{"id":121786,"date":"2018-11-12T12:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=121786"},"modified":"2018-11-08T15:01:11","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T15:01:11","slug":"international-crime-gangs-amass-staggering-profits-in-conflict-zones-expert-tells-security-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/11\/international-crime-gangs-amass-staggering-profits-in-conflict-zones-expert-tells-security-council\/","title":{"rendered":"International Crime Gangs Amass \u2018Staggering\u2019 Profits in Conflict Zones, Expert Tells Security Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

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7 Nov 2018 – During yesterday\u2019s briefing to the Security Council, Tuesday Reitano, Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, described the problem as a \u201cglobal and accelerating phenomenon, and a threat to international peace and security,\u201d that, in conflict areas alone, is generating around $31.5 billion in illicit profits.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ms. Reitano\u2019s address was delivered as part of the annual briefing by UN Peacekeeping operations, led by Alexander Zuev<\/a>, Assistant Secretary-General for the Rule of Law, at the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO<\/a>)\u00a0 and included presentations from UN Police Commissioners, on the work being carried out by Missions in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Haiti.<\/p>\n

Mr. Zuev said that the growing risks associated with organized crime \u2013 which he described as striking \u201cat the heart of the United Nations\u2019 core business\u201d, have been recognized at the highest levels of the UN, including by Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The link between conflict areas and organized crime was described by Ms. Reitano as undeniable: she added that the scale of money being illicitly generated by organized crime in these areas is \u201cstaggering.\u201d<\/p>\n

This phenomenon, said Ms. Reitano, is actually sustaining conflicts worldwide, with illegal exploitation and taxation of gold, oil and other natural resources overtaking traditional \u201cthreat finance\u201d sectors, such as kidnapping for ransom and drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

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Tuesday Reitano, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, addresses the Security Council meeting on United Nations peacekeeping operations. 6 November 2018. UN Photo\/Eskinder Debebe<\/p><\/div>\n

The actual combatants in conflict zones only receive a small fraction of illicit funds: \u201cBy far the larger share of the 31.5 billion dollars goes to political actors at all levels, and associated transnational criminal networks. These, therefore, are the main beneficiaries from instability, violence and lack of state capacity for enforcement, and who thus retain an interested in the perpetuation of conflict\u2026 Where crime thrives, there can be no sustainable peace\u201d<\/p>\n

Awale Abdounasir, UN Police Commissioner for the UN stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) \u2013 known by its French acronym,\u00a0MONUSCO<\/a>, \u2013 also addressed the Security Council during the annual briefing session.<\/p>\n

He explained that the police component of the Mission is assisting the DRC Government in combating organized crime by armed groups, with a mandate to work closely with the national Congolese police force to develop strategies for prevention, as well as the frontline fight.<\/p>\n

Mr Abdounasir went on to say that governments of countries weakened by crises too often look to a military solution fighting crime syndicates, whereas strengthening of the judicial system by making it more transparent and rigorous would be a more appropriate strategy.<\/p>\n

Ms. Reitano noted that UN police units are not sufficiently integrated with other areas of UN Missions, including political functions and other peacekeeping activities, and are significantly under-resourced.<\/p>\n

Even if peace operations do not actively fight crime, she said, they need to be crime-sensitive: \u201cthe way in which criminal actors have become embedded in conflict zones suggests that policing must be a strategic consideration at all stages of a mission\u2019s planning and deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n

She warned the Security Council that recent analysis carried out by partner organizations, including the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and INTERPOL, shows links between illicit trafficking routes in conflict zones \u2013 in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas \u2013 \u00a0and international terrorism, and concluded by stating the UN System needs a coherent, streamlined and strategic approach to addressing organized crime.<\/p>\n

The Security Council briefing took place during the 2018 UN Police Week<\/a>, from November 5 to 9, when UN Peacekeeping Operations and Special Political Missions come to New York to discuss strategic police priorities, including the UN Police contribution to the Secretary-General\u2019s reform initiatives, including Action For Peacekeeping (A4P<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 news.un.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7 Nov 2018 – During yesterday\u2019s briefing to the Security Council, Tuesday Reitano, Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, described the problem as a \u201cglobal and accelerating phenomenon, and a threat to international peace and security,\u201d that, in conflict areas alone, is generating around $31.5 billion in illicit profits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":93896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}