User:General Monzer Ayoubi

1-Definition of transnational organized crime and the reasons of its expansion. 2-The existing relationships between transnational organized crime and terrorist crimes. 3-Countermeasures against transnational organized crime. 4-Organized crime in Lebanon and the Arab countries.

Introduction:

There is no doubt that the development of the transport and communications services and the increase of the solidarity as well as the internationalization of social,political and economic systems,urged the world to face the challenges and the dangers of transnational organized crime that threaten its communities. The transnational organized groups skilled at planing and organization use the weaknesses of the organizational judicial and security systems,in order to transfer their operations from the regions where dangers are reduced and illegal services and products available in the regions where financial gains could be obtained easily consequently;disorder and non stability will increase while corruption vices and violation of human rights and political freedoma prevail.. After acquiring an international aspect organized groups were able to adopt structures similar to these of companies by following strategy that enable the to respond quickly to the change in circumstances and to conceal their illegal proceeds as well as to avail of opportunities,noting that trafficking in human beings,fire arms,cars,works of art and drugs has became wider... The problem has definitely bacame a national and regional one especially that money laundering leads to the destruction of the infrastructures of the democratic institutions....

A-DEFINITION OF TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE REASONS OF ITS EXPANSION

1-Definition of organized crime:

The expression "organized crime"was used for the first time in Chicago in 1919 then in the debates concerning the criminal policy of Germany's in the 60's. However,the meaning of this expression has changed several times and currently it is not homogeneous and even contradictory nevertheless,we can adopt the following definition: Transnational organized crime is the serious crime which is committed by an organized criminal group,who has several ramifications in more than one country .The reason of such crime is the financial benefit or an illegal goal. hence,difference should be made between national and transnational criminal organizations because the first ones operate inside one country but the latter extend beyond the borders. It is obvious that organized crime is basically a serious one,but the criteria set up for the determination of such crimes includes the following acts: -Illegal drugs traffic and money laundering. -Trafficking in human beings. -Money counterfeiting. -Theft and illegal smuggling of cultural work acts. -Computer and IT crimes. -Illegal trafficking in biological genetic and nuclear substances in addition to fire arms. -Terrorist activities. Nevertheless,the notion of transnational organized crime is subject to scientific considerations,which may differ from one place to another,and from a time to another according to the prevailing human economic cultural and political situations.

2-Charecteristcs Of Organized Crime:

The most important characteristics of the organized crime are the following: -Planning. -Professionalism. -Coherence. -Complication. -Ability of recruitment and extortion. -Huge proceeds in a record time. -Coexistence of organized crime within the community. -Use of violence and terrorist acts.

3-Conduct and traditions of transnational organized crime organizations:

-Pramidal Structure of the criminal organization. -Success of members in admission of confidence tests. -Unconditional loyalty and suspense devotion towards the chiefs. -Strictness of internal regulations. -Prevalence of the organization interests over those of its members. -Compliance with the behavior set up by the leaders. -Money collection and control of key positions. -Money laundering. -Dividing the regions of influence. -Self arbitration and taking revenge. -Trying to have the sympathy of the public opinion.

4-The reasons of the transnational organized crime expansion:

-The development of communications services and the transnational transactions especially in the economical field. -Development of the international trade in addition to the world financial networks and the use of foreign currecies for commercial transactions which makes the control over them very hard. -I mportant differences between poor and rich countries which encourage the consumption societies,hence illegal drug traffic some estimations show that world trade in drugs is important than that in petroleum and it may reach 500 billion dollars per year. -increase of immigration and ethnic ghettos of the groups who do not integrate into the society of the new country.For this reason criminal organisations try to take advantage of their financial and cultural problems and hire yhen for committting organized crime. -The current international financial system helped the criminal organizations to transfer their proceeds easily and to launder their transactions. the financial power of these criminal organizations corrupts high-ranking officials or even those who are in key positions .Moreover,the transnational organizations enter into alliance with local criminal groups. -Deterioration of moral values and absence of good education . -Incomptability between penal and criminal legislation's and the society.

B-THE EXISTING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE TERRORIST CRIMES:

This relationship is inevitably growing and there are common links between these two kinds of crimes,both of them has an international aspect and is very dangerous and well organized,,both of them threatens the political and social development and stability of all countries. All international and regional conference highlight that the repression of organized crime should be made through the international cooperation.. acts violence,extortion,kidnapping and illegal transactions are considered also as new types of organized crime..

1-Forms of relationship existing between the organized crime & terrorist acts:

From the theoretical point of view is considered to be a terrorist crime any act which creates fear or terror at the national level or even internationally and the reason of such act is the personal profit of the revenge or different political and social targets.. Terrorist acts could be made by one person or by an organized group or even by the state. (Terrorisme of state) Terrorisme made by organized group appeared in the early 70's for different reasons:Political ones or the strained relationship or conflicts existing between some countries. Nevertheless the international community has designated some of these acts as terrorism,like airplane high jacking and air privacy (convection of Tokyo,1960 The Hague,1970 Montreal,1970)attacks an international properties including diplomatic missions"NewYork convention,1973".Persons Kidnapping " ConnectionOf Geneva,1949 and 1957 , UN convention,1979".Genocide's"UN convention09/12/1948" and The Racism"convention promulgated by the general assembly on 03/11/1973". The special committe of the international law society adopted a specific definition for terrorism ,the international terrorist crime is any violent and dangerous act or the threat to do such act,whether it is done by one person or a group against persons,organizations places,means or transport or against the public in general aiming at the threaten of people or deterioration of friendly relationship existing between the countries. Conspiring or attempting to do such a crime or investigation for,or participation in are considered also as a crime of international terrorism.

2-Prevention Strategy:

Organized crime and terrorism are national and regional security problem in most of the countries. The strategy bases to combat organized crime appear in the response of the international community to the continuous developments,the development of the cooperation between governments and the law enforcement agencies,and the modernizations of legislation's. The response of the international community also appears in the adoption of the UN convention on transnational organized crime prevention as a strategic framework to help the countries in their struggle against this problem and to establish a frame for international cooperation in this field. The final version of this convention,the final version of the protocol on human trade,especiallywomen and children,the protocol on illegal immigration as well as the protocol on firearms fabrication and traffic were adopted at the 10th session in 2000. This convention and the third protocols giarantee a strategic and practical version to combat transnational organized crime and give the opportunity to elaborate further protocols. Two importantfields are being discussed at the present time: High-Technology and computer crimes and corruption. Dealing with transnational organized crime groups must aim to eradicted them and dismantle their structures.This issue justifies the importance of the role played by the local authorities as for legislation,the law enforcement and mutual assistance,since those illegal organizations will be unable to find a suitable place for their activities or to take advantage of the official authorities weaknesses due to political,social and economic troubles. Experiences have shown hat terrorist acts are subject to strict organization and execution and that their repercussions exceed sometimes the state border.In this view,the local means merged with the international ones to combat terrorism noting that Lebanon has chosen to follow the steps of other countries in this struggle.

C-CONTERMEASURES AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME:

Measures to combat organized crime appear in two forms preventive measures and global panel policy on both local and international level. 1-Preventive measures:Preventive measures are necessary to combat organized crime .Especially that this financial costs are inconsiderable . Preventive measures include:

Limiting illegal opportunities,minimizing the demand for illegal goods and services or imposing a severe surveillance system to prevent criminal organizations from invading those sectors or exploiting them.
Exchanging information,scrutinizing trade transactions and procuring equal opportunities to limit monopoly dangers and damages as well as supervising accounts and checking taxes which make illegal money spending for corrupt goals difficult.
Setting up coordinated policy between states to combat money laundering and confiscate money resulting from crimes by reporting suspicious transactions and revealing the identity of customers that use financial and banking institutions.
Supervising borders and immigration laws in order to monitor the criminal's movements and inform the concerned authorities.

The prevention policy is linked to the development process as it provides necessary services and takes man away from individual or organized criminality or delinquancy.Furthermore,it is imperative to make the public aware of criminality dangers and damages in order to entrance the rule of law and moral ethics and the respect of penal justice.. 2-Remedial measures:*In the framework of the national legislation: -The state endeavors to combat organized crime through a severe penal policy in the frame work of the rational legislation.Punishments inflicted to those involved in organized crime are imprisonment payment of fines and confiscation of assets derived from such activities. The last measure gained an increasing importance as an integral to the money laundering policy. Thus,the state must develop the legisation to enable itself to strike at the heart of groups involved in organized crime,to ensure international cooperation and to protect human and moral values as well as to struggle against corruption in all its aspects. Furthermore,the state must promote the executive matters especially judicial pursuits and evidences which gain a special importance in this field.Authorities in charge of investigation must be granted presumptive competence's convenient to perform their job in an effective and equitable way.Those authorities must also employ modern and sophisticated means to unmask organized crimes as well as criminals.Noting that this could be in conflict with the traditional concept of privacy inviolability,yet to trespass this on this concept in certain limits may become acceptable if it is done to ensure the groups security and safety. -To protect witnesses who could be threaten and subject to revenge as well as the members of their families;an appropriate compensation must be granted to those who reveal information concerning a case of organized crime.

In the framework of international cooperration:Experience revealed that it is difficult to resolve the organized crime problem by local efforts due to growing international and economical relations and technical means used by criminals.In fact local capacities are unable to encounter this problem while coordinated international efforts and more useful to confront it.

Many steps were taken to combat organized crime at the international level. Transnational organized crime remained under consideration and discussion within the committee of crime prevention and criminal justice which issued important decisions in this field adopted by the U.N economical and social board.Those decisions 12-13-14/1994 include provisions on the confiscation of assets derived from criminal activities,the development of technical methods aiming to infiltrate the criminal organizations,the mutual legal assistance the improvement of the standard treaties implementation,the technical assistance and the financial compensation for the victims and the cooperation to prevent illegal immigration as well as minor trafficking. As for narcotic drugs ,the U.N treaty on drugs and psychotropic substances 1998 intended to incriminate money laundering of assets derived from criminal activities and to provide assistance on the international level including extradition of criminals transfer of judicial procedures and mutual legal assistance.

In the framework of regional and bilateral cooperation:

-Regional cooperation to combat organized crime is special due to the compatibility of regulations and different cultural rules,this example ma be followed at the international level in order to reach an effective and successful cooperation. -The base of regional initiative is bilateral cooperation which is necessary tool for a multilateral cooperation and a confrontation of certain problems.This matter reflects the necessity for states to cooperate to protect their interests values and stability even if it is sometimes at the expense of their absolute sovereignty. Furthermore,the technical means and methods must be sufficiently sophisticated to encounter those used by criminal organizations.Criminal intelligence services must also be organized and developed to help developed countries in this field. In this context,we could mention certain regional organizations such as the European council,which laid some foundations and signed agreements to combat organized crime. Noting that the European Union deployed efforts to improve cooperation in criminal matters based on Mastricht convention the Europe was founded.As regional organizations we could also mention the American organization for drugs prevention .And the Arab Leagues which signed treaties extradition and terrorism prevention.

D-ORGANIZED CRIME IN LEBANON AND THE ARAB COUNTRIES:

1st-The Arab League:

The interior arab ministers council established an arab communities bureau in Damascusthat is concerned with organized crime in the Arab countries and cooperate tightly with the Interpol. This council also adopted an Arab treaty on drugs prevention and an unified law project on drugs.The council approved in Cairo the Arab convention on terrorism. -The spread of organized crime in the Arab countries:

The Arab countries are developing countries although the rates of organized crime are less than those recorded in other developing countries.this phenomenon could be explained by the folloeing reasons: a-Refusal of the crime phenomena in the Arab communities:the Arab Communities are still preserving a lot of its ethical characteristics which are contrasting with the prevented phenomena's.The public is playing a key role as a pressure lobby in the regulation of social matters pertaining to the crime repression and the tracing of its symbols,especially those crimes opposite to ethics. b-The high-tech needs of the organized crime:The preperation and planning of organized crime is based on high technologies,and these technologies are available in the most developing countries.Therefore the organized crime with Arab countries are committed without any need for scientifically abilities like smuggling and trafficking.Considering its gravity we can admit that the drugs offenses are considered as the most important organized crimes since they are representing an easy way to earn money. c-Modes of the cooperation in combating the organized crimes and terrorists activities:Prevention measures -repression measures-cooperation in exchanging intelligence-cooperation in investigations-cooperation in exchanging expertise-cooperation in extradition of criminals-cooperation in exchanging criminal evidences-cooperation in protecting witnesses and experts.

2nd-On the national level:

Lebanon who suffered for 17 years during the war was the victim of transnational organized crimes which targeted atrociously the law enforcement services occupied its location and attacked its members the crime spread widely in different forms.Also the cultivates manufacturing and trafficking of drugs flourished in a large scale.Foreign experts were brought to ameliorate the production and the Lebanese smugglers cooperated with their Colombian similar.Many houses,cars and works of art were stolen..Moreover,the criminals brought the toxic waste to mountain where the traces of those cultivation's are still present till this date.Also trafficking of children,fraud and distribution of foreign currency,traffic of arms and crimes against intellectual properties item became very active. Neverthless,further the adoption of the national pact of Al Taef and the application of the new constitution with the support of both of international and Arab communities.Political authority was originated from this situation with purposes were combating all kinds of crimes. Since 1992 The Lebanese Government started to destroy drug's plants in the region of AlBekaa. Lebanon is considered as an example in the field of drugs repression and it joined all of international agreements pertaining to this matter.Also law on drugs derived from the unified law drawn up by the united nations and the unified Arabic law on drugs was issued where the sanction related to the members of an international organization were aggravated to reach the punishment of life imprisonment. Also the new law stipulated the crimination of money laundering deriving from illegal activities of drug's trafficking.In this respect and in order to fill the gap of law on bank secrecy stipulated in 1988's agreement and on which Lebanon has some reservations since it breaches the principle of the Lebanese banking system as protocol was established between all banks working in Lebanon.This act was done under the patronage of the banks supervisor country of the central bank and by virtue of the decision NR7818 related to the supervisor of banking transactions for money laundering system which is deriving from the principle mentioned in the U.N recommendations."know our client".This protocol stipulated the sanction-imposed against the bank committing the violation of this law which ca reach its permanent closure. Also the law NR318 on money laundering was issued,this law stipulated the reclusion of the offense from three to seven years.Further the efforts of the Lebanese government in this matter and on 2002 both of the international community and the GAFI group staked the rectification of the waiting list by crossing the name of Lebanon.On the other hand,Lebanon is applying effectively the controlled extradition's operation stipulated by virtue of 1988's agreement and he made a lot of operations with the collaboration of Arab and European countries and also with the collaboration of USA.The outcome of these operations was the seizing of a big quantity of drugs and the dismalting of many international smugglers networks. -Lebanon suffered a lot from the transnational organized crime resulting from the extremist and terrorist groups(Dannieh 1999-Naher Bared Campus 2008..) -Lebanon is an active ICPO-INTERPOL Sine 1974.

Conclusion:

There is no doubt that the government's services are no more concerned with criminality on the internal level. It became one of the most dangerous problem that face the international community irrespective of the countries political system's nature or its evolution extent considering that the criminal organizations have resource to the use of traditional methods in its operations that adjust with the economic and political new situation,taking advantage of the demolition of the national boundaries in front of the trade and international economy starting its activities through different alliances all over the world,threatening the development and stability strategies on different levels. Therefore,it is essential to adopt a working strategy based especially on the United Nations convention and its related protocols that prevent criminality as a near for crime prevention due to the organized crime's dangerous international dimensions and the need to maximize the international communities efforts in view of fighting all its aspects..

be continued Colonel Monzer Ayoubi Commander Of The Gendarmerie In South Lebanon Tel:00961 3 041261 - P.O Box 116-5277 Beirut . Lebanon.