UN CRIME CONGRESS CONCLUDES PRESENTATIONS ON COMBATING TRANSNATIONAL CRIME
Press Release
SOC/CP/224
UN CRIME CONGRESS CONCLUDES PRESENTATIONS ON COMBATING TRANSNATIONAL CRIME
20000413Holds Panel Talks on Understanding Transnational Crime; Global Financial Crime Pandemic; Internet Child Pornography on Internet
(Received from a UN Information Officer.)
VIENNA, 13 April -- The Tenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and the Treatment of Offenders concluded its proceedings on international cooperation in combating transnational crime this afternoon, with three panel discussions and a debate on the subject.
Experts comprising the panel presented their views on understanding transnational crime and criminality and the global financial crime pandemic. Other panellists at the meeting concluded their presentations on child pornography on the Internet.
In the debate, the Attorneys-General of Belarus and Croatia, as well as representatives of Cuba, Czech Republic and Iran, made statements describing particular manifestations of organized crime endemic to their respective countries, as well as their efforts to combat it. They analysed the root causes of criminal activities and their spread across borders. Stressing the need to harmonize national legislation in order to comply with the draft convention on transnational crime, the drafting of which is expected to be concluded by the end of the year, they addressed the legislative and judicial measures their governments are undertaking to that end.
Such steps included anti-corruption and anti-drug laws, as well as efforts to curb money laundering and financial fraud. Most countries were implementing measures against international terrorism and emphasizing international and regional cooperation in that respect.
Representatives of developing and transition countries also stressed their need for financial and technical assistance to effectively combat international crime. They urged the United Nations to play a leading role in coordinating international efforts to overcome transnational crime.
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The representative of the African Regional Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders said the draft convention on transnational crime and its three protocols would greatly enhance the capability of the countries of the continent to fight crime. As practically every African country had a problem of illegal arms transfers, the Institute had put forward an initiative on combating this trade. The Institute was also assisting in drawing up draft extradition and other conventions and collaborating with African regional organizations.
Stressing the need to harmonize international regimes in relation to migrants, the representative of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development addressed the problems of smuggling of human beings and illegal migration, which were an important branch of transnational organized crime.
The representative of Penal Reform International -- a non-governmental organization -- drew attention to the deficiencies of the penal system and outlined some possible reform measures.
Other organizations participating in this afternoons debate were the Asia Crime Prevention Foundation and the International Federation of Women with Legal Careers (Romania).
The Congress will begin its high-level segment at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 14 April.
Expert Presentations
Speaking on the topic of beating the global financial crime pandemic, expert Jack Blum, an attorney at the Washington, D.C., law firm Lobel, Novins & Lamont, said that international financial crime -- bigger, bolder and more common than ever before -- was undermining national economies. The central problem in fighting financial crime was jurisdiction. Law enforcement efforts were organized by crime, by country and by nationality. The explosion of communications and computer technology had shifted money, intellectual property and finance into the virtual realm. Virtual finance made a mockery of territorially based law enforcement and regulation.
Panel expert Mark Pieth, a professor of penal law at the University of Basel (Switzerland), said that transnational organized crime involved corporate and State crime. Organized crime involved violence and corruption while corporate crime operated within established financial and business structures using illegal trading or production means. International corporations, intermediaries and offshore companies were involved in todays transnational crime, including money laundering. While transnational crime was everybodys responsibility, each country must examine what could be done domestically, while preserving cultural peculiarities and refraining from unilateral actions.
In an earlier discussion on Internet child pornography, panellist Tom Burrows, of the United States Justice Department, presented recommendations developed during a conference held in Vienna last September, saying that many countries were only just beginning to deal with the emerging problem of child
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pornography on the Internet. There had been a strong consensus that self- regulation played a critical role in the fight against child pornography on the Internet. Codes of conduct should be established to include specific measures to that end.
On the same subject, Nigel Williams, of Childnet, said that while there were many pictures of actual abuse of children on the Internet, law enforcement was getting much better at tracking down those who published or downloaded those pictures. But nobody knew the children who had been photographed, whether they had any support or whether they were still being abused. One key issue was that of awareness, including education on how to use the Internet in a safe way and how to prevent children from being approached by adults who pose as children in Internet chat rooms.
He said the recommendations should be guided by the principles of cooperation with law enforcement, hotlines and the public; and by ongoing reciprocal training between law enforcement and the Internet industry. The industry should be active rather than passive in the fight against child pornography, reporting violations to law enforcement in order to pursue an investigation and prosecution.
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