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UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME
AND THE PROTOCOLS THERETO

Printed in Austria
V.04-56153—September 2004—1,900

UNITED NATIONS

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME
Vienna

UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME
AND THE PROTOCOLS THERETO

UNITED NATIONS
New York, 2004

Foreword
With the signing of the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime in Palermo, Italy, in December 2000, the international community demonstrated the political will to answer a global challenge with a global response. If crime crosses borders, so must law enforcement. If the rule of law is undermined not only in one country, but in many, then those who defend it cannot limit themselves to purely national means. If the enemies of progress and human rights seek to exploit the openness and opportunities of globalization for their purposes, then we must exploit those very same factors to defend human rights and defeat the forces of crime, corruption and trafficking in human beings.
One of the starkest contrasts in our world today is the gulf that exists between the civil and the uncivil. By “civil” I mean civilization: the accumulated centuries of learning that form our foundation for progress. By “civil” I also mean tolerance: the pluralism and respect with which we accept and draw strength from the world’s diverse peoples. And finally, I mean civil society: the citizens’ groups, businesses, unions, professors, journalists, political parties and others who have an essential role to play in the running of any society.
Arrayed against these constructive forces, however, in ever greater numbers and with ever stronger weapons, are the forces of what I