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EC ratification of UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

The European Commission has proposed to the Council the ratification, on behalf of the Community, of the UN convention against transnational organised crime (UNTOC), its supplementing Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children and its supplementing Protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, air and sea. If the Council of Ministers agrees the European Union will join the 40 countries that have already ratified the convention, which will enter into force on 29 September 2003.

António Vitorino, European Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs commented: "This decision underlines the European Commission's commitment to international co-operation to prevent and combat transnational organised crime. It shows that the European Community supports a global answer to a global challenge. The Commission sincerely hopes that many more countries throughout the world will ratify the convention and protocols in the near future."

UNTOC aims to enable different countries' law enforcement authorities to co-operate effectively in combating organised crime by eliminating differences and different definitions of crimes among national legal systems, so a crime in one country will be recognised as crime in other countries. It will be the first legally binding UN instrument in this field. States that have ratified UNTOC are required to ensure that four serious types of crime are regarded as a crime in their domestic laws. These crimes are participation in an organised criminal group, money laundering, corruption, and the obstruction of justice.

UNTOC spells out how countries can improve co-operation on such matters as extradition, mutual legal assistance, transfer of proceedings and joint investigations. It contains provisions for victim and witness protection and for shielding legal markets from infiltration by organised criminal groups.


Protocols

The two protocols require countries to undertake in-depth measures to combat the smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons - in particular women and children - for sexual exploitation, slavery or sweat shop labour.

According to the Human Trafficking Protocol countries have to adopt measures to:

• prosecute and punish international traffickers;
  
  
• boost co-operation among countries to combat trafficking more effectively;
  
  
• protect the victims of trafficking and help them return safely to their own or another country;
  
  
• inform the public about trafficking and to make it aware of its negative consequences for both traffickers and victims.

The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea aims at criminalising the smuggling of migrants, while recognising that migration itself is not a crime. It requires countries to:

• make migrant smuggling a criminal offence under their national laws;
  
  
• adopt special measures to crack down on migrant smuggling by sea;
  
  
• boost international co-operation to prevent migrant smuggling and to seek out and prosecute the traffickers and smugglers.

Background

In its Resolution 53/111 of 9 December 1998, the United Nations' General Assembly decided to establish an open-ended intergovernmental ad-hoc committee charged with drawing up a convention against transnational organised crime (UNTOC), supplemented by protocols to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children (Trafficking Protocol) and against the smuggling of migrants by land, air and sea (Smuggling Protocol).

The Council of the European Union authorised the European Commission to negotiate the draft UNTOC and its supplementing protocols. Negotiations on the UNTOC were completed in July 2000 while the finalisation of the Smuggling and Trafficking Protocols took until October 2000. The UN General Assembly adopted these three instruments at its 55th session on 15 November 2000 and opened them for signature.

The Italian Government hosted, from 12 to 15 December 2000, a high-level political conference in Palermo for the purpose of signing the UNTOC and the Smuggling and Trafficking Protocols. On 12 December 2000, the European Community and all EU Member States formally signed the three instruments.

Spain (on 1 March 2002) and France (on 29 October 2002) have deposited a document of ratification for the UNTOC and of the Smuggling and Trafficking Protocols.

147 countries have, as of today, signed the convention. The fortieth instrument of ratification of the UNTOC was deposited with the United Nations Secretary-General on 1 July 2003. In accordance with Article 38 of the Convention, the UNTOC will enter into force on 29 September 2003.


For further information

Website of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice and Home Affairs:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/index_en.htm

UN website that provides the text of the UNTOC and supplementing Protocols as well as a list of countries that have signed/ratified these instruments:

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/crime_cicp_convention.html

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