Vienna – XII Conference of the Parties to the Palermo Convention.

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) – or Palermo Convention – was held in Vienna from 14 to 18 October. It is the most important biennial event on the UN agenda for preventing and combating organized crime by strengthening cross-border cooperation.

Italy, which has always played a leading role in international efforts to combat mafias, participated in the meeting with an inter-ministerial delegation led by the Minister of Justice, Hon. Carlo Nordio, who underlined the urgency of strengthening, at a national level and through multilateral cooperation, the fight against new forms of organized crime, which increasingly operate in the cyber domain.

Together with the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Ghada Waly, the Minister also took part in a high-level event marking the start of one month of mobilization in view of the first International Day against Transnational Organized Crime (15 November), also inaugurating on that occasion the exhibition “Cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime: Italy’s Experience”, which represented a testimony of the Italian history and capacities in the fight against mafias. The exhibition will remain at the Vienna International Center for the entire month and will then be exhibited at the UN in New York.

The week was also rich of numerous side events. The Permanent Representative of Italy, Amb. Debora Lepre, spoke at a high-level panel on the mechanism for reviewing the implementation of the Palermo Convention, as well as at a side event on the exploitation of minors by criminal organizations. Italy also co-organized side events focused on priority issues for our country, such as the fight against crimes against cultural heritage, the prevention of terrorism, the connections between corruption and organized crime, and firearms trafficking.

The Conference adopted 4 resolutions and 2 decisions: among these, two important resolutions on the fight against firearms trafficking and on the prevention and fight against environmental crimes.