Prime Minister Endorses UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime

Prime Minister P.J. Patterson deposited several Instruments of Ratification, when he met with United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell, at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York, on September 29.
The Instruments included: the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime; Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea; and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition.
The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime recognizes the growing incidence of transnational organized crime and seeks to combat such crimes through greater international co-operation. The Protocols, all of which supplement the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, address issues that are of particular concern to member states and were adopted by the UN Millennium General Assembly on November 15, 2000. States which ratify the Convention are obligated to take the necessary measures, which include adopting innovative models of mutual legal assistance; law enforcement co-operation, and technical assistance and training, to combat incidences of transnational crime. In addition, member states also commit themselves to increasing participation with each other as it relates to investigating and prosecuting such offences.
The Jamaican delegation included: Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K.D. Knight; Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Stafford Neil; and Dr. Basil K. Bryan, Consul General to New York.