Why organized crime is so dangerous?

Why organized crime is so dangerous?

In the past quarter century (namely, since the end of the Cold War), global governance has failed to keep pace with economic globalization. Therefore, as unprecedented openness in trade, finance, travel and communication has created economic growth and well-being, it has also given rise to massive opportunities for criminals to make their business prosper.

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Organized crime has diversified, gone global and reached macro-economic proportions: illicit goods are sourced from one continent, trafficked across another, and marketed in a third. Mafias are today truly a transnational problem: a threat to security, especially in poor and conflict-ridden countries.

Crime is fuelling corruption, infiltrating business and politics, and hindering development. And it is undermining governance by empowering those who

operate outside the law:l

·       Drug cartels are spreading violence in Central America, the Caribbean and West Africa;

·       Collusion between insurgents and criminal groups (in Central Africa, the Sahel and South-East Asia) fuels terrorism and plunders natural resources;

·       Smuggling of migrants and modern slavery have spread in Eastern Europe as much as South-East Asia and Latin America;

·       In so many urban centres authorities have lost control to organized gangs;

·       Cybercrime threatens vital infrastructure and state security, steals identities and commits fraud;

·       Pirates from the world’s poorest countries (the Horn of Africa) hold to ransom ships from the richest nations;

·       Counterfeit goods undermine licit trade and endanger lives;

·       Money-laundering in rogue jurisdictions and uncontrolled economic sectors corrupts the banking sector, worldwide.

So serious is the organized crime threat that the UN Security Council has on several occasions considered its implications in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central America, Somalia, West Africa, and in relation to several themes (trafficking of arms, drugs, people, and natural resources).

Around the world, organized crime has changed strategic doctrines and threat assessments. Armies have been mobilized to fight drug cartels, navies have been sent to capture pirates. Yet the threat persists.

Since crime has gone global, purely national responses are inadequate: they displace the problem from one country to another. Which emphasize the necessity for improvement of regional cooperation under international and regional agreements. States have to look beyond borders to protect their sovereignty. In the past, they have jealously guarded their territory. In the contemporary globalized world, this approach makes states more, rather than less vulnerable. If police stop at borders while criminals cross them freely, sovereignty is already breached – actually, it is surrendered to those who break the law. Therefore, trans-border intelligence-sharing and law enforcement cooperation are essential.

Very important is to be understand, that transnational organized crime is driven by market forces. Actually the organized crime represents one kind of business enterprise, in which all economic laws are in full force. Criminals are motivated by profit, the key is to go after their money. That means that countermeasures must disrupt those markets forces, and tackle corruption. It also means stopping informal money transfers, offshore banking and the recycling through realestates that make it possible to launder money.

The wide-open window of trade is letting criminals in, because it is essential to install filters. In the past two decades, insufficient regulation and unchecked growth, together with the Internet and free trade zones, have enabled abuse of the economic and financial systems. Today, greater vigilance is needed to keep illicit goods out of the supply chain; prevent the diversion of licit products into the black market; strengthen anti-corruption measures; profile suspicious container and air traffic; crack down on cybercrime; and exercise due diligence (for example, in banking and real estate). In terms of global reach, penetration and impact, organized crime has become a threat affecting all Member States.