PRESS BRIEFING BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS DRUG CONTROL PROGRAMME AND CRIME PREVENTION

Several heads of State and Prime Ministers will be among the representatives of some 120 countries expected at the high-level political signing conference for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, to be held in Palermo, Italy, from 12 to 15 December, the Executive Director of the United Nations Drug Control Programme and Crime Prevention, Pino Arlacchi, told correspondents at a headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Mr. Arlacchi said that the conference was an historical event, and that many ministers of interior and justice from around the world would also be attending.

He described the Convention as one of the major achievements of the United Nations. It was the first international treaty on organized crime. The formal negotiations started three years ago but the process that led to the negotiations started six years ago.

The General Assembly approved the text of the Convention two days ago, he said. The Convention contained two very important protocols -- one on the smuggling of migrants and the other on trafficking in human beings.

He said that the high-level conference would focus on how the Convention would be implemented. The Convention contained provisions for mechanisms for implementation, and he expected the conference would hold a very thorough discussion on the best way to implement them, and how to help the developing countries that signed it to comply with the very advanced tools it contained.

About 1,500 people from countries all over the world were expected at the conference, he added.

He said that the willingness of countries to comply with the convention would depend on the mechanisms of implementation and on the work planned for its implementation. There would be at least four regional meetings in the next two years devoted to that implementation. Countries were already volunteering to host the meetings. He would also monitor closely the process of ratification of the Convention. Forty countries must ratify it in order for it to enter into force.

He expressed the conviction that the Convention would not be one that would just end up as a piece of paper. Mr. Arlacchi was hopeful that it would not take more than two years to get the 40 ratifications needed for the Convention to enter into force. A special mechanism would be set up to ensure ratification. That mechanism could be linked to the four regional meetings. A special programme could also be set up to help parliaments to ratify the convention.

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On the quantification of the crimes contained in the protocols, he said that International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates had put the size of the illegal economy at some 3 to 5 per cent of world Gross National Product. Money laundering depended very much on the size of the illegal economy and was estimated at about 3 per cent of world Gross National Product.

However, the real problem was not one of magnitude or figures, he continued. The damages resulting from money laundering were much more subtle and less visible. They included increasing instability of the international financial system, increasing corruption of public officials and impeding the legal economy from fully developing in many countries. Traffic in human beings was also the subject of several estimations. The number of people smuggled across borders worldwide had been estimated at 27 million. Including people taken into economic slavery -- forced labour, slavery-like organizational work, and exploitation of children in sweatshops -- would make the figure much bigger and could take it up to 100 million. Those estimates had been made by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Anti-Slavery Society, the oldest non-governmental organization (NGO) dealing with the issue of slavery.

He said that the United States was one of the main supporters of the Convention and had been one of the most active negotiators.

Asked whether the creation of new bodies to fight transnational crimes was foreseen under the Convention, he said that it was not envisaged for the moment. The belief was that the strengthening of existing bodies, such as the Interpol or, at the regional level, Europol, would be the first consequence of the convention. However, in the ancillary meetings expected to take place in Palermo, such ideas could be discussed and proposals could emerge about the establishment of a kind of regulatory body. The ancillary meetings were planned to ensure full discussion on all possible implications of the Convention.

He added that the Convention envisaged the creation of a fund by the United Nations for the implementation of various provisions. Such a fund could be fed by a share of the value of assets confiscated all around the world. It could be the existing crime fund that the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) had in Vienna or a different fund to be established for that purpose.

Mr. Arlacchi said that he first spoke about a treaty, like the one contained in the Convention, in 1985. The last page of his 1986 book on organized crime was a plea for an international convention on organized crime. Thus, the Convention was the accomplishment of a long-sought goal. The Convention put together the most advanced tools available for fighting organized crime. From experience, there was nothing better than confiscation of assets, witness protection programmes, and the abolition of bank secrecy and all areas of impunity for criminal money all around the world for the fight against organized crime. The Convention had put together all those elements. There was nothing better today for fighting organized crime.

The protocols to the Convention were very concrete, he said. The degree of support that they got was such that the world would be able to get along with

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the Convention for several decades. The Convention came from very concrete experiences and investigators from all over the world would recognize aspects of their own experience in fighting organized crime in the Convention.

On the issue of sovereignty, he said that the Convention was negotiated by delegations from all types of countries. There was unanimous agreement that, if the proper tools were used, there was no risk of infringement of national sovereignty or human rights. The Convention was on the side of increasing sophistication in investigation and judicial work, in order to be very precise in striking criminals while not touching ordinary citizens.

While any international treaty was a reduction of national sovereignty, the Convention would not jeopardize any kind of national sensibilities, he said. Some small countries had been the most active supporters of it. There had been concern expressed by developing countries about the implementation of the Convention. They felt that it was a very advanced instrument and that they might not be able to afford it and that some of the measures required major improvements in their national bodies. The provisions of the Convention could, however, easily overcome those concerns. For instance, on the question of confiscation, even a poor or small country could establish a mechanism for confiscating criminal assets. Its effort could be financed by the very result of such an investigation. Some countries were starting to substantially finance their own law enforcement bodies from the proceeds of confiscated assets.