Ad hoc Drafting Group on Transnational Organised Crime (PC-GR-COT)

Ad hoc Drafting Group on Transnational Organised Crime (PC-GR-COT) Transnational organised crime (TOC) is an increasingly important issue in many Council of Europe member states and thus for the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC). It poses a direct threat to the internal security of all European states by significantly undermining the rule of law and compromising the integrity of democratic institutions. By its very nature, this kind of crime cannot be efficiently curbed by each state on its own. It requires a targeted and comprehensive approach, which could include the use of international co-operation mechanisms.

In response to this threat, European states have co-operated in the combat against transnational and organised crime using the framework of various international and supranational fora. While many of these frameworks (UNODC, Interpol and the EU) have already proven their worth, a truly pan-European framework and a common strategic approach by all European states to tackle TOC are perhaps still lacking. It goes without saying that the Council of Europe is in a privileged position role to deal with this threat in a pan-European context.

The terms of reference of the Ad hoc Drafting Group on Transnational Organised Crime (PC-GR-COT) were adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 21 November 2012. The PC-GR-COT carried out its work in 2013 and drafted the White Paper on Transnational Organised Crime.

news

Back 2nd Conference on Terrorism and Organised Crime

Senior experts and policy makers from all Council of Europe member States and several international organisations met in Malaga to share best practices and develop strategies to improve law enforcement co-operation.

In particular, they focused on the cross-border nature of new threats and on how to tackle the complex ways terrorism and organised criminality feed each other.

The use of modern special investigative techniques, the cybercrime dimension, countering the abuse of Internet and the potential radicalization in prisons, analysing the financial flows were high on the agenda of the conference.

The participants underlined the importance of ensuring a high degree of specialisation among the competent actors and a closer co-operation between the Council of Europe and the private sector.

The ratification of the Second Additional protocol to the 1959 Mutual Legal Assistance Convention was also defined as important in order to ease cross-border cooperation, in particular by broadening the range of situations in which mutual assistance may be requested and better implemented by making more use of the Joint Investigation Teams (JITs).

The Conference was organised by The Criminal Law and Counter-Terrorism Divisions of the Council of Europe, in co-operation with the City Hall and the University of Malaga and took place in Malaga, Spain, on 21 and 22 of September 2017.

Representatives from Algeria and Morocco, participating in the Neighbourhood Partnership with the Council of Europe, in the framework of the South Programme II, also participated in the Conference.

Málaga 21-22 September 2017