NGOs Active in Vienna UN Convention Against Transnational Crime

NGOs Active in Vienna UN Convention Against Transnational Crime

Transnational organised crime costs an estimated US$ 870 billion annually, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. That doesn’t count the misery and suffering it causes. Organised crime is intertwined with corruption and like corruption has to be dealt with on a global level, through international cooperation. Governments are meeting this week at a UN conference in Vienna to discuss whether they are making progress in tackling international mafia activity. The Mexican Minister of Interior, Alejandro Poire speaking to the press in Vienna on Monday said they are making progress and that international cooperation is making a difference. But in places like Marseilles and Dominican Republic the news is different. The Executive Director of UNODC Yuri Fedotov noted in his opening address that “crime is a constant traveller. Successes against crime in one country can sometimes drive it elsewhere….in an era of ‘displacement’”. The main item on the agenda of the UN conference is how to measure progress under the 2001 United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and its Protocols—this includes a protocol on trafficking in persons. There are 172 states parties to the convention and they meet biennially. The meetings are organised by its secretariat UNODC. This time round Mexico is sponsoring a resolution for a new review mechanism, with provisions pretty much identical to those for the  review mechanism for the 2003 UN Convention against Corruption. The behind-the scenes discussions are tense. What looked like a shoo-in might just not be. As Mr. Fedotov noted in his opening address, there are two issues surrounding the mechanism, funding and the participation of observers. On...
NGO Preparation for the Conference of the Parties CTOC

NGO Preparation for the Conference of the Parties CTOC

August 23rd, the UNODC Civil Society Team, the Vienna and NY Alliance as well as other NGOs met through an international conference call to connect, communicate and review progress on NGO participation and contribution to the upcoming October 9th – 15th: Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Most of the meeting was clarifying the status of NGO participation, especially in the Side Events. Side Event Request Form Guidelines for Side Events To this end these are some points mentioned: Currently there are about 6 NGO groupings requesting a meeting room for side events that have been received by UNODC. There are a total of about 10 possible event spaces. Applications do need to be submitted to the organizing offices by September 3rd using the downloadable form. If there are more than 10 applications, priority will be given to Member State co-sponsored and NGO coalitions. The current list of topics reported: (NOTE: These are not the exact titles but indicate the focus of currently proposed sessions at this stage.) Small Arms Survey Victims of Organized Crime Country Based Review Mechanism involving NGOs Trafficking in Women Developing a Research Platform on Human Trafficking Promoting a Web-based forum for Prosecutors dealing with Trafficking In Persons Developments in the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and Protocol on Firearms After the preparations were discussed, there was some further substantive input regarding NGO participation in Country Review processes and the comments should be available in summary notes from the meeting as they become available. Documentation for the 6th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the...
The Alliance and VNGOC Participate in the GA’s Thematic Debate

The Alliance and VNGOC Participate in the GA’s Thematic Debate

June 26, 2012 was the International Day agains Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the launch of the UN Drug Report and the day selected for the General Assembly’s thematic debate on Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development. The Alliance of NY and Vienna had drafted a joint statement for the debate and it can be downloaded here: June26AllianceStatement The statement by the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs can be downloaded from their site: http://www.vngoc.org. The following is an overview of the debate excerpted from notes by Michel Perron, Chair of VNGOC: Overview The June 26th opening panel was attended by President of GA (PGA), Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Mr. Yuri Fedotov, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. It was a panel format and participants spoke then chairs encouraged interactive dialogue with Member States (MS.) NGOs were to be called once all MS had spoken. The panelists went over time on the morning panel and the list of MS extended beyond the morning session. The structure of the event severely limited interactivity since most simply made statements rather than asking questions of the panel. From an NGO perspective the Alliance’s Forum@Four and the VNGOC’s informal civil society hearings provide an essential non-formal settings that create opportunities for genuinely interactive dialogues. In terms of NGO statements, six were finally admitted at the very end of the session. The floor was first given to a youth from Uganda – sponsored by UNODC and part of their youth network – where or how this came into the agenda was UNODC’s doing. Michel Perron, Chair of the Vienna NGO...