnational nature of the problems to be addressed. Specifically, the project involves not only US personnel and institutions but also EU, Indian, and Australasian expertise. Details: Canberra: ANU E Press, The Australian National University, 2011. 291p. Source: Internet Resource: Practical Ethics and Public Policy Monograph 2: Accessed February 27, 2012 at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Security+and+Privacy%3A+Global+Standards+for+Ethical+Identity+Management+in+Contemporary+Liberal+Democratic+States/8021/Text/cover.html Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://epress.anu.edu.au/apps/bookworm/view/Security+and+Privacy%3A+Global+Standards+for+Ethical+Identity+Management+in+Contemporary+Liberal+Democratic+States/8021/Text/cover.html Shelf Number: 124293 Keywords: Privacy and EthicsSurveillanceTerrorismTransnational Crime |
Author: Ungerer, Carl Title: Beyond bin Laden: Future trends in terrorism Summary: This Strategy report examines the shifting patterns of global terrorism. It provides a comprehensive assessment of the geographic, operational and ideological trends that are driving the current wave of jihadist terrorism around the world. In the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, those trends point to the increasing diversification of the threat, as a new generation of terrorist leaders in South Asia, North Africa and the Arabian peninsula adapt and reinterpret al-Qaeda’s ideology. The report argues that with or without al-Qaeda as a coherent organisation at the forefront of the global Islamist movement, religiously-motivated terrorism is set to continue for many decades to come. Despite the obvious splintering and factionalisation within al-Qaeda and between al-Qaeda and its various franchises and affiliates around the world, there is little evidence that ‘al-Qaedaism’ as a motivating ideology is going to dissolve any time soon. Although many contemporary jihadist groups, especially in Southeast Asia, reject al-Qaeda’s methods, and most appear disconnected from the current Egyptian- and Saudi-dominated al-Qaeda leadership, the local and global manifestations of Islamist terrorism are in fact converging. For Australia, these trends will require a more agile and effective counter-terrorism response. In particular, counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation strategies will need to focus more closely on those areas at home that are most at risk from the spread of ‘al-Qaedaism’—individuals, institutions and the internet. Details: Barton, Australia: Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), 2011. 52p. Source: ASPI Strategy: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2012 at Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 124424 Keywords: al QaedaCounterterrorism (Australia)Crime TrendsJihadismTerrorismTransnational Crime |
Author: Hangzo, Pau Khan Khup Title: Trafficking in Persons: Singapore's Evolving Responses Summary: For a long time, sending countries have been the focus of efforts to combat trafficking in persons (TIP). However, in recent years, destination countries such as Singapore have also stepped up their efforts. This is timely because improved recognition and management of the threat and challenges of TIP will do much to prevent the abuse and commercial exploitation of adults and children. This NTS Alert discusses the TIP phenomenon, focusing on Singapore and the significant new developments in Singapore’s policies on the issue. In particular, it highlights the establishment of Singapore’s Inter-Agency Taskforce on TIP and the development of its National Plan of Action. Details: Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia, 2012. Source: NTS Alert April 2012: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2012 at http://www.rsis.edu.sg/nts/html-newsletter/alert/nts-alert-Apr-1201.html Year: 2012 Country: Singapore URL: http://www.rsis.edu.sg/nts/html-newsletter/alert/nts-alert-Apr-1201.html Shelf Number: 125045 Keywords: Human Trafficking (Singapore)Transnational Crime |
Author: Mulliken, Teresa A. Title: South Africa's Trade in African Grey Parrots Summary: South Africa has long been perceived as a major player in the international wild bird trade and, there have been allegations that the country serves as a base for smuggling operations involving native and protected species. Concerned with ongoing rumours of illegal trade, and recognising that little actual research on South Africa's bird trade had been conducted, TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa initiated a comprehensive study in mid-1993. Research was completed in early 1994, with the results of TRAFFIC's bird trade study to be made available in 1995. During its examination of the larger trade, TRAFFIC paid particular attention to those bird species imported to South Africa in the greatest numbers. African Grey Parrots, popular as cage-birds in Europe, North America and Asia as well as South Africa, topped the list. This report documents the scale of South Africa's trade in African Grey Parrots, analyses existing trade controls, captive breeding and domestic market dynamics, and provides recommendations on means to more effectively control the trade in the future. Recognising the government institutions and policy are currently undergoing profound transitions in South Africa, some of the information contained in this report may have changed since the research was conducted. In particular, it needs to be noted at the outset that South Africa comprised four provinces and 10 so-called homelands, four of which regarded by the South African Government as independent, when this study commenced. Since then, the Republic of South Africa has reshaped and now comprises nine regions, each with its own conservation authority. Consequently, readers need to bear in mind that any reference to the Cape, Natal, Orange Free States and/or Transvaal provinces in this report refers to the geographical and political entities that existed in 1993. Regardless of the recent changes, it is hoped that the findings of this study will serve as a useful tool to inform and guide the government, conservationists, bird breeders and others who have an interest in ensuring that South Africa is a positive force for the conservation of African Grey Parrots and other wildlife species in trade. Details: Johannesburg, South Africa: TRAFFIC East/Southern Africa, 1995. 44p. Source: A Traffic East/Southern Africa Report: Internet Resource: Accessed April 28, 2012 at http://www.traffic.org/species-reports/traffic_species_birds9.pdf Year: 1995 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.traffic.org/species-reports/traffic_species_birds9.pdf Shelf Number: 125081 Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade, Birds (South Africa)SmugglingTransnational CrimeWildlife Crime (South Africa) |
Author: Emerton, Robyn Title: Trafficking of Women into Hong Kong for the Purpose of Prostitution: Preliminary Research Findings Summary: The issue of trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution has been a matter of international concern since the turn of the 19th century, when several international conventions on “white slavery” were adopted. Recently there have been renewed efforts to address the issue of trafficking in women at the international and regional level, largely prompted by the work of non-governmental organisations, which have brought to light the huge numbers of women involved and the extent of the human rights abuses they suffer. The trafficking of women for the purposes of prostitution into certain parts of Asia, in particular into Thailand, India and Japan, is now relatively well-documented. However, there is very little information available on the trafficking of women into Hong Kong. This study is an attempt to correct that, although, given the “hidden” nature of the problem and the time and difficulties involved in obtaining primary information, it must be regarded very much as a preliminary study, but one which is intended to provide the foundation for further work in the future. The study first considers some of the definitional problems which continue to plague the discussion of trafficking in women, in particular within the context of international law developments (Part II). It then turns to Hong Kong‟s domestic law and Hong Kong‟s international and regional obligations (Part III). On the basis of information available, the various situations of non-local women who have been recruited to work in the Hong Kong sex industry are described. The report considers whether these women are, or might be, victims of trafficking, both under Hong Kong law, which is based on a traditional concept of trafficking, and under a more modern definition of trafficking (Part IV). This is followed by a review of the approach taken by the Hong Kong authorities to the issue of trafficking (Part V). Finally, the report makes some observations and recommendations in relation to the position in Hong Kong (Part VI). Details: Hong Kong: Centre for Comparative and Public Law, University of Hong Kong, 2001. 69p. Source: Occasional Paper No. 3: Internet Resource: Accessed May 6, 2012 at http://www.law.hku.hk/ccpl/pub/Documents/paper3.pdf Year: 2001 Country: Hong Kong URL: http://www.law.hku.hk/ccpl/pub/Documents/paper3.pdf Shelf Number: 125163 Keywords: Female VictimsHuman SmugglingHuman Trafficking (Hong Kong)Prostitution (Hong Kong)Sex Trafficking (Hong Kong)Transnational Crime |
Author: United Nations Development Programme Title: Caribbean Human Development Report 2012: Human Development and the Shift to Better Citizen Security Summary: The increase in violence and crime in Latin America and the Caribbean is an undeniable fact that erodes the very foundation of the democratic processes in the region and imposes high social, economic and cultural costs. Our region is home to 8.5 percent of the world’s population, yet it concentrates some 27 percent of the world’s homicides. Violence and crime are therefore perceived by a majority of Latin American and Caribbean citizens as a top pressing challenge. The resulting alarm has often led to short-sighted, mano dura (iron fist) policies, which have proven ineffective and, at times, detrimental to the rule of law. The situation varies much among and within countries. Broadly speaking, there are high- and low-crime countries in the region, and differences exist even within each of the sub-regions (i.e., South America, Central America, and the Caribbean). However perceived insecurity and citizens´ concern are independent of actual crime rates, so that mano dura policies are not exclusive of high-crime countries. In this context, we are confronted by a paradox: Why is it that, despite the democratization process experienced in the region in the last 20 years, citizen security levels, as well as the justice and security institutions in the region, are in crisis? Why is it that, despite the structural and institutional reforms promoted by countries in the region in order to construct governance mechanisms which are more transparent, horizontal and democratic, the justice and security institutions are overwhelmed and confidence in them is shattered? To begin to resolve this paradox and deal effectively with crime and violence, we need accurate assessments that provide evidence for action. To this end, the United Nations Development Programme, in association with governments, civil societies and international agencies, is leading numerous initiatives aimed at improving citizen security in Latin America and the Caribbean. This report is a one of these efforts. Drafted by a team of outstanding scholars building upon previous research and practical experience, this report also reflects findings from the analysis of extensive new survey data and sustained consultations involving over 450 experts, practitioners and stakeholders in seven Dutch- and English-speaking Caribbean countries. Of primary concern with citizen security is the issue of public confidence in state capacity to protect citizens and ensure justice. If citizens lack confidence in the police, the judiciary and other public authorities, no amount of repression will restore security. The success of any law enforcement system depends on the willingness of the people to participate and contribute. For the state to enjoy the trust and commitment of the people, it must strive to eradicate exclusion, improve transparency and create opportunities that encourage a sense of belonging for all. A key message of the report is that Caribbean countries need to focus on a model of security based on the human development approach, whereby citizen security is paramount, rather than on the traditional state security model, whereby the protection of the state is the chief aim. Indeed, the contrast between prevention on the one hand and repression and coercion on the other is ill conceived. Social inclusion to help prevent crime and violence and efficient and effective law enforcement are by no means incompatible or mutually exclusive. In a truly democratic society, broad based social inclusion and swift criminal justice–or “prevention” and “coercion”—serve to reinforce and complement each other. This is one of the most important lessons to be taken from this report – and not only for the Caribbean but for all of Latin America as well. An issue of common interest to Latin America and the Caribbean is security. Organized transnational crime, mainly that which involves drug trafficking, looms large in the security crisis currently affecting an increasing number of countries in both sub-regions. Although this report concentrates on implications for the domestic dimensions of the problem in the Caribbean, especially among youth, it is also important to note that the Caribbean is a critical transit route between drug producers and large-scale consumers. As a result of this geographical positioning, it is necessary for the Caribbean to strengthen cooperation with its Latin American neighbours and project a larger voice in the global dialogue on existing policies and possible alternatives. An improved worldwide policy addressing the problem of addictive drugs could contribute considerably to reducing levels of violence and social disruption in the Caribbean. This belief is substantiated by an encouraging finding presented in the report: despite exceptionally high homicide rates, the overall incidence of crime in the Caribbean as measured by the victimization survey data “compares favourably at the lower end with countries such as Japan,” referring to nations that participated in the 2004-2005 International Crime Victimization Survey This suggests that the spiral of violence generally associated with drug trafficking exists within the context of an otherwise durable social fabric that makes for lesser ordinary “street” crime. Details: New York: UNDP, 2012. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2012 at: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/HDR/Latin%20America%20and%20Caribbean%20HDR/C_bean_HDR_Jan25_2012_3MB.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/HDR/Latin%20America%20and%20Caribbean%20HDR/C_bean_HDR_Jan25_2012_3MB.pdf Shelf Number: 125173 Keywords: Crime (Latin American and Caribbean)Drug Trafficking - Economic DevelopmentHomicidesTransnational CrimeViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Eurojust Title: Strategic Project on: "Enhancing the work of Eurojust in drug trafficking cases" - Final Results Summary: This report collects the results of the “Strategic Project on enhancing the work of Eurojust in drug trafficking cases”. A primary goal of the project, covering the two-year period 1 September 2008 to 30 August 2010, was to identify the main challenges and related solutions in Eurojust coordination meetings involving drug trafficking. A second objective was to prepare the workshops for the “Strategic Seminar on Drug Trafficking”, which took place in Krakow, Poland, on 5 and 6 October 2011. A third objective was to provide a sound basis for an Action Plan with recommendations on how to enhance Eurojust‟s work with national authorities and third States (see Appendix III of the report). The report is based on a quantitative analysis of the Eurojust Case Management System (CMS) and a qualitative analysis of materials available from Eurojust coordination meetings (findings, case evaluation forms, presentations, etc). The conclusions of these analyses have been further validated with the feedback received during the “Strategic Seminar on Drug Trafficking”, which is included in the conclusions of the present report. The analysis is necessarily restricted to available information on drug trafficking cases dealt with at Eurojust, and seeks to stimulate reflection and discussion. Clearly, it does not purport to provide analysis of all drug trafficking in the European Union, or of cross-border judicial cooperation in criminal cases generally. Details: The Hague, Netherlands: Eurojust, 2012. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 13, 2012 at http://eurojust.europa.eu/doclibrary/corporate/Casework%20publications/Enhancing%20the%20work%20of%20Eurojust%20in%20drug%20trafficking%20cases%20(Jan%202012)/drug-trafficking-report-2012-02-13-EN.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Europe URL: http://eurojust.europa.eu/doclibrary/corporate/Casework%20publications/Enhancing%20the%20work%20of%20Eurojust%20in%20drug%20trafficking%20cases%20(Jan%202012)/drug-trafficking-report-2012-02-13-EN.pdf Shelf Number: 125244 Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Europe)International CooperationTransnational Crime |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Fixers, Super Fixers and Shadow Facilitators: How Networks Connect Summary: The multi-billon dollar illicit trade of commodities (from cocaine to blood diamonds, weapons and human beings) has many complexities, from creating or extracting the product to moving the product to international markets to delivering payments. The return cycle is equally complex, including the types of payments used to acquire the commodities, from cash to weapons and other goods the seller may need. This cycle relies on a specific group of individuals who act as facilitators in connecting different facets of the criminal and/or terrorist networks of state and non-state actors. This chapter addresses this crucial role of a cohort of actors -- “fixers,” “super fixers” and “shadow facilitators” -- in empowering social networks that operate within illicit commodity chains. Details: Alexandria, VA: International Assessment and Strategy Center, 2012. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 13, 2012 at http://www.strategycenter.net/docLib/20120423_Farah_FixersSuperFixersShadow.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.strategycenter.net/docLib/20120423_Farah_FixersSuperFixersShadow.pdf Shelf Number: 125252 Keywords: Criminal NetworksIllicit TradeTransnational Crime |
Author: Briscoe, Ivan Title: Crime and error: why we urgently need a new approach to illicit trafficking in fragile states Summary: Transnational organized crime has boomed in some of the poorest and most fragile countries in the world, prompting the international community into renewed efforts to devise a response. So far, however, the results have not been impressive. Murder rates remain stubbornly high along the cocaine highways of Central America, West African crime expands unabated, and in Central Asia, the trade route for heroin from Afghanistan remains under the control of armed groups and opaque political interests. This brief seeks to explain the fundamental errors and misconceptions which ensure that the fight against global crime, while scoring ever more arrests and interdictions, has failed to make headway against trafficking through fragile states. Although progress has been made in understanding how security and justice systems work, Western donors still need to confront the endemic weaknesses of institution-building, the extraordinary allure of the global criminal economy, and the ways that politicians and business systematically collude with traffickers. The brief concludes by listing a series of new policy areas that could underpin a new approach. Above all, these emphasize reducing the receptivity of fragile states to criminal enterprise, staunching violence, and ensuring the gradual build-up of trust, probity and clean business. Details: The Hague, The Netherlands: The Clingendael Conflict Research Unit, Netherlands Institute of International Relations, 2012. 6p. Source: CRU Policy Brief #23: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2012 at http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/CRU_CrimeandError.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/CRU_CrimeandError.pdf Shelf Number: 125329 Keywords: CorruptionOrganized CrimeTraffickingTransnational CrimeViolence |
Author: Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation Title: Fighting Terror Through Justice: Implementing the IGAD Framework for Legal Cooperation Against Terrorism Summary: East Africa and the Horn face a number of transnational security threats, including terrorism, transnational crime, and piracy. In recent years, particularly following the July 2010 attacks in Kampala, al-Shabaab has been increasingly viewed as a threat not only to Somalia, but to the greater subregion. Tourism has declined and shipping costs have risen due to the threat of piracy from Somalia. Lawless pockets where government reach is weak, together with rampant corruption, have turned the region into a major transit point for black market financial flows and various forms of illicit trafficking. Terrorism and transnational crime increasingly threaten security in the subregion of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Because of their transnational nature, no individual IGAD member state will single-handedly be able to deal effectively with these threats. As the IGAD Security Strategy adopted in December 2010 makes clear, effective cooperation will be crucial to winning the struggle against terrorism and to ensuring that other forms of transnational crime do not similarly jeopardize the IGAD subregion’s growth, prosperity, and stability. Details: New York: Center on Global Counterterrorism Coooperation, 2012. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 28, 2012 at: http://www.globalct.org/images/content/pdf/reports/TaskForce_Report_May2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Africa URL: http://www.globalct.org/images/content/pdf/reports/TaskForce_Report_May2012.pdf Shelf Number: 125426 Keywords: CorruptionPiracyTerrorismTraffickingTransnational Crime |
Author: Cheng, Nelson Yiu-mo Title: The Effectiveness of Money Laundering Investigations in Fighting Transnational Crime: A Comparison of the United States and Hong Kong Summary: This research seeks to: (a) Identify emerging trends in transnational crime and the resulting challenges to law enforcement; (b) Examine the effectiveness of money laundering investigation of the law enforcement agencies of the United States and Hong Kong in addressing these trends and challenges; (c) Compare the two regimes so as to identify strengths and weaknesses; and (d) Suggest a way forward in enhancing the effectiveness of money laundering investigation. Details: Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, 2012. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2012 at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/3/money%20laundering%20cheng/03_money_laundering_cheng.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Hong Kong URL: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/3/money%20laundering%20cheng/03_money_laundering_cheng.pdf Shelf Number: 125678 Keywords: Financial CrimesMoney Laundering (Hong Kong, United States)Transnational Crime |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Transnational Crime, Social Networks and Forests: Using natural resources to finance conflicts and post-conflict violence Summary: Three case studies are used to argue that transnational organized crime networks for trafficking commodities, specifically timber, emerge in diverse circumstances of state strength and state absence that lead to cycles of violence. Criminal non-state armed actors operate in sub-national territories beyond state control in Petén, Guatemala, and areas of Colombia, while in Liberia, a strong but criminalized state loots the marginalized, resource-rich rural areas, rather than providing a positive state presence. The paper examines the social networks required at different nodes of the commodity chain. In all three cases, the networks rely first on traditional elites to act as local fixers, supplying the criminal state or non-state armed actor with connections to the market and financial networks needed to extract and sell the commodity. These local fixers, in turn, rely on "super fixers" to supply transport as well as weapons, ammunition and war materiel needed to fuel the violence, as well as to connect them to international "shadow facilitators" who can move illicit weapons and commodities, launder money, and obtain the fraudulent international documents, bank accounts, and shell companies needed. Timber, like alluvial diamonds, is as a ‘lootable” commodity-- extractible with low capital and skill requirements and diffusely located but often abundant in remote, porous border regions. Its transport is more bulky and detectable as well as being less valuable than diamonds and cocaine, so illegally sourced timber does not produce the discipline problems and is more easily “laundered” as legal than these other commodities. The environmental devastation created by timber harvest is especially damaging to subsistence forest-dependent communities. Palm oil, the fourth commodity examined, also has severe negative consequences for local communities and environment, but differs in that it requires the displacement of local communities in order to log and establish plantations, and requires time and capital inputs so cannot be quickly looted. Finally, palm oil is a “point source” commodity requiring centralized processing, transport, and management. These characteristics make the value of the forest land the primary source of conflict. Details: Program on Forests (PROFOR), 2012. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2012 at http://www.profor.info/sites/profor.info/files/Transnationalcrime_Farah.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.profor.info/sites/profor.info/files/Transnationalcrime_Farah.pdf Shelf Number: 126082 Keywords: ForestsNatural ResourcesOrganized CrimePost-Conflict ViolenceTransnational Crime |
Author: Farah, Douglas Title: Transnational Organized Crime, Terrorism, and Criminalized States in Latin America: An Emerging Tier-One National Security Priority Summary: The emergence of new hybrid (state and nonstate) transnational criminal/terrorist franchises in Latin America operating under broad state protection now pose a tier-one security threat for the United States. Similar hybrid franchise models are developing in other parts of the world, which makes the understanding of these new dynamics an important factor in a broader national security context. This threat goes well beyond the traditional nonstate theory of constraints activity, such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, into the potential for trafficking related to weapons of mass destruction by designated terrorist organizations and their sponsors. These activities are carried out with the support of regional and extra-regional state actors whose leadership is deeply enmeshed in criminal activity, which yields billions of dollars in illicit revenues every year. These same leaders have a publicly articulated, common doctrine of asymmetrical warfare against the United States and its allies that explicitly endorses as legitimate the use of weapons of mass destruction. The central binding element in this alliance is a hatred for the West, particularly the United States, and deep anti-Semitism, based on a shared view that the 1979 Iranian Revolution was a transformative historical event. For Islamists, it is evidence of divine favor; and for Bolivarians, a model of a successful asymmetrical strategy to defeat the “Empire.” The primary architect of this theology/ideology that merges radical Islam and radical, anti-Western populism and revolutionary zeal is the convicted terrorist Ilich Sánchez Ramirez, better known as “Carlos the Jackal,” whom Chávez has called a true visionary. Details: Carlisle Barracks, PA: U.S. Army War College, 2012. 95p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2012 at: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1117 Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/display.cfm?pubID=1117 Shelf Number: 126258 Keywords: Criminal NetworksHuman RraffickingMoney LaunderingNational SecurityOrganized Crime (Latin America)TerrorismTransnational CrimeWeapons of Mass Destruction |
Author: Southern Pulse Title: Acapulco Criminal Environment - June 2012 Summary: In recent years, the Acapulco Metropolitan Zone (AMZ) has experienced some of the highest levels of criminal violence in Mexico. The AMZ presents an interesting case where two small criminal organizations have battled for territorial control of the city with the external support of much larger cartels operating at the national level. The AMZ also provides a snapshot of how the criminal environment evolves as organizations adapt, and ultimately present a public security challenge that neither the Mexican government nor many international businesses are prepared to confront. As a contribution to the ongoing conversation about the direction of public security in Mexico, Southern Pulse published in January 2012 its first ebook, Beyond 2012, which presented a chapter on public security in Mexico. This chapter concluded with a consideration of a future when “super-empowered” street gangs will eclipse groups such as Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Federation: As we theorized in 2005, the devolution of Los Zetas, of the Gulf Cartel, and the predictable dissolution of the Sinaloa Federation points to the formation of several criminal organizations, not a Mega Cartel. Whereas Mexico under the guise of six large, national-level criminal enterprises in 2006 could have been considered a sea of tranquility punctuated by islands of violence (less than 100 municipalities out of 2,000-plus with violence) the opposite may be proven true by early 2014, as the number of well-armed criminal groups jumps from the six significant groups we counted in 2006 - Sinaloa Federation, La Familia, Gulf Cartel, Beltra-Leyva Organization, Arellano-Felix Organization, Carrillo-Fuentes Organization - to over 10 in 2012 with a steady growth of new groups to bring the total number to possibly over 20 by the end of 2014. By the end of 2014, the men organized by El Chapo and his principal rival Heriberto Lazcano will no longer be the principal drivers of violence across Mexico. At the hyper-local level, super-powered street gangs, armed with Twitter, You Tube, the weapon of fear, and an enviable armory will man-handle local politicians and municipal police. We believe that while the above process continues forward beyond June 2012, there are certain cities in Mexico today that present an advanced case of how the criminal system in Mexico will evolve as street gangs become more powerful. Acapulco lists among the top four, which include Monterrey (See Monterrey Street Gangs Report), Guadalajara, and Juarez. A fifth city, Tijuana, will serve as a “control case,” where we see the historical dominance of one group to be a harbinger of less violence and little to no development of street gangs. Within this brief report, we would like to present our assessment of the criminal environment in Acapulco from both a strategic and tactical viewpoint to support an understanding of how the evolving criminal system in Acapulco could impact the daily lives of those who live there, as well as the business, particularly in the tourism industry, operating in the area. Just as we stated in our March 2012 city report on the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA), we would like to add that in the best interest of time and space, this report on criminal activity in the AMZ makes some general assumptions: The top-tier transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are the primary drivers behind violence in Mexico in 2012; The Mexican government will not significantly alter its current strategy in 2012 or beyond, into the next administration; TCOs in Mexico are in constant communication with leadership elements of street gangs; TCOs do not solely rely on drug trafficking as a source of illicit revenue; and, The line between TCOs and street gangs is so blurred that many in Mexico still consider the two to be one single unit of criminality. Details: Annapolis, MD: Southern Pulse, 2012. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 14, 2012 at http://www.southernpulse.com/e-books/acapulco-criminal-environment Year: 2012 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.southernpulse.com/e-books/acapulco-criminal-environment Shelf Number: 126694 Keywords: Evaluative StudiesGangs (Mexico)Organized Crime (Mexico)Transnational Crime |
Author: Southern Pulse Title: Monterrey Street Gangs - March 2012 Summary: The greater Monterrey metropolitan area (MMA) presents a compelling story of how transnational organized crime can from one moment to the next bring a city to a halt, snap from the picture of serenity to a “narco terror” attack, or evolve from an island of security to a significant cause for concern. As Mexico’s industrial powerhouse in the north, Monterrey is a case of resiliency within a strong business community to protect its city. It is also a case of how street gangs evolve, adapt, and ultimately present a public security challenge that neither the Mexican government nor many international businesses are prepared to confront. To contribute to the conversation about the direction of public security in Mexico, Southern Pulse published in January 2012 its first ebook, Beyond 2012, which presented a chapter on public security in Mexico. This chapter concluded with a consideration of a future when “super-empowered” street gangs will eclipse groups such as Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Federation: As we theorized in 2005, the devolution of Los Zetas, of the Gulf Cartel, and the predictable dissolution of the Sinaloa Federation points to the formation of several criminal organizations, not a Mega Cartel. Whereas Mexico under the guise of six large, national-level criminal enterprises in 2006 could have been considered a sea of tranquility punctuated by islands of violence (less than 100 municipalities out of 2,000-plus with violence) the opposite may be proven true by early 2014, as the number of well-armed criminal groups jumps from the six significant groups we counted in 2006 - Sinaloa Federation, La Familia, Gulf Cartel, Beltra-Leyva Organization, Arellano-Felix Organization, Carrillo-Fuentes Organization - to over 10 in 2012 with a steady growth of new groups to bring the total number to possibly over 20 by the end of 2014. By the end of 2014, the men organized by El Chapo and his principal rival Heriberto Lazcano will no longer be the principal drivers of violence across Mexico. At the hyper-local level, super-powered street gangs, armed with Twitter, You Tube, the weapon of fear, and an enviable armory will man-handle local politicians and municipal police. We believe that while the above process continues forward beyond March 2012, there are certain cities in Mexico today that present an advanced case of how the criminal system in Mexico will evolve as street gangs become more powerful. Monterrey lists among the top five. Within this brief report, Monterrey Street Gangs, we would like to present our assessment of street gang activity in Monterrey from both a strategic and tactical viewpoint to support an understanding of how the evolving criminal system in Monterrey could impact the daily lives of those who live there, as well as the business operations of the dozens of companies that rely on the MMA as a crucial element of a global enterprise. We would like to add that in the best interest of time and space, this primer on street gangs in the MMA makes some general assumptions: The top-tier transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are the primary drivers behind violence in Mexico in 2012; The Mexican government will not significantly alter its current strategy in 2012 or beyond, into the next administration; TCOs in Mexico are in constant communication with leadership elements of street gangs; TCOs do not solely rely on drug trafficking as a source of illicit revenue; and, The line between TCOs and street gangs is so blurred that many in Mexico still consider the two to be one single unit of criminality. Though outside the scope of this report, the above issues hold value and are certainly open to conversation and argument. We would welcome any opportunity to discuss with you the above topics, and how they play into the overall criminal system in Mexico. Details: Annapolis, MD: Southern Pulse, 2012. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 14, 2012 at http://www.southernpulse.com/reports/monterrey-street-gangs-march-2012?A=SearchResult&SearchID=5324185&ObjectID=4182275&ObjectType=35 Year: 2012 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.southernpulse.com/reports/monterrey-street-gangs-march-2012?A=SearchResult&SearchID=5324185&ObjectID=4182275&ObjectType=35 Shelf Number: 126695 Keywords: Drug Trafficking (Mexico)Organized Crime (Mexico)Street Gangs (Mexico)Transnational Crime |
Author: Rollins, John Title: Terrorism and Transnational Crime: Foreign Policy Issues for Congress Summary: This report provides an overview of transnational security issues related to patterns of interaction among international terrorist and crime groups. In addition, the report discusses the U.S. government’s perception of and response to the threat. It concludes with an analysis of foreign policy options. In recent years, the U.S. government has asserted that terrorism, insurgency, and crime interact in varied and significant ways, to the detriment of U.S. national security interests. Although unclassified anecdotal evidence largely serves as the basis for the current understanding of criminal-terrorist connections, observers often focus on several common patterns. • Partnership Motivations and Disincentives: Collaboration can serve as a force multiplier for both criminal and terrorist groups, as well as a strategic weakness. Conditions that may affect the likelihood of confluence include demand for special skills unavailable within an organization, greed, opportunity for and proclivity toward joint ventures, and changes in ideological motivations. • Appropriation of Tactics: Although ideologies and motivations of an organization may remain consistent, criminals and terrorists have shared similar tactics to reach their separate operational objectives. Such tactics include acts of violence; involvement in criminal activity for profit; money laundering; undetected cross-border movements; illegal weapons acquisition; and exploitation of corrupt government officials. • Organizational Evolution and Variation: A criminal group may transform over time to adopt political goals and ideological motivations. Conversely, terrorist groups may shift toward criminality. For some terrorist groups, criminal activity remains secondary to ideological ambitions. For others, profit-making may surpass political aspirations as the dominant operating rationale. Frequently cited terrorist organizations involved in criminal activity include Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Al Qaeda’s affiliates, D-Company, Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Haqqani Network, and Hezbollah. To combat these apparent criminal-terrorist connections, Congress has maintained a role in formulating U.S. policy responses. Moreover, recent Administrations have issued several strategic documents to guide U.S. national security, counterterrorism, anti-crime, and intelligence activities. In July 2011, for example, the Obama Administration issued the Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime, which emphasized, among other issues, the confluence of crime and terrorism as a major factor in threatening the U.S. global security interests. While the U.S. government has maintained substantial long-standing efforts to combat terrorism and transnational crime separately, Congress has been challenged to evaluate whether the existing array of authorities, programs, and resources sufficiently respond to the combined crime-terrorism threat. Common foreign policy options have centered on diplomacy, foreign assistance, financial actions, intelligence, military action, and investigations. At issue for Congress is how to conceptualize this complex crime-terrorism phenomenon and oversee the implementation of cross-cutting activities that span geographic regions, functional disciplines, and a multitude of policy tools that are largely dependent on effective interagency coordination and international cooperation. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2012. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: R41004: Accessed October 25, 2012 at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41004.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41004.pdf Shelf Number: 126799 Keywords: Counter-TerrorismForeign PolicyOrganized CrimeTerrorism (U.S.)Transnational Crime |
Author: Ayling, Julie Title: What Sustains Wildlife Crime? Rhino Horn Trading and the Resilience of Criminal Networks Summary: The problem of illegal trading in wildlife is a long-standing one. Humans have always regarded other sentient and non-sentient species as resources and tradeable commodities, frequently resulting in negative effects for biodiversity. However, the illegal trade in wildlife is increasingly meeting with resistance from states and the international community in the form of law enforcement and regulatory initiatives. So why does it persist? What makes the criminal networks involved in it resilient? In this paper I consider the networks involved in the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn that is currently posing an existential threat to most rhino species. The paper considers possible sources of these networks' resilience, both internal and external, and the implications for how the trade could be tackled. Details: Canberra, Australia: Australian National University, 2012. 22P. Source: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Working Paper 2/2012: Internet Resource: Accessed November 3, 2012 at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2152776 Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2152776 Shelf Number: 126857 Keywords: Animal PoachingCorruptionCriminal NetworksIllegal TradeIvoryOrganized CrimeRhinosTransnational CrimeWildlife CrimeWildlife Trade |
Author: Rollins, John Title: Terrorism and Transnational Crime: Foreign Policy Issues for Congress Summary: This report provides an overview of transnational security issues related to patterns of interaction among international terrorist and crime groups. In addition, the report discusses the U.S. government’s perception of and response to the threat. It concludes with an analysis of foreign policy options. In recent years, the U.S. government has asserted that terrorism, insurgency, and crime interact in varied and significant ways, to the detriment of U.S. national security interests. Although unclassified anecdotal evidence largely serves as the basis for the current understanding of criminal-terrorist connections, observers often focus on several common patterns. • Partnership Motivations and Disincentives: Collaboration can serve as a force multiplier for both criminal and terrorist groups, as well as a strategic weakness. Conditions that may affect the likelihood of confluence include demand for special skills unavailable within an organization, greed, opportunity for and proclivity toward joint ventures, and changes in ideological motivations. • Appropriation of Tactics: Although ideologies and motivations of an organization may remain consistent, criminals and terrorists have shared similar tactics to reach their separate operational objectives. Such tactics include acts of violence; involvement in criminal activity for profit; money laundering; undetected cross-border movements; illegal weapons acquisition; and exploitation of corrupt government officials. • Organizational Evolution and Variation: A criminal group may transform over time to adopt political goals and ideological motivations. Conversely, terrorist groups may shift toward criminality. For some terrorist groups, criminal activity remains secondary to ideological ambitions. For others, profit-making may surpass political aspirations as the dominant operating rationale. Frequently cited terrorist organizations involved in criminal activity include Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Al Qaeda’s affiliates, D-Company, Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Haqqani Network, and Hezbollah. To combat these apparent criminal-terrorist connections, Congress has maintained a role in formulating U.S. policy responses. Moreover, recent Administrations have issued several strategic documents to guide U.S. national security, counterterrorism, anti-crime, and intelligence activities. In July 2011, for example, the Obama Administration issued the Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime, which emphasized, among other issues, the confluence of crime and terrorism as a major factor in threatening the U.S. global security interests. While the U.S. government has maintained substantial long-standing efforts to combat terrorism and transnational crime separately, Congress has been challenged to evaluate whether the existing array of authorities, programs, and resources sufficiently respond to the combined crimeterrorism threat. Common foreign policy options have centered on diplomacy, foreign assistance, financial actions, intelligence, military action, and investigations. At issue for Congress is how to conceptualize this complex crime-terrorism phenomenon and oversee the implementation of cross-cutting activities that span geographic regions, functional disciplines, and a multitude of policy tools that are largely dependent on effective interagency coordination and international cooperation. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2012. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: R41004: Accessed November 9, 2012 at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41004.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/R41004.pdf Shelf Number: 126913 Keywords: Organized CrimeRadical GroupsTerrorismTerroristsTransnational Crime |
Author: Kego, Walter Title: The Untouchables: Russian 'Dirty Money' in Europe Summary: In Europe, Russian organized crime rackets are quickly gathering a name for themselves as “untouchables.” As their wealth increases and EU banking regulation falters, it is a name that is ever more apt. Money laundering in the European Union by Russian organized crime remains a problem for member states. Governments and banks continue to allow the accounts and transactions of criminals to go unregulated. However, increased regulation hurts the profits of EU banks, which can potentially profit from the illegal transactions. Hence, governments are often reluctant to increase regulation in times of crisis. Despite member states’ reluctance to enforce regulations it is imperative they do so as these illicit channels bring with them an influx of crime and corruption into the EU. Details: Nacka, Sweden: Institute for Security & Development Policy, 2012. 2p. Source: ISDP Policy Brief No. 101: Internet Resource: Accessed November 12, 2012 at http://www.isdp.eu/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2012_kego-georgieff_untouchables.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.isdp.eu/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2012_kego-georgieff_untouchables.pdf Shelf Number: 126925 Keywords: Money Laundering (Europe)Organized Crime (Russia)Transnational Crime |
Author: Lloyd, Paulette Title: The Global Diffusion of Law: Transnational Crime and the Case of Human Trafficking Summary: This article theorizes and analyzes the diffusion of criminal law globally. The past few decades have seen the proliferation of new laws criminalizing certain transnational practices, from money laundering to corruption; from insider trading to trafficking in weapons and drugs. Human trafficking is one example. How do we understand the fairly rapid move in the past two decades for many countries to criminalize the exploitative transshipment of people across borders. We argue that (1) issue framing is crucial; (2) once human trafficking is framed as linked to transnational crime, governments are more likely to adopt a prosecutorial approach to address it; and (3) the transnational crime frame explains the diffusion pattern of criminal statutes internationally. We test our argument by documenting the effect of issue framing and physical vulnerability on the diffusion of criminal law in this area. These results suggest the importance of combining both ideational and material factors to understand the spread of criminal law world-wide. Details: Unpublished Paper; 2012. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 20, 2012 at: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/files/internationalstudies/docs/2012/simmons.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/files/internationalstudies/docs/2012/simmons.pdf Shelf Number: 126938 Keywords: Criminal LawHuman TraffickingTransnational Crime |
Author: California. Office of the Attorney General Title: The State of Human Trafficking in California 2012 Summary: On September 22, 2012, our nation celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. While slavery has been outlawed in this country since 1865, the promise of freedom still eludes thousands of men, women, and children who are forced into labor and prostitution in the United States today. Forced labor and sex trafficking are not just brutal relics of history or crimes that take place in faraway places. They comprise the world’s fastest growing criminal enterprise, and they are flourishing right here in California. Human trafficking is an estimated $32 billion-a-year global industry. After drug trafficking, human trafficking is the world’s second most profitable criminal enterprise, a status it shares with illegal arms trafficking. Like drug and arms trafficking, the United States is one of the top destination countries for trafficking in persons. California – a populous border state with a significant immigrant population and the world’s ninth largest economy – is one of the nation’s top four destination states for trafficking human beings. As part of the state’s first anti-trafficking law (AB 22, Lieber), the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery Task Force reviewed California’s response to human trafficking and offered findings and recommendations in a 2007 report to the Governor, Attorney General, and Legislature. California has made tremendous progress in combating human trafficking since the Task Force released the Human Trafficking in California report, but significant new challenges in combating this crime have emerged in the last five years. First, criminal organizations and street gangs have increasingly turned to trafficking in persons. The prevailing wisdom among these criminals is that human trafficking is more profitable and has a lower risk of being detected than drug trafficking. Second, new innovations in technology make it possible for traffickers to recruit victims and perpetrate their crimes online. It is critical that law enforcement have the tools and training to police online trafficking. Third, the Internet, social media, and mobile devices provide new avenues for outreach to victims and raising public awareness about this atrocious crime. In January 2012, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris created a Human Trafficking Work Group to examine the nature and scope of human trafficking in California in 2012; to evaluate California’s progress since 2007 in combating human trafficking; and to identify challenges and opportunities in protecting and assisting victims and bringing traffickers to justice. The Work Group included more than 100 representatives of state, local and federal law enforcement, state government agencies, victim service providers, nonprofit groups, technology companies, and educational institutions. This report reflects the Work Group discussions held during three day-long meetings in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, as well as supplemental research and investigation by the California Department of Justice. Details: Sacramento, CA: Office of the Attorney General, 2012. 134p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 16, 2012 at https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/pdfs/ht/human-trafficking-2012.pdf? Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/pdfs/ht/human-trafficking-2012.pdf? Shelf Number: 127213 Keywords: Border SecurityCrime TrendsHuman Trafficking (California)Labor Trafficking (California)Sex Trafficking (California)Transnational Crime |
Author: Ackerman, Gary Title: The “New” Face of Transnational Crime Organizations (TCOs): A Geopolitical Perspective and Implications to U.S. National Security Summary: The continually evolving strategic environment coupled with the ascendant role of Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) necessitates a comprehensive understanding of these organizations. TCOs represent a globally-networked national security threat and pose a real and present risk to the safety and security of Americans and our partners across the globe. This challenge blurs the line among US institutions and far surpasses the ability of any one agency or nation to confront it. Thus countering TCOs necessitates a whole-of-government approach and beyond that vibrant relationships with partner nations based on trust. These are essential if the U.S. is to remain the partner of choice, and effectively counter TCOs globally. Weak and unstable government institutions coupled with scarce legitimate economic opportunities, extreme socio-economic inequities, and permissive corrupt environments are key enablers that allow TCOs to operate with impunity. These same factors enable the emergence of VEOs. The potential nexus between VEOs and TCOs remains an area of deep concern. In this context, deeper insight into the contemporary face of TCO's will facilitate the development of strategies to counter and defeat them. In this struggle, DoD lacks law enforcement authorities but brings to the government some unique capabilities. This white volume examines the “new” face of these transnational crime organizations and provides a geopolitical perspective and implications to U.S. national security. The nexus of culture and technology (including modern communication technologies) and their impact on the evolution of TCOs is discussed in addition to their implications to countering TCOs. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and Department of Defense, 2013. 206p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2013 at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=733208 Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=733208 Shelf Number: 128311 Keywords: Criminal NetworksHomeland Security (U.S.)Organized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Llorente, Maria Victoria Title: One Goal, Two Struggles: Confronting Crime and Violence in Mexico and Colombia Summary: Since the mid-2000s, violence related to drug trafficking and other transnational crime has increased exponentially in Mexico. By the end of the decade the public began to seriously doubt the government's strategy and its ability to guarantee public safety. The nature and intensity of violence in Mexico brought forth memories of the 1980s and '90s in Colombia, when the country was besieged by the Medellin and Cali drug cartels. Over the course of more than a decade, Colombia's security situation has improved dramatically; it has become an "exporter" of security expertise and has trained thousands of military and police personnel in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean as well as around the world. What aspects of Colombia's strategy and tactics for fighting organized crime in its own territory offer useful lessons for Mexico? What might Colombia's steps and missteps offer by way of example or counter-example? What is unique about each case such that comparisons are misleading? What do current security challenges in Colombia suggest about the threat posed by organized crime more generally? In One Goal, Two Struggles: Confronting Crime and Violence in Mexico and Colombia, international experts address the utility of comparing Colombia and Mexico's experiences and strategy for combatting organized crime and violence more generally. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, 2014. 126p. Source: Internet Resource: Woodrow Wilson Center Reports on the Americas - #32: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Colombia_Mexico_Final.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Central America URL: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Colombia_Mexico_Final.pdf Shelf Number: 132052 Keywords: Drug CartelsDrug TraffickingGang ViolenceOrganized CrimeTransnational CrimeViolenceViolent Crime |
Author: Roe, Dilys Title: The elephant in the room: sustainable use in the illegal wildlife trade debate Summary: Illegal transnational wildlife trade is currently attracting considerable international attention. This is partly due to conservation concerns but also to suggestions of links with organised crime and militant groups. The attention afforded to this issue is much needed and the various international initiatives that have emerged rightly take a multi-faceted approach. But they tend to emphasise law enforcement and demand reduction, with considerably less focus on effective incentives for community-based and private sector management. In particular, the role of sustainable use as a tool for both conservation and local development has generally been overlooked. Wildlife is one of the strongest assets for many rural communities, and depleting it through illegal trade removes potential income. But tackling illegal trade in ways that further restrict sustainable use can limit communities' options even more. Addressing wildlife crime effectively means developing approaches that protect wildlife for poor people not from poor people. Details: London: International Institute for the Environment and Development, 2014. 4p. Source: IIED Briefing: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2014 at http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/17205IIED.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/17205IIED.pdf Shelf Number: 132410 Keywords: Illegal Wildlife TradeTransnational CrimeWildlife Crime |
Author: Harris, Kamala D. Title: Gangs Beyond Borders: California and the Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime Summary: Gangs Beyond Borders: California and the Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime, addresses all three emerging pillars of transnational criminal activity: the trafficking of drugs, weapons and human beings; money laundering; and high-tech crimes, such as digital piracy, hacking and fraud. It is the result of extensive research and consultation with federal, state, and local law enforcement, non-governmental organizations, and academia. The report finds that while transnational organized crime is a significant problem, it is not insurmountable. In California, law enforcement at all levels of government have made major strides against these criminal groups, even in the face of declining resources. Law enforcement in foreign countries have made steady in-roads, as well, as demonstrated by the recent arrest in February 2014 of Joaqun "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, the reputed head of Mexico's notorious Sinaloa Federation cartel. The report describes the strategies that are working and sets forth recommendations to combat transnational organized crime. A call for sustained law enforcement funding and collaboration between federal, state, and local governments are at the center of these recommendations. Details: Sacramento: California Attorney General, 2014. 118p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 20, 2014 at: https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/toc/report_2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/toc/report_2014.pdf Shelf Number: 132534 Keywords: Computer CrimesDigital CrimesDrug TraffickingGun TraffickingHuman TraffickingInternet CrimesMoney LaunderingOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Lawson, Katherine Title: Global Impacts of the Illegal Wildlife Trade: The Costs of Crime, Insecurity and Institutional Erosion Summary: Poaching of endangered species to feed the illicit global trade of wildlife - estimated to be worth between $8 and $10 billion per year excluding fisheries and timber - is rising at an alarming rate. Activity in the illegal ivory trade has more than doubled since 2007 and is over three times larger than it was during the last peak in 1998, with the street value of ivory capable of reaching up to $2,205 per kilogram in Beijing. Rhino horn can sell for $66,139 per kilogram - more than the price of gold or platinum - on the Chinese black market. This report analyses the global impacts of the illegal wildlife trade, investigating links between the illicit trade in wildlife products and the erosion of national institutions in affected countries, national and transnational security threats and the role of armed non-state actors in civil conflict. Elephants and rhinoceros are most prominent among the animals being killed to feed rising demand for their tusks and horns across the world. On the basis of the evidence provided by a detailed literature review, this report focuses on the illegal trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn originating in sub-Saharan Africa. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the illegal wildlife trade in 2012 as 'a global challenge that spans continents and crosses oceans'. This trade can no longer be viewed exclusively as an environmental concern. Although the trafficking of live animals and animal products remains a serious conservation issue, this crime threatens the stability and security of societies involved at every point along the chain. It was the rise in illegal wildlife trade that prompted Mrs Clinton to describe this phenomenon as 'a national security issue, a public health issue, and an economic security issue'. Across Africa, elephants and rhinos are being targeted by poachers and armed non-state actors - including rebel movements such as the Lord's Resistance Army - to satisfy increasing demand from growing middle classes across the world, particularly in Southeast Asia where ivory products and rhino horn are considered status symbols and used as ingredients in traditional medicine. Meanwhile, transnational organized crime groups and armed non-state actors are able to exploit institutional weakness, civil conflict and legislative loopholes in both source and consumer countries to feed this rising demand for rare commodities, acquiring vast profits. A discordance between national legislation and institutional capacities for implementation on the one hand, and multilateral environmental agreements such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) on the other, means that national legislation often remains inadequate to support these initiatives, protect endangered species and regulate cross-border trade. Attempts have been made to enhance support for the implementation of national wildlife regulations, such as the creation of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC). However, regulations stipulating which animal products can be legally traded vary greatly by country, resulting in a parallel legal and illegal trade. The legal trade in wildlife products is estimated at over $300 billion per year; a figure that can obscure the lesser but still significant value of the illegal trade. Just as important as the devastating effects on biodiversity is the evidence in this report that the illegal wildlife trade erodes state authority and fuels civil conflict, threatening national stability and provoking substantial economic losses internationally. But the true scale of the trade is unknown, as are its indirect costs in security and political implications. Restricting an analysis of the global implications of environmental crime to biodiversity considerations limits the focus to wildlife supply countries. The illegal wildlife trade involves poachers, armed non-state actors from source nations, international crime groups and institutional corruption across global network chains and a range of players involved in demand countries - from organized crime syndicates and non-state actors to legitimate authorities. To combat the threat, leaders in the international community - especially from supply and demand countries - need to collectively expand and deepen their levels of cooperation. Better and shared information will position governments to counter this transnational crime more effectively, as will enhancing the design and implementation of national and regional legislation and invoking stricter penalties against illegal traffickers and traders. Details: London: Chatham House, 2014. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 7, 2014 at: http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/public/Research/Africa/0214Wildlife.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/public/Research/Africa/0214Wildlife.pdf Shelf Number: 132624 Keywords: Animal PoachingIvoryOrganized CrimeTransnational CrimeWild Animal TradeWildlife CrimeWildlife Protection |
Author: United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime Title: Focus on The Illicit Trafficking of Counterfeit Goods and Transnational Organized Crime Summary: As a global, multibillion dollar crime, organized criminal groups have not hesitated to cash in on the trade in counterfeit goods. In many parts of the world, international, regional and national law enforcement authorities have uncovered intricate links between this crime and other serious offences including illicit drugs, money laundering and corruption. Some estimates put the counterfeit business at well in excess of $250 billion a year and hundreds of billions more, if pirated digital products and domestic counterfeit sales are included. The involvement of organized criminal groups in the production and distribution of counterfeit goods has been documented by both national and international authorities. Groups such as the Mafia and Camorra in Europe and the Americas, and the Triads and Yakuza in Asia have diversified into the illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods, while at the same time being involved in crimes varying from drug and human trafficking, to extortion and money laundering. UNODC's own research reports have recognized the strategic and operational criminal link between counterfeiting and activities such as drug trafficking. There is an additional societal impact caused by counterfeiting. The trade in counterfeit products can result in increased corruption and law enforcement costs, have a serious impact on public health and safety, lead to social and environmental concerns, and result in the infringement of other criminal and administrative laws such as tax and customs evasion as well as fraud. The illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods: A criminal act With the combination of high profits and low penalties resulting from a greater social tolerance compared to other crimes, the illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods is an attractive money-making avenue for organized criminal groups. In some instances, the illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods is more profitable than other illegal activities, such as the trafficking and sale of narcotic drugs, people and weapons. Yet while the illicit trafficking of counterfeit goods is often perceived as a 'lesser crime', the consequences can be quite serious, with the costs going far beyond just the illegal copying of products. Details: Vienna: UNODC, 2014. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2014 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/counterfeit/FocusSheet/Counterfeit_focussheet_EN_HIRES.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/counterfeit/FocusSheet/Counterfeit_focussheet_EN_HIRES.pdf Shelf Number: 132649 Keywords: Counterfeit ProductsCounterfeitingOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Rabasa, Angel Title: Counternetwork: Countering the Expansion of Transnational Criminal Networks Summary: In July 2011, President Barack Obama promulgated the Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime. In the letter presenting the strategy, the president stated that the expanding size, scope, and influence of transnational organized crime and its impact on U.S. and international security and governance represent one of the most significant challenges of the 21st century. Through an analysis of transnational criminal networks originating in South America, this report develops a more refined understanding of the operational characteristics of these networks; the strategic alliances that they have established with state and other nonstate actors; and the multiple threats that they pose to U.S. interests and to the stability of the countries where they operate. It identifies U.S. government policies and programs to counter these networks; the roles of the Department of Defense, the geographic combatant commands, component commands, and task forces; and examines how U.S. Army assets and capabilities can contribute to U.S. government efforts to counter these networks. The report also recommends reconsidering the way in which nontraditional national security threats are classified; updating statutory authorities; providing adequate budgets for the counternetwork mission; and improving interagency coordination. Key Findings Countering Transnational Organized Crime Is a New Mission for the Department of Defense Success in counternarcotics has been traditionally measured by the amount of illicit drugs interdicted. However, even if drug flow reduction goals are met, the drug trafficking infrastructure would still be in place. Countering transnational criminal networks requires identifying the critical nodes in the criminal organizations and determining where operations can achieve the greatest effect. Gaps in authorities may create difficulties in military abilities to participate in this effort. Destabilizing Effects of Transnational Criminal Networks These criminal organizations take root in supply areas and transportation nodes while usurping the host nations' basic functioning capacity. Over time, the illicit economy grows and nonstate actors provide an increasing range of social goods and fill the security and political vacuum that emerges from the gradual erosion of state power, legitimacy, and capacity. The U.S. Army Could Play a Role in Combating Transnational Criminal Networks Combating transnational criminal organizations is an endeavor in which the Army could help develop interagency and multinational strategies to more effectively counter these organizations and then assist with planning to implement those strategies. Such initiatives would constitute a valuable expansion from the Army's current efforts to build partner capacity, perform network analysis, and support detection and monitoring. Recommendations The U.S. government could bring authorities and policy guidance in line with the strategy to combat transnational organized crime. Interagency efforts to combat these networks could be improved, roles could be better defined, and joint doctrine could be developed. The Army could take several steps to clarify its role in countering criminal networks, including participating in strategy development, increasing support to network analysis efforts, and working with partner nations and militaries to help them strengthen border control. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND< 2017. 215p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2017 at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1481.html Year: 2017 Country: International URL: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1481.html Shelf Number: 145102 Keywords: Border SecurityCounter-TerrorismCriminal NetworksIllegal Drug TradeOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: May, Channing Title: Transnational Crime and the Developing World Summary: his March 2017 report from Global Financial Integrity, "Transnational Crime and the Developing World," finds that globally the business of transnational crime is valued at an average of $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion annually. The study evaluates the overall size of criminal markets in 11 categories: the trafficking of drugs, arms, humans, human organs, and cultural property; counterfeiting, illegal wildlife crime, illegal fishing, illegal logging, illegal mining, and crude oil theft. The combination of high profits and low risks for perpetrators of transnational crime and the support of a global shadow financial system perpetuate and drive these abuses. The report also emphasizes how transnational crime undermines economies, societies, and governments in developing countries. National and global policy efforts that focus on curtailing the money are needed to more successfully combat these crimes and the illicit networks perpetrating them. Primary Findings Transnational crime is a business, and business is very good. Money is the primary motivation for these illegal activities. Of the 11 illicit activities studied, counterfeiting ($923 billion to $1.13 trillion) and drug trafficking ($426 billion to $652 billion) have the highest and second-highest values, respectively; illegal logging is the most valuable natural resource crime ($52 billion to $157 billion). The ranges demonstrate the serious magnitude of and threat posed by global transnational crime. The revenues generated from the 11 crimes covered in this report not only line the pockets of the perpetrators but also finance violence, corruption, and other abuses. Very rarely do the revenues from transnational crime have any long-term benefit to citizens, communities, or economies of developing countries. Instead, the crimes undermine local and national economies, destroy the environment, and jeopardize the health and well-being of the public. The report rankings for the illicit markets examined are: Counterfeiting $923 billion to $1.13 trillion Drug Trafficking --$426 billion to $652 billion Illegal Logging $52 billion to $157 billion Human Trafficking -- $150.2 billion Illegal Mining -- $12 billion to $48 billion IUU Fishing -- $15.5 billion to $36.4 billion Illegal Wildlife Trade -- $5 billion to $23 billion Crude Oil Theft -- $5.2 billion to $11.9 billion Small Arms & Light Weapons Trafficking -- $1.7 billion to $3.5 billion Organ Trafficking -- $840 million to $1.7 Total --$1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion Policy Recommendations Transnational crime will continue to grow until the paradigm of high profits and low risks is challenged. In addition to current efforts to fight these crimes, this report calls on governments, experts, the private sector, and civil society groups to seek to address the global shadow financial system by promoting greater financial transparency. This will help cutoff the money flows and the profits, and it will increase the ability to bring these criminals to justice and defeat their illicit transnational networks. GFI recommends several steps governments and other regulatory bodies can take to increase the levels of detection and interdiction of the proceeds of transnational crime: Require that corporations registering and doing business within a country declare the name(s) of the entity's true, ultimate beneficial owner(s) Flag financial and trade transactions involving individuals and corporations in "secrecy jurisdictions" as high-risk and require extra documentation Scrutinize import and export invoices for signs of misinvoicing, which may indicate technical and/or physical smuggling Use world market price databases such as GFTradeTM to estimate the risk of misinvoicing for the declared values and investigate suspicious transactions Share more information between agencies and departments on the illicit markets and actors that exist within a country"s border Details: Washington, DC: Global Financial Integrity, 2017. 166p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 7, 2017 at: http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Transnational_Crime-final.pdf Year: 2017 Country: International URL: http://www.gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Transnational_Crime-final.pdf Shelf Number: 144741 Keywords: Criminal NetworksDeveloping NationsFinancial CrimesIllegal MarketsIllicit MarketsOrganized CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: King, Raymond Title: The Effects of Organizational Agility on Transnational Crime in Jamaica Summary: Factors influencing incidents of transnational crime in Jamaica and the international community have been established in the literature. However, strategies to counter transnational security threats have been predicated on a foundation of re-activity, necessitating the need for proactive crime fighting efforts. This study investigated the effects of organizational agility, a proactive crime abatement strategy, on transnational crimes in Jamaica using quantitative analysis. An input-output framework based on economic theory, along with a multiple regression model provided the analytic foundation for this study. Thirty-two years of crime data between 1982 and 2013, one independent variable-organizational agility, and five control variables comprised the analytic model. Chief among the findings are that organizational agility as a proactive crime abatement strategy was found to be inversely related to incidents of transnational crime at α = 0.05 and that the overall model explained 91% of the variation in transnational crime incidents. Details: Miami Gardens, FL: St. Thomas University, 2015. 119p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed June 7, 2017 at: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1749780648.html?FMT=AI Year: 2015 Country: Jamaica URL: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/1749780648.html?FMT=AI Shelf Number: 145952 Keywords: Crime PreventionCrime StatisticsEconomics of CrimeSocioeconomic Conditions and CrimeTransnational Crime |
Author: Smith, Russell G. Title: Estimating the Costs of Serious and Organised Crime in Australia: 2016-17 Summary: This report estimates the cost of serious and organised crime in Australia in 201617 to be between $23.8b and $47.4b. The report updates the Australian Crime Commission's estimates for 201314, given there have been some major developments in the available baseline data, and some further attempts to improve the costing methodology. As with the previous study, this paper considers the direct and consequential costs of serious and organised crime, as well as the costs associated with preventing and responding to serious and organised crime by government entities, businesses and individuals/households. Although costing methodologies are improving, there remains an ongoing need for government and business to collect better and more comprehensive data on how serious and organised crime affects their operations. It is clear, however, that the economic impact of serious and organised crime on the economy is substantial and growing. Details: Canberra, Australia: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2018. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 23, 2018 at: https://aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr09 Year: 2018 Country: Australia URL: https://aic.gov.au/publications/sr/sr09 Shelf Number: 153110 Keywords: Business Crime Corruption Crime Costs Cybercrime Environmental Crime Financial Crime Human Trafficking Identity Crime Illicit Commodities Illicit Drug Market Laundering Money Laundering Organized Crime Organized Violent Crime Transnational Crime |
Author: The Sentry Title: The Golden Laundromat: The Conflict Gold Trade from Eastern Congo to the United States and Europe Summary: An investigation by The Sentry raises significant concerns that gold mined from conflict areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo) is reaching international markets, including the supply chains of major U.S. companies and in products that consumers use every day. Documents reviewed and interviews conducted by The Sentry raise serious concern that the corporate network controlled by Belgian tycoon Alain Goetz has refined illegally-smuggled conflict gold from eastern Congo at the African Gold Refinery (AGR) in Uganda and then exported it through a series of companies to the United States and Europe, potentially including Amazon, General Electric (GE), and Sony. According to the United Nations (U.N.), conflict gold provides the largest source of revenue to armed actors in the conflict in eastern Congo, where an estimated 3.3 to 7.6 million people have died. An estimated $300 to $600 million worth of gold is smuggled out of Congo each year. According to documents reviewed by The Sentry, AGR exported approximately $377 million in gold in 2017 to an apparent affiliate of the Belgian gold refinery Tony Goetz NV, based in Dubai. According to 2018 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, 283 publicly-traded companies in the U.S. listed the Belgian refinery as an entity that may be in their supply chains, despite the fact that the refinery failed a major international conflict minerals audit in 2017. Those same filings indicate that AGR itself, opened in Uganda in 2016 and owned by Goetz, 7 may also be in the supply chains of 103 publicly traded U.S. companies, including GE and Halliburton. Numerous sources interviewed by The Sentry identified AGR as sourcing conflict gold from Congo. Twelve different traders and government officials in the region told The Sentry that AGR has taken over a significant portion of the market for gold trafficked from Congo to Uganda and the region, and Ugandan export records reviewed by The Sentry show that AGR accounted for over 99 percent of gold officially exported from Uganda in 2017. Uganda is the main transit hub for gold smuggled out of Congo, according to the U.N. Group of Experts (with Rwanda growing as such). Two major gold smugglers in Congo acknowledged to The Sentry that they illegally trafficked gold from eastern Congo to AGR, and other regional gold traders corroborated these accounts. Furthermore, four regional traders told The Sentry that gold traffickers Buganda Bagalwa and Mange Namuhanda, who have been named in several U.N. Group of Experts reports on Congo as purchasers of conflict gold, supplied gold to AGR in 2017. 15 AGR specifically denies having received gold from Bagalwa or Namuhanda and denies generally that it has otherwise received significant amounts of undocumented gold from other sources. Goetz has set up a major gold trading hub in Rwanda as well. The activities of the network appear to be non-compliant with both international supply chain due diligence guidance and international anti-money laundering safeguards as the network's companies buy, refine, and then sell the gold. As a result, the hundreds of publicly listed U.S. companies that may source gold from the refineries in this network are at risk of purchasing conflict gold. Goetz is a director or owner of 15 different companies, from Uganda, Dubai, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and 8 of these companies have the same address in Belgium. For its part, AGR steadfastly maintains that it is committed to refraining from any action that contributes to the financing of conflict and that its due diligence systems are based on international guidance. Further, Tony Goetz NV asserts that it follows strict procedures to avoid sourcing conflict minerals and that it follows all laws and international guidelines. Nevertheless, according to documents reviewed and sources interviewed by The Sentry, there is a significant risk that AGR has sourced large volumes of gold from eastern Congo with undocumented origins and lacking conflict-free certification. Although AGR has confirmed that it sources gold from Congo and that it sources some undocumented gold, it insists that the latter comes from old jewelry and other scrap sources. However, sourcing scrap from countries known to be transit points for conflict gold is a red flag in international due diligence guidance because it can be a loophole for mixing in gold from conflict sources. It is illegal, according to Congolese law, to export gold from artisanal mines that are not certified as conflict-free in Congo. An estimated 96 percent of artisanal gold mines in Congo are not certified at present (60 out of approximately 1,499), an estimated 71 percent of gold miners work at conflict mines according to the latest independent survey, and in 2017 the U.N. Group of Experts said that it had confirmed that nearly all artisanally sourced gold in Congo was exported illegally. In sum, nearly all of the gold mined in Congo flowing to Uganda is very likely not from certified mines. According to Ugandan export records, AGR also exported gold in 2017 to a Dubai-based company that in 2012 had reportedly been one of the most important cash suppliers to Kaloti Precious Metals, the Dubai-based gold refining giant. In 2015, a Kaloti refinery was de-listed from the Dubai "Good Delivery" list after failing to meet the criteria for Good Delivery certification and following a gold sourcing scandal. AGR has denied exporting to this company or knowing of the links between the supplier and Kaloti. Goetzs new gold trading operation in Rwanda is also significant, exporting approximately one ton of gold per month since November 2017 (the equivalent of $500 million per year), according to the U.N. Group of Experts. The U.N. Group of Experts concluded in 2018 that much of the gold traded in Rwanda and Uganda is smuggled from Congo and/or other neighboring countries. In 2016 and 2017, it appears that Goetzs network effectively assumed much of the market share previously controlled by another Uganda-based gold trading network run by the directors of Uganda Commercial Impex, which has been extensively involved in sourcing uncertified gold from eastern Congo for more than a decade, according to the U.N. Group of Experts. That network has greatly decreased its trade but remains somewhat active and in competition with Goetz, according to regional experts and the U.N. Group of Experts. The smuggling of gold from eastern Congo and the region by hand using commercial airlines also remains a key area of concern. The Sentry conducted over 100 interviews with gold miners, traders, and civil society organizations in Congo for this report. The investigation found evidence of armed groups and army commanders collecting illegal taxes on miners, government agents, and businessmen, and of clashes between armed groups and the Congolese army at gold mines. The trail of conflict gold follows a roughly six-step supply chain from eastern Congo to its primary end-products jewelry, gold bars for investors and banks, and electronics. Uganda, where AGR is the only gold refinery, is the main transit hub for smuggled gold from eastern Congo, according to U.N. Group of Experts reports. Following AGRs opening, Uganda increased its gold exports by a staggering 85,000 percent, going from exporting approximately $443,000 worth of gold in 2014 to an estimated $377 million in 2017. AGR signed agreements with a relative of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni named Barnabas Taremwa, who the U.N. Group of Experts says traded in illegally trafficked gold from Congo, as well as a former high-level Ugandan official and childhood friend of President Museveni, who resigned from the World Bank following reports of alleged bribery. AGR has halted relationships with both men, but Taremwa has sued. Anti-money laundering (AML) practices are another key area of concern for certain companies in the Goetz network. Uganda's Financial Intelligence Authority referred AGR to the Director of Public Prosecutions for prosecution for violation of AML laws. However, the case has not gone forward. Some Ugandan officials say this lack of action is a result of Goetzs relationship with President Museveni, who recommended that Uganda give AGR incentives to do business in the country. AGR denies having any commercial relationship with Museveni or any other senior Ugandan government officials. Several corporate practices of AGR and the Goetz network of companies appear to raise AML red flags set forth by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and to be inconsistent with U.N. Security Council and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) due diligence guidance on conflict minerals. The FATF red flags are indicators of potential money laundering that should trigger enhanced scrutiny by banks and other companies. Potentially noncompliant practices of AGR and/or the Goetz network include failure to report to the national financial intelligence unit (FIU), the risk - described in this report - that it is trading in gold that is mined and traded illegally (which AGR denies), setting up a complex web of companies with overlapping ownership structures and activities linked to the trade in Congo's gold, and conducting inadequate due diligence given the high risk of sourcing conflict gold. Collectively, such practices raise the risk that AGR may be attempting to hide the origins of high-risk gold from Congo. Indeed, AGR continues to export gold in large volumes despite having received noncompliance notices from Uganda on licensing, disclosure, and registration. The company maintains that, although it is not licensed by the mining ministry, all of its data is publicly available, and it has expressed a desire to assist with mapping and traceability. Goetz has insisted his business record is clean. Conflict minerals dont exist, he stated in 2017. All minerals are created by God. Goetz co-owns Tony Goetz NV, the Belgian refinery whose apparent affiliate directly imports gold from AGR. Although the company maintains that it has internal procedures to identify its clients and the origin of its gold, and avoid sourcing conflict minerals, it failed a third-party audit of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) in 2017, which includes strict due diligence requirements on conflict minerals. Apple, Intel, and 345 multinational companies use RMI audits as a primary source for determining whether smelters meet responsible sourcing standards. The RMI audit failure raises the question as to why the refinery remains certified by the main commodities trading association in Dubai, a global gold trading hub, as Good Delivery, a status that includes conflict-free requirements. It was due to be re-audited in 2017 under the Dubai program, but no new audit report has been published. In addition, European press has reported that Belgian authorities were also investigating Tony Goetz NV for possible money laundering. The company asserts that its activities are in accordance with the law and that it follows strict AML procedures. AGR marks a return to the region for Goetz. He reportedly made deals with a major rebel group in Congo in 1997, and the corporate network operated by Goetz and his father is estimated to have purchased over 100 tons of gold worth approximately $1.1 billion in the 1990s. International due diligence, responsible minerals audits, and AML frameworks were established in order to combat corruption and the deadly conflict minerals trade. Companies that fail such audits, and that do not adhere to such guidance yet continue to sell their minerals internationally must face steep consequences, or else there will be no change in the conflict gold trade that fuels armed conflict. The activities of such companies are a primary obstacle to increasing the conflict-free, responsible gold trade from Congo, which can help de-link the gold trade from conflict and help the Congolese people benefit from their natural resources. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentry, 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 25, 2018 at: https://thesentry.org/reports/the-golden-laundromat/ Year: 2018 Country: International URL: https://cdn.thesentry.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/GoldenLaundromat_Sentry_Oct2018-final.pdf Shelf Number: 153534 Keywords: Anti-Money Laundering Conflict Gold Conflict Minerals Conflict-Free Corruption Environmental Crime Financial Action Task Force Gold Mining Illicit Supply Chain Illicit Trade Minerals Audits Money Laundering Smuggling Supply Chain Trafficked Minerals Transnational Crime |
Author: Offerdahl, Thomas G. Title: A Systematic Analysis of the Challenges of Policing Senegal: The Role of the Police in Democracy Summary: Little is known about the role of the police in Africa, and even less about the police in francophone African countries. Intrastate conflicts and peace-building after the Cold War tied policing to personal security, democracy, and sustainable development. Senegal has a stable democracy and police forces that were established prior to Senegalese independence in 1960, but it is still uncertain if they can become a police force that contributes to national and personal security capable of dealing with human and narcotic trafficking, transnational crimes, and international terrorism. This study investigates the challenges facing the Senegalese police forces and their impact on the Senegalese national and personal security environment. The primary police services face challenges with resources, capacity, terrorism, and transnational crime. The major finding is that the centralized structure of the Senegalese police, controlled by a semi-authoritarian president and the political elites, prevents the police from becoming a public safety institution able to address matters of personal security. This dynamic isolates the police from the Senegalese citizens and atrophies their ability to combat crime, preventing their development into a public safety institution. Details: Scranton, Pennsylvania: University of Scranton, 2016. 107. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 30, 2019 at: https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/1029883.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Senegal URL: https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/50607 Shelf Number: 154387 Keywords: AfricaLaw EnforcementNational SecurityPolicePolicingPublic OrderSenegalTerrorismTransnational CrimeWest Africa |
Author: Global Commission on Drug Policy Title: Classification of Psychoactive Substances: When Science was Left Behind Summary: The international drug scheduling system, used to classify psychoactive substances according to their harms and benefits, lies at the core of the international drug control regime. Its proper functioning is the key to balancing the regime's dual objectives: securing adequate availability of controlled substances for medical purposes while preventing their diversion for non-medical or other uses. Before 1961, the global drug control system focused on imposing restrictions on international trade and was designed to accommodate and respect differences between the laws of states. Since the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was signed in 1961, however, states have responded to international law with schedules and classification systems that are not evidence-based or rationally linked to the harms and benefits of substances, but rather based on political choices and benefits for policymakers. Such drug control policies have resulted in social and economic problems not only for people who use drugs but also for the general population, including health epidemics, prison overcrowding and arbitrary enforcement of drug laws. The current system, governed by the 1961 Single Convention and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, has gradually brought more and more psychoactive substances under international control. Today over 300 substances are scheduled. Eight schedules have been defined according to the dependence potential, abuse potential and therapeutic usefulness of the drugs included in them - four in each of the 1961 and 1971 conventions. These international drug control conventions recognize only medical use, including the relief from pain, as benefits from the use of psychoactive substances; other cultural, recreational or ceremonial uses are not taken into account, or rather are excluded. The strictness of control measures depends on the schedule in which a substance is placed. Of the eight schedules, two imply the prohibition of substances they include, including their medical use (with the exception of very limited quantities for research). However, with only a few specified exceptions, all substances scheduled under the conventions for non-medical and non-scientific purposes are effectively banned. This de facto prohibition is arbitrary. The current distinction between legal and illegal substances is not unequivocally based on pharmacological research but in large part on historical and cultural precedents. It is also distorted by and feeds into morally charged perceptions about a presumed "good and evil" distinction between legal and illegal drugs. Scheduling decisions are taken by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which was established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The World Health Organization (WHO) provides recommendations on the advice of its Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD), which are then submitted to a vote of CND members (a simple majority vote for the schedules of the 1961 convention and two-thirds for the 1971 schedules). Decisions about scheduling have thus become subjected to political considerations and an inherent bias towards prohibiting new substances. The negative consequences of allowing a drug onto the market that might later turn out to be dangerous are very high, whereas the negative consequences - for decision makers - of keeping off the market a drug that is in fact harmless are minimal. As a result, recommendations to add new substances to the schedules are usually rubberstamped, while recommendations not to schedule substances or to place them under a less strict regime consistently meet significant opposition. Several substances listed on the earliest schedules of the 1961 convention - including widely used substances such as cannabis, cannabis resin, heroin and cocaine - had never received an expert evaluation or their evaluations were up to 30 years old. There have been calls to amend the conventions to resolve inherent inconsistencies and to clarify the mandates of WHO, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and the CND in the scheduling process. Proposals have also been repeatedly made to improve the scheduling criteria and to outline a system based on scientific evidence. An improved scheduling procedure, which strikes a better balance between ensuring availability of controlled substances for legitimate uses and preventing problematic use, would provide a key tool to guide reforms that transform international and national drug control policies from an exclusively prohibitive framework into a flexible model based on regulation. An evidence-based international scheduling system would allow reform-oriented countries more flexibility to design domestic schedules according to their needs, while improving control over potential illegal exports. It would also be far more effective at gradually steering the drugs market in a direction that causes far less harm. Finally, an evidence-based scheduling system would remove much of the stigma associated with drug use, thus helping people to make more responsible and less harmful choices. Guiding principles for a more rational scheduling model include: -ensuring adequate availability of each substance for medical and research purposes; -abandoning zero-tolerance policies to provide more space for "other legitimate purposes"; -showing more leniency towards milder substances; -taking into account local social and cultural circumstances; -conducting a cost-benefit analysis of potential harms and perceived benefits; -accepting certain risk thresholds comparable to other acceptable societal risks, instead of upholding an absolute precautionary principle; -weighing carefully the potential consequences of scheduling decisions, taking into account predictable responses of users and markets; and -making better use of existing medical and consumer safety legal instruments, instead of criminal drug laws. The Global Commission on Drug Policy calls for a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to designing drug control policies. It is time to end the "silo" approach that treats drug control as a single issue and classifies drugs and enforces drug prohibition based on unreliable and scientifically dubious schedules. The only responsible path is to regulate the market of illegal drugs. Governments should establish regulations and a new scheduling system - adapted to the dangerousness of each drug and based on solid scientific assessments - and monitor and enforce these regulations. For the Global Commission, urgent action is needed to end the inconsistencies of the current scheduling system: -The international community must recognize the incoherence and inconsistencies in the international scheduling system, and must trigger a critical review of the current models of classification of drugs. -The international community must prioritize the role of the World Health Organization and interdisciplinary scientific research in further developing evidence-based scheduling criteria based on a rational scale of harms and benefits. -UN Member States must refocus the international scheduling system on the original impetus of controlling transnational trade and allow for innovative national classification systems to be developed. Details: Geneva, Switzerland: Global Commission on Drug Policy, 2019. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 21, 2019 at: http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019Report_EN_web.pdf Year: 2019 Country: International URL: http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/reports/classification-psychoactive-substances Shelf Number: 156921 Keywords: Cannabis Drug Abuse Illegal Drugs Illicit Trade Narcotic Drug Prescription Drugs Psychoactive Substance Recreational Drugs Substance Abuse Transnational Crime |