Transnational Crime

Definition

- global crime: is typically used to explain crime’s distribution rather than its typology;

- international crime: involves crimes against humanity that may or may not involve multiple countries;

- transnational crime: violations of law that involve more than one country in their planning, execution, or impact (U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2002).

These violations are distinguished from other crimes in their multinational nature, which poses unique problems in understanding their causes, developing prevention strategies, and in mounting effective adjudication procedures.

Transnational criminality

There are18 categories of transnational offenses whose inception, perpetration,

and direct or indirect efforts involve more than one country.

Three broad categories affecting:

- provision of illicit goods (drug trafficking, trafficking in stolen property, weapons trafficking, and counterfeiting)

- illicit services (commercial sex and human trafficking)

- infiltration of business and government (fraud, racketeering, money laundering, and corruption).

Transnational Criminals

- Transnational criminals can operate solo or with a handful of associates.

- The emphasis on transnational crime is heavily predicated on the activities associated with “transnational organized crime", defined during the United

Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime as:

"a structured group of three or more persons existing for a period of time and

acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences in accordance with this Convention in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a

financial or material benefit. (UNODC, 2000, Article 2a)

Which route are used?

- overland trade route linking Byzantium (now Istanbul) to Rome through the Balkans still used by modern drugs and weapons traffickers;

- amber route, connecting the Black Sea to the Baltic used to smuggle and for human traffic;

- water route across the Adriatic from Albania to Italy continues to bring various

forms of contraband into Puglia in the south of Italy.

The Criminal Route

Transnational Crime Assessment

Definition

The definition comes from:

- The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000) - Article 3 "Palermo Protocol".

"The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments and benefits to achieve the consent of a person, having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation".

- The EU Directive 2011/36/EU on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting its Victims.

"A serious violation of fundamental human rights and human dignity and involves ruthless practices such as the abuse and deception of vulnerable persons, as well as the use of violence, threats, debt bondage and coercion".

Purpose of Human Trafficking and Vulnerable Victims

The purposes behind trafficking in persons are various.

The Palermo Protocol enumerated several forms of exploitation, though not limiting them, giving legislators the possibility to include other forms:

"shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or removal of organs"

If a victim of THB is aware of committing a crime, Article 8 of the EU Directive 2011/36 recommends Member States and competent authorities not to prosecute or impose penalties on victims.

Children are the most vulnerable category among victims of trafficking and there is no need to fullfill the above conditions.

Push & Pull Factors

Most common push factors:

- Social and economic circumstances in countries of origin influence victims and exploiters and facilitate the perpetration of THB.

Potential victims:

- lack of education

- high levels of unemployment and low living standards in the origin country

- gender discrimination or inequalities in the labour market

- human rights violations and abusive situations.

The most common pull factors include:

- General high living standards and employment opportunities;

- The increased demand for cheap labour services due to the economic crisis;

- Foreign diaspora communities established across the EU;

Human Trafficking is based on convincing the victim on these possibilities.

Facilitating Factors

THB is heavily facilitated by external factors including:

- Social tolerance;

- Lack of harmonised legislation across the EU;

- High profits vs. low risks;

- Global development of online infrastructures.

Structure and Origin of Traffickers

- Networks linked by family kinship or ethnic ties.

- The majority of traffickers are male; women are involved mainly in low-ranking tasks.

- In 2014, 70% of suspects registered at Europol were EU nationals from Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. Chinese and Nigerian groups are also considerably active in Europe.

- Nigerian networks are proficient in the use of fraudulent visas or genuine/look-alike/ stolen passports.

- Chinese networks are proficient in the production of falsified travel documents and frequently exploit the tourist visa regime.

Data about THB

- During 2013 and 2014, Europol registered 8 037 suspects of THB and 7 500 victims/potential victims.

- The majority of victims (71%) and suspects (70%) were EU nationals.

- Intra-EU trafficking is on the rise.

Contrasting Transnational Crime and THB

- The EU Organised Crime Policy Cycle started in 2013 to ensure cooperation between MS law enforcement authorities, EU institutions, EU agencies and relevant third parties in the fight against serious international and organised crime (EUROPOL, INTERPOL).

- Europol is assigned to provide support to cross-border and high-level investigations and analytical and operational assistance.

- The U.N. with numerous legal instruments—some in the form of a hard treaty law that may have additional protocols, others as soft law only.

- The EU Strategy towards the eradication of the crime of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012-2016 has been established to support the transposition of the EU Directive 2011/36 into the MS legislation and to set up a harmonised approach to achieving this.

Bibliography

- Benedek W., Daase C., Dimitrijevic V., van Duyne P. (2010). Transnational Terrorism Organized Crime and Peace-Building, Human Security in the Western Balkans, Palgrave Macmillan.

- Europol (2016). Situation Report, Trafficking in Human Beings in the EU. Document Ref N°: 765175.

- Felsen D., Kalaitzidis A. (2011). A Historical overview of Transnational Crime.

- Library of the EU (2013). The EU response to organised crime.

- Reichel L. P., Albanese J.S. (2014). Handbook of Transnational Crime and Justice. SAGE Publications.

- Sperling, J. (2014). Handbook of Governance and Security. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

- United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2010). Crime and instability, Case studies of transnational threats.

- Van der Laan F. (2017). Transnational organized crime, Thematic Study Clingendael Monitor.