UN Event COP11 Held to Combat Organized Crime
The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) opened its 11th session (COP11) on 17 October 2022 at Vienna (Austria).
The event registered around 1500 participants from 131 countries, including 22 international organizations and 193 civil society organizations.
In opening the session, Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), highlighted that “the UNTOC and its Protocols represent powerful tools to build the resilience of States and societies to crime. It is time to step up their implementation, in the face of evolving and emerging organized crime threats.”
Baker Fattah Hussen, Ambassador of Iraq and COP11 President, stressed in his opening remarks that “the UNTOC COP11 Presidency is looking forward to strengthening multilateralism, building upon the value of the UNTOC, its Protocols and Review Mechanism, and creating a conducive environment for the inclusion of all perspectives, in line with the consolidated ‘Vienna spirit’.”
During COP11, the Conference considered a number of thematic resolutions. Themes awaiting resolution include the implementation of the provisions on international cooperation, technical assistance and applying UNTOC for preventing and combating transnational organized crimes that affect the environment.
Among other thematic issues, the COP11 discussions focused on enhancing international cooperation to combat all forms of transnational organized crime, including trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, trafficking in firearms, cybercrime, financial crimes, and crimes that affect the environment.
