The United Nations and Transnational Organized Crime

Transnational organized crime poses one of the most serious threats to international security in the 1990s. Its significance was marked by the World Ministerial Conference on transnational organized crime held in Naples in November 1994. Convened by the United Nations to discuss the dangers caused by cross -border organized crime and to identify forms of international cooperation for its prevention and control, the conference brought together ministers from 142 states. This volume examines transnational criminal organizations and their activities; global money-laundering; the substantive and procedural measures which need to be taken at national level if governments are to be effective in the struggle against organized crime; bilateral, regional and global cooperation; and the advantages and shortcomings of an international convention. The reduction and subsequent containment of transnational organized crime require governments not only to recognize the seriousness of the threat it poses, but also to allocate resources to meet it. This volume discusses what needs to be done if governments are to be effective in combating the criminal enterprises which have decided to challenge lawf