Bangkok--26 Aug--UNISBKK
While new laws designed to target the structure, organisation, members, and associates of organized crime groups have had some success in Asia and the Pacific, at the same time these laws fail to address the root causes of organized crime and create the risk that outlawed groups will consolidate, move further underground, and engage in more violent and clandestine operations, as has been the case in Japan.
This is one of the findings of a new report by the East Asia and the Pacific regional office of the Untied Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), set to be launched 11:00 am Monday 31 August at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand (FCCT).
The report entitled Palermo on the Pacific Rim: Organized Crime Offences in the Asia Pacific Region reviews and critically analyses the development and implementation of organized crime legislations in the region. It discusses the consequences of this strategy and the barriers to its success, while providing a number of recommendations on how organized crime legislations can be improved. The report also examines the manner in which the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime — often called the Palermo Convention - has been adopted in the region and reviews efforts by the international community to promote its wider implementation.
Speaking at the launch will be Dr. Andreas Schloenhardt, Associate Professor at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, who prepared the report, alongside UNODC Regional Representative for East Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Gary Lewis.
Members of the Media are welcome to attend the launch at 11:00 a.m.
(registration beginning at 10:30 a.m.) at:
Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand (FCCT), Penthouse, Maneeya Center,
518/5 Ploenchit Rd close to the Chitlom BTS station.
You may preregister for the event via fax (+66 2 281 2129) to the UNODC Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific.
The report will be available on 31 August, online at:
www.unodc.org/eastasiaandpacific in the section: ‘Publications’
For more information, please contact:
Amittada Boonmontira, UNODC (tel. 02 288 2619,
[email protected])
Sam Lloyd (tel. 02 288 2551, [email protected])
Bentley Jenson, UN/ESCAP Information Services (tel. 02 288 1862,[email protected])