I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Serbia*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, the potential candidate country Georgia, as well as Andorra, align themselves with this statement.

We thank Ecuador for pursuing this subject, allowing us to focus on the need to better understand and address transnational organised crime.

Transnational organised crime plays a significant role in sustaining armed conflict, terrorism, corruption, and compromising the rule of law. Organised crime groups use their large illegal profits to infiltrate the licit economy and public institutions, eroding the rule of law and fundamental rights, and undermining people’s right to safety as well as their trust in public authorities. Conversely, this destabilising impact serves to further strengthen organised crime groups, by providing fertile ground for their growth amidst instability.

In recent years, numerous illegal activities have moved to the online environment, making it easier for perpetrators to coordinate, but also more difficult for law enforcement authorities to detect and prosecute. This is probably the most eminent challenge and new threat we must prioritise. We therefore welcome all efforts of the UN focusing on the fight against cybercrime and call for enhanced debates and strengthened cooperation on this issue.

The transnational threats and evolving working methods of organised crime groups operating both offline and online call for a coordinated and targeted international response. That’s why we insist on the full implementation of the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and its Protocols by all States Parties, and reiterate our support to the work of relevant UN entities, in particular UNODC.

Within the EU, drug trafficking is the main activity of organised criminal groups. The activities of criminal networks have evolved in their scale, sophistication, and violent consequences, leading to a wave of violence that hits not only members of criminal organisations, but also innocent people – including the deaths of several children this year alone.

Organised criminal networks often take advantage of those living in poverty and hardship, and exploit them through human trafficking. Migrants are particularly vulnerable in this regard. The EU is committed to fighting human trafficking networks both within the EU and around the world based on a human rights, victim-centred and gender-responsive approach. In this context, we recall UNTOC resolution 26/3 that calls on States Parties to mainstream a gender perspective into efforts to prevent and combat transnational organised crime, also contributing to achieving the goals set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The EU works closely with international partners to address the mentioned threats. For example, the EU has enhanced its support to anti-drug trafficking operations in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. Elsewhere, the COPOLAD cooperation programme assists countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in improving their drug policies. We are also currently negotiating international agreements for the exchange of information relevant to the fight against transnational organised crime, including personal data, between Europol and a number of Latin-American countries.

The EU’s Global Illicit Flows Programme is dedicated to building national capacities to counter illicit trafficking by air, land and sea, and to investigate and prosecute organised criminal groups. Besides drug trafficking, other priorities include trafficking of arms and environmental crime, which is a key driver of climate change.

More broadly, the EU contributes to the funding of several Interpol projects, including the Fugitive Investigation Permanent Mechanism for Latin America and the West African Police Information System, WAPIS, which promotes the electronic storage of police records in the region, and the sharing of information both regionally and internationally. This type of assistance is fully complementary with other projects working on strengthening the entire criminal justice chain, such as EL PAcCTO, the Europe-Latin America Programme of Assistance against Transnational Organised Crime.

The EU also supports almost 50 ongoing UNODC projects with a total contribution of more than USD 230 million and covers around 35% of UNODC’s budget together with its Member States.

While national authorities operating on the ground are on the frontline in the fight against organised crime, global partnerships are paramount to ensure effective cooperation as well as information and knowledge exchange among national authorities. We welcome all the efforts of the UN, including the UNODC, to promote, support and enhance technical assistance, exchange of experience and international cooperation in this respect, and encourage the UNSC to continue to address the links between transnational organised crime and conflict in cooperation with other UN bodies, regional organisations and Member States.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.