“As we celebrate this day, we recognize the progress we have made, but most importantly the challengeS That to stay. Let’s start bya very simple one fact. Organized crime has expanded beyond its borders traditional activities to expand to other related instrumental areas,” Ambassador Debora Lepre, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in Vienna, said at the event. “When organized crime steals, corrupts and kills, how can we respond effectively to the adaptive capacity of the mafia and tackling the emerging trends? It is clear that our The response must be global, coordinated and adaptable to changes sightS of organized crime.”
Building on the work of the twelve Conference of the Parties to UNTOC
The speakers further reflected on the outcomes of the twelfth session of the Conference of Parties to UNTOC, which concluded its work on 18 October 2024, as well as on the future of the implementation of the Convention and its protocols, including in light of the operation of the mechanism for evaluating the implementation of the treaties and their protocols.
Ambassador Maurice Makoloo, Chairman of the African Group and Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations in Vienna, spoke at length about Kenya’s experiences, as well as the importance of joint efforts among states.
“If crime crosses borders, so should the law. And if it goes beyond the limits of geography, the limits of culture, the limits of technology and the limits of human experience, then so must the response,” he said. “We would like to reiterate that organized crime indeed steals hope, steals life and destroys dreams. And so we call for robust and sustained collective efforts that must be anchored in both tangible and intangible technologies, soft and hard approaches, of course based on an involvement of the whole society.”
“An integral link connects the International Day, the UNTOC and its Protocols and the Conference of the Parties to the Convention: COP12 and the International Day 2024 followed the same line of communication and objectives, namely to raise awareness of the need to strengthen global efforts mobilize against organized crime,” said Ambassador Peter Burian, Chairman of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC at its twelfth session and Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the United Nations in Vienna. “The International Day is another powerful tool to raise awareness of the need to mobilize global efforts against organized crime and it is hoped that various countries and stakeholders will use it for this purpose.”
In his closing address, Ambassador Burian also discussed new commitments and resolutions from the Parties to UNTOC and outlined his personal commitment to strengthening cooperation and increasing participation – especially among civil society. The event also gave the public the opportunity to intervene to discuss transnational organized crime and the implementation of the Convention in more detail.
Leave a Reply