Brussels, 15/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino signed in Palermo, on behalf of the Union, the United Nations Convention against organised transnational crime, as well as its annexed protocols on combating the trade in people (especially women and children) and the trafficking of illegal migrants by land, air and sea. The protocol on the firearms and munitions trade still remains to be finalised (see EUROPE of 7 December, p.13). UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as well as the delegations of over 140 countries (Heads of State and Government and Justice and Interior Ministers from throughout the world) took part in the conference for signing the convention and its annexed protocols in the Sicilian town.
The convention is not a compulsory international agreement but is legally binding. In other words, countries are not forced to sign it but, if they do, the convention becomes binding for them. Two parts must be signed: the UN Convention as such, on one hand, and its above-mentioned protocols in annex, on the other. In Palermo, the signing of the protocol on immigration gave rise to reticence on the part of certain developing countries, mainly those in a "transit country" situation, as they wonder how they would face up to the sizeable administrative problems in the case of massive immigration. Morocco, for example, may receive Nigerian immigrants on their way to Europe. This means it would be confronted by administrative problems that it cannot overcome. Hence its reticence to sign the protocol.
Under the convention, signatories pledge to abolish the banking secret and numbered accounts relating to criminal activities, to confiscate goods from illegal sources, to facilitate extradition and to protect witnesses. The texts also condemn the merchandising of illegal immigration and the slavery that arises from it, mainly through physical and economic sexual exploitation of women and children.
The European Union, for its part, is already at a more advanced stage in its fight against money laundering, the corruption of judges and magistrates, etc. Eurojust, Europol, the recognition of penal sentences and all the work accomplished since the Tampere Summit places Europe at a far more advanced stage than the United Nations. However, stressed Mr Vitorino's spokesperson, "both, that is, the UN Convention and its protocols and the EU's activity in this connection, must go forward in parallel".
"After ratification by the European Institutions, these instruments will take effect in the areas where the Community is competent, for the EU as a whole. This is a strong commitment that the Commission and the 15 Member States hope to make towards the international community, and which strengthens the commitment of each of the EU States taken individually. This commitment can be justified by the stakes involved, that is the strengthening of indispensable international cooperation in the fight against crime which has no borders", said Commissioner Vitorino, at the signing ceremony. "These new UN instruments establish minimum norms not only for legal definitions but also for incrimination, the exchange of information, the protection of victims, and prevention. The fight against money laundering, that the EU authorities consider an essential pillar in the fight against organised crime as well as prevention and the fight against particularly degrading kinds of trafficking such as the trade in human beings, must be strengthened by the convention", hence the need for rapid ratification, specifies the Commissioner. By way of conclusion, Antonio Vitorino pointed out that the "EU planned to continue supporting the efforts of the international community, whether in the context of the instruments already developed or to be finalised, or in the context of future work envisaged".