United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crimes

Why is in news? Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Nityanand Rai attends two day conference to mark the 20th anniversary of United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crimes (UNTOC) at Palermo in Italy

Minister of State for Home Affairs attended two day conference to mark the 20th anniversary of United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crimes (UNTOC) at Palermo in Italy.

The Ministerial Conference is organised by the Government of Italy and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNDOC) Secretariat.

About UNTOC:

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC, also called the Palermo Convention) is a 2000 United Nations-sponsored multilateral treaty against transnational organized crime.

The convention was adopted by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on 15 November 2000. India joined on 12 December 2002.

The Convention came into force on 29 September 2003.

According to Leoluca Orlando, Mayor of Palermo, the convention was the first international convention to fight transnational organized crime, trafficking of human beings, and terrorism.

In 2014, the UNTOC strengthened its policies regarding wildlife smuggling.

Botswana signed the Anti-Human Trafficking Act of 2014 to comply with UNTOC on the human smuggling protocol.

In February 2018, Afghanistan introduced a new penal code which made the country's laws UNTOC-compliant for the first time.

Three supplementary protocols (the Palermo Protocols):

Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.

Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air.

Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms.

All of these instruments contain elements of the current international law on human trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) acts as custodian of the UNTOC and its protocols.

The UNTOC is the main legal international instrument to fight organized crime, but its efficiency depends on each member's ability to implement the organization's framework.

As an example, the UNTOC requires a minimum sentence of four years imprisonment for transnational organised criminal offences.

Parties:

As of 27 February 2023, it has 191 parties, which includes 186 United Nations member states, the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, the State of Palestine, and the European Union.

The seven UN member states that are not party to the convention are Republic of the Congo, Iran, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Tuvalu.