Transnational Crime: Challenge for All
By Louise Shelley
Organized crime cannot function without corruption of officials.
Transnational crime syndicates need to "buy" customs officials, border officials
and sometimes consular officials to facilitate drug or human trafficking,
firearms smuggling or other illicit activities.
Dealing with transnational crime is inherently difficult because criminal
organizations are increasingly globalized and legal systems are national in
scope. Cross-border crime groups capitalize on their ability to segment their
operations across countries, where different laws and regulations apply.
Variations among national laws make it difficult to foster international
cooperation to investigate criminal groups and apprehend and prosecute their
leaders.
Criminal networks have become extremely mobile and market- and
technology-savvy, challenging governments to keep pace with them. After the
September 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. government shifted enormous resources
from addressing transnational crime to fighting terrorism. These two threats are
often linked through financing, logistics and communications, but the links
between the two were not initially recognized, thereby allowing such diverse
forms of transnational crime as drug, arms and human trafficking; trading in
counterfeit goods; money laundering and cross-border environmental crime to
expand rapidly. In 2011, the White House announced for the first time the
national Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime. This strategy
institutionalizes many practices that already have existed, makes them public
and tries to increase coordination among relevant government agencies. It is an
attempt to deal with diverse forms of transnational crime in a more orderly,
se
rious fashion.
Many other countries are also well aware of the seriousness of the threat;
some suffer the consequences of transnational crime more acutely than the United
States. Some fail to respond because they lack resources; others are immobilized
by corruption. But for many transnational crime is a high priority. Illustrative
of this is Europol, the European Union's criminal intelligence agency, which has
made a strong commitment to addressing the problem.
Yet despite significant international efforts to implement the U.N.
Convention on Transnational Crime enacted more than a decade ago, there is still
much that must be done. Tackling transnational crime and related corruption is a
challenge not just for law enforcement, but for all of society and the business
community. It requires a vigilant media, an engaged civil society, a responsible
business community and good governance at all levels.
Louise Shelley, Ph.D., is a university professor and director of the
Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center in the School of Public
Policy at George Mason University.
(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State.)
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