Open Debate on Transnational Organised Crime*
Tomorrow morning (7 December), the Security Council will hold a ministerial-level open debate on “Transnational organized crime, growing challenges and new threats” under the “Threats to international peace and security” agenda item. President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador will chair the meeting, which is the signature event of Ecuador’s December presidency. The expected briefers are UN Secretary-General António Guterres; UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Ghada Fathi Waly; Melani Cammett, the Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government and the Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University; and Victoria Nyanjura, the Founder and General Director of Women in Action for Women (WAW), an organisation that supports women survivors of conflict in northern Uganda. Ecuador and France have proposed a presidential statement on transnational organised crime in connection with the open debate, which is currently being negotiated by Council members. At the time of writing, it was unclear whether the text would be agreed in time for tomorrow’s meeting.
During the past 15 years, the Security Council has held several meetings and adopted key outcomes focusing on the challenges posed by transnational organised crime. The Council has recognised that this issue is interlinked with various illegal activities that threaten international peace and security, including migrant smuggling, illegal mining, drug and arms smuggling, human trafficking, extrajudicial killings, sexual and gender-based violence, kidnappings, money laundering, cybercrime, and trafficking in cultural artifacts, among others.
Recent Council meetings related to transnational organised crime have focused on specific aspects of this issue, such as human trafficking (held during the US, Spanish, and Italian Council presidencies in December 2015, December 2016, and November 2017, respectively); the protection of cultural heritage (convened during Italy’s Council presidency in November 2017); and organised crime at sea (held during Equatorial Guinea’s presidency in February 2019). (For more background, see the brief on transnational organised crime in our December 2023 Monthly Forecast.)
Ecuador has prepared a concept note ahead of tomorrow’s meeting. It says that the open debate is designed to analyse the intersections of transnational organised crime and threats to international peace and security. It will also provide a platform to discuss sub-regional, regional, and international initiatives and policy responses to tackle this threat. The meeting will also strive to address the efforts of UN entities to identify trends and address gaps in countering the challenges of transnational organised crime, and to identify key aspects of a coordinated response and measures to strengthen international cooperation.
The concept note proposes a series of questions to help guide the discussion, including:
- What are the effects of transnational organised crime on international peace and security?
- What are the evolving modi operandi of transnational criminal networks and what gender-sensitive policies and responses should be considered?
- How can the role of transnational organised crime in the violation of Security Council sanctions regimes and embargoes be monitored?
- What else can the Security Council do to strengthen the UN system and the capacities of countries to counter these threats?
- How is the youth, peace and security (YPS) agenda relevant in efforts to combat transnational organised crime?
At tomorrow’s meeting, several members may maintain that underdevelopment is a factor that fuels transnational organised crime. There may be references to the ways in which transnational organised crime hinders the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, which calls for the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. Members may also argue that transnational organised crime exacerbates inequalities, erodes state authority, and undermines trust in public institutions in ways that heighten insecurity. There may be an emphasis as well on the importance of promoting enhanced coherence and coordination among international, regional, and national actors to tackle this challenge.
Some member states might express scepticism about the Council’s efforts to address certain aspects of organised crime, arguing that this issue is largely within the remit of domestic law enforcement agencies. At the same time, these members have expressed the view that the linkages between transnational organised crime and counterterrorism is a valid area for Council consideration.
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Post-script: On 7 December, in connection with the open debate, the Security Council adopted a presidential statement (S/PRST/2023/6) in which it expresses concern at the rise of transnational organised crime, including the “increase of drug-trafficking, smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons and illicit trafficking and smuggling of small arms and light weapons”. Ecuador and France also incorporated language in the statement expressing grave concern at “the illicit transfer, destabilizing accumulation and misuse of small arms and light weapons”. The references to small arms and light weapons (SALW) in the text are consistent with Ecuador’s desire to highlight this issue during its December 2023 Council presidency, as it will be convening an open debate on SALW on 15 December. In the statement, the Council also encourages the UN—in particular the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT)—and regional and sub-regional organisations to provide “within their respective mandates technical assistance and capacity-building to Member States, upon their request to support them in preventing transnational organized crime and terrorism”.
