Mr. President,
My delegation would like to thank you and the panelists for their work in this
useful discussion on transnational organized crime.
One result of an interconnected world is the ever-growing interconnected nature
of crime. While the ability to communicate and trade with people in all corners
of the globe has promoted global solidarity and commerce, it has also led to an
escalation in crime across national boundaries. This dynamic in the globalized
nature of crime presents new challenges to legal and judicial mechanisms as they
attempt to hold criminals accountable and protect their citizens.
The Naples Declaration and the Palermo Convention constitute substantial efforts
by the international community to establish cooperation in order to prevent
criminal activity and prosecute perpetrators. These Conventions recognized the
increasingly indisputable observation that as crime becomes international, the
response also must become international.
Today, millions of people are victims of trafficking, of which, over 70%, almost
all women and girls, are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. This
reality is both tragic and inexcusable. The transnational trafficking of women
and children for sexual exploitation is based on a balance between the supply of
victims from sending countries and the demand in receiving countries. The
trafficking process begins with the demand. To highlight victims’ rights needs
to go along with addressing the problem of demand and, with it, the insidious
degradation of human dignity that always accompanies the scourge of trafficking
in persons. In fact, rather than effectively addressing the demand, more and
more laws are passed which seek to legitimize this dehumanizing work. Even the
very global sporting and social events which are meant to foster greater respect
and harmony among people around the world have become instead opportunities for
the greater exploitation and trafficking of women and girls.
Similarly, the global drug trade continues to have devastating affects on
individuals, families and communities around the world. In areas of production,
the demand for illegal drugs fuels organized gangs, drug cartels and terrorists.
These criminal organizations use the financing from this illegal activity to
spread fear and violence so as to secure their pursuit of greed and power. The
activities of these individuals and organizations must be addressed urgently by
all legitimate means possible in order to allow communities to live in peace and
prosperity rather than in fear of crime and hostility.
To address this problem, the international community must not only focus on the
areas of production but must also address the ever present demand for illegal
drugs. This demand, driven heavily by the developed world, demonstrates that in
order to address drug production abroad, efforts must be taken at home. Drug use
not only afflicts the international community, but also has immediate
detrimental effects on the physical, social and spiritual lives of individuals
and their families. Thus, focus also on these individuals is necessary in order
to find ways to prevent drug abuse in the first place and to rehabilitate drug
abusers so that they can contribute more fully to the common good.
Mr. President,
If we wish to engage in a sustained process to stop and reverse these two major
areas of international crime, peoples and cultures will have to find common
ground that can underpin human relations everywhere on the basis of our shared
humanity. There remains a profound need to uphold the inherent dignity and worth
of every human being, with special attention to the most vulnerable of society.
In that vein we should focus our efforts on addressing and even criminalizing
the devastating demand for prostitution, which dehumanizes women and girls and
fuels illegal trafficking around the world.
Likewise, a people-centered approach to the international drug trade must
recognize that the consumers of this illegal activity must be held accountable
and also provided rehabilitation. Criminal accountability is only one factor in
addressing this problem as personal, social and spiritual rehabilitation is
necessary for drug abusers and the communities devastated by the producing and
smuggling of drugs. Also, efforts by governments and civil society to restore
the health of individuals and communities must continue to be encouraged since
all people have a claim to social and economic development.
This debate helps to shed light on the need to address international crime in a
way which recognizes the growing international nature of crime but also allows
this assembly to recognize that this response requires national efforts to
address the individual and societal causes for such activity. While it is
imperative to hold accountable for their actions criminals who disrupt the
common good, so too is it necessary to recognize the rights and dignity of
victims and offenders in order to remedy the harm caused by crime.
Thank you Mr. President.
