Speaking at the Sixth Session of the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Crime in Vienna, Austria, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yuri Fedotov, called for a more integrated approach in an effort to combat migrating transnational crime. “Our collective goal must be to end the ‘era of displacement,’ which sees crime simply move elsewhere when challenged, and to begin a time of interconnected cooperation, coordination and communication against crime," he said. He added, “Where the criminals are smart, we must be smarter, where the criminals are sophisticated, we must be even more sophisticated and where crime transcends borders, so must our cooperation.”

In his remarks, posted on the UNODC website, Mr. Fedotov included civil society as having an indispensable role to play in solving the challenges of transnational organized crime. “Largely opportunistic criminal enterprises preyed on countries where the rule of law and institutions were vulnerable to criminals,” he said. Mr. Fedotov also said, “We are able to quantify the cost of transnational organized crime, it is $870 billion, but we cannot calculate the misery and suffering caused to millions of people by these illicit activities.” He called for Member States to be “creative and proactive in the exchange of ideas and information on what is working in the global fight against drugs and crime.”

On October 16, Mr. Fedotov also announced the launch of a new tool in the fight against organized crime. The Digest of Organized Crime is based on the analysis of more than 200 cases and the accumulated knowledge of over 50 experts. “Organized crime groups engage in many different criminal activities and markets. Drug trafficking is one prominent example; others include trafficking in persons and cultural property, extortion, cybercrime and piracy,” he said.  Once the final tool is completed it will allow policy makers from around the world to understand and employ the experience of law enforcement officials and to incorporate these experiences into their own strategies for combatting criminals and their networks.