Panel Discussions - Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Expert: Cybercrime Allows Criminals into "Billions of Family Homes"
Nick Lewis, an organized-crime expert with the British Embassy, told an IPI audience that opportunities for criminals to commit international crimes have become greater, and that organized crime now affects billions of ordinary citizens.
“Before the rise of cybercrime, the man in the street felt largely untouched by organized crime,” he said at the October 6th event. “It was by definition an ‘underworld’ activity, and rarely touched ordinary lives. In recent years, though, the home computer has enabled criminals to deliver child pornography, fraud, and extortion into the heart of billions of family homes.”
At a time when transnational organized crime is increasingly regarded as an international security threat, and with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conference on transnational crime only a week away, the International Peace Institute hosted this event, titled “Transnational Organized Crime and the Palermo Convention: A Reality Check,” to consider the current state of transnational organized crime and the role played by the Palermo Convention in countering it. The seminar brought together about seventy participants, mainly from missions to the UN, UN agencies, and the NGO community.
Six experts made presentations in two panels. The first panel addressed recent trends and the evolving nature, growth and impact of transnational organized crime. A global perspective was provided, and developments in Latin America and China highlighted.
The second panel focused on the role of the Palermo Convention in countering transnational organized crime. The need for effective review mechanisms was stressed and the convention's limitations acknowledged. It is not an instrument that was in the first instance designed to combat transnational organized crime; rather, it in essence provides the legal tools to facilitate international cooperation to counter such crime.
IPI will shortly publish a report on the event. The seminar was conducted under Chatham House rules of non-attribution, but links to two of the presentations are provided below.
The upcoming UNODC conference in Vienna on October 18th-22nd, titled the Fifth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention), marks ten years since the Palermo Convention was put in place. Over the course of this decade, transnational organized crime appears to have evolved and significantly expanded, while the Palermo Convention is still struggling to convince states’ parties and skeptics of its effectiveness.
Presentation by Nick Lewis
Presentation by Professor T. Wing Lo
Presentation by Professor Phil Williams
Read agenda
Read Peter Gastrow's Comment and Analysis piece on the Palermo Convention
The Global Observatory
Interview with John Prendergast, Co-Founder, Enough Project
Mr. Prendergast discusses the international justice system and the new ground forged by Invisible Children's Kony2012 campaign.
Key Global Events to Watch in May
A list of key upcoming meetings and events with implications for global affairs.
The Global Observatory is a new website by IPI, providing timely analysis on peace and security issues, interviews with leading policymakers, interactive maps, and more.
Recent Events
May 10, 2012
Arbour: What the Rule of Law Means
“In my understanding of the rule of law, fundamentally, what the rule of law means is that it embraces the principle of equality before the law,” Louise Arbour, president of the International Crisis Group (ICG), told an IPI audience on May 10, 2012. Ms. Arbour outlined that this means that no one is above the law and everyone has both equal protection and equal benefit of the law. 
May 03, 2012
Shachtman: Cyber Threats Akin to South Bronx, Not Pearl Harbor
“There’s not a danger of a cyber Pearl Harbor… it’s more like the South Bronx circa 1999, where there’s a danger that it becomes such a tough neighborhood that no one wants to set up shop there and people move out,” Noah Shachtman, editor of the Danger Room blog at Wired magazine and non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, told an IPI audience at a panel on cyber security on May 3, 2011.
April 27, 2012
Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems
An April 27th roundtable discussion at IPI titled “Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems” examined the progress, prospects and challenges of regional and international early warning and response mechanisms to monitor, anticipate, and mitigate potential conflict situations in Africa.