The 12th Conference of the Parties to the Palermo Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), held in Vienna from 16 to 2020 October XNUMX, ended with great success for Italy.
The Conference coincided with the celebrations for the twentieth anniversary of the Convention - signed in December 2000 in Palermo - which, as underlined at the opening by the Minister of Justice Alfonso Bonafede, as head of the Italian delegation, has its roots precisely in the extraordinary intuitions of Giovanni Falcone, among the first to invoke a global commitment in the fight against the mafia.
And just as a tribute to Giovanni Falcone, his vision and his commitment, the Conference ended with the adoption of a resolution presented by Italy in which the fundamental role of the Sicilian magistrate is recognized, "whose work and sacrifice have paved the way for the adoption of the Convention ”.
A high-level event on the sidelines of the Conference was dedicated to the celebrations, opened by the Deputy Foreign Minister Marina Sereni and the Executive Director of UNODC Ghada Waly, which was also attended by the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation Giovanni Salvi, the Head of Police Franco Gabrielli, the National Anti-Mafia and Counter-Terrorism Attorney Federico Cafiero de Raho, as well as high-level representatives from Japan, Mexico, Romania, United States, Morocco and France.
The Resolution, prepared by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Interior, takes stock of the implementation of the Convention, which has almost universal accession (190 States parties) and is defined as "the main global instrument available to the international community to prevent and fight all forms and manifestations of transnational organized crime and protect the victims ”.
The resolution aims to contrast the economic dimension of crime (the famous "follow the money" coined by Falcone), enhances the return of assets to victims also through social use, plans new forms of international cooperation and the use of investigative techniques special, pushes towards the use of the Convention against emerging forms of crime, opens the way for a collaboration between States and internet providers to fight cybercrime, and proposes the fight against organized crime not only as repression but above all as a fight to rights and freedoms.
However, the resolution is also projected towards the future, through the recognition of the full modernity of the Palermo Convention as an instrument to combat the "new, emerging and evolving forms of transnational organized crime" which include, for example, the very topical issues of crime environmental and cybercrime. The resolution also includes a wide range of tools aimed at effectively addressing the economic dimension of transnational organized crime, based on the Italian experience, which also inspires the forecast of the destination of confiscated assets for the benefit of communities damaged by particularly serious criminal phenomena.
The success of the Conference is enhanced by the adoption of a second resolution, also proposed by Italy, through which, after years of negotiations, the process of verifying the implementation of the Convention and of the three Protocols against trafficking in human beings, smuggling of migrants and illicit trafficking in firearms, which will allow for an improvement in their effectiveness.