Conference of the Parties to UNTOC, 13th session [Meeting 4]

Good afternoon. We will resume agenda item 1F. I would like to remind speakers that they should limit their statements of the general discussion and all other agenda items to three minutes so that we can continue our work on time. With that, I would like to call Mr. Abdullah Jabara, Director of International Cooperation Department of the Syrian Arab Republic.

You have the floor.

Mr. President, distinguished delegations, ladies and gentlemen, peace be upon you. I am pleased to address you on behalf of the Syrian Arab Republic and to express my thanks to the UN ODC for its efforts in supporting the implementation of the UN of the UNTOC and promoting international cooperation in responding to organized crime. My delegation also wishes to congratulate the President, Vice Presidents, and the Bureau, wishing them success in achieving the goals of the UNTOC goals. COP. This delegation aligns itself with the statements of the Asia-Pacific Group and the Group of 77 and China. I will now deliver a short version of my statement, and the full version will be uploaded to the conference website. Mr. President, the Syrian Arab Republic is currently focused on building the state institutions and consolidating the rule of law and security. In this context, the Ministry of the Interior attaches special importance to fighting drugs through strengthening regional and international cooperation to respond to illicit trafficking and smuggling networks. National statistics reflect the amount of effort made as starting the year 2025, until earlier this week, more than 713,300,000 Captagon pills have been seized, and 17 laboratories and 20 storage facilities have been dismantled. Detailed and complete statistics are available in the full version of our statement on the conference website. Distinguished delegates, the Syrian Arab Republic is diligently updating its legislation and national processes in tandem with building the capacities of law enforcement agencies. We also maintain our active engagement in the review mechanism despite the delay in the review process due to the situation the country was going through. My delegation emphasizes our determination to satisfy the review process requirements and proceeding therewith. Following our declaration during the 15th Crime Congress in Abu Dhabi, the Syrian Arab Republic has embarked on developing a crime prevention and criminal justice national strategy for the period from 2026 until 2031 to consolidate an integrated holistic approach that covers prevention, criminal prosecution, and international cooperation. Mr. President, transnational organized crime is a staggering challenge that no single state could address alone, especially post-conflict countries engaged in rebuilding their institutions. Having said that, the Syrian Arab Republic looks forward to expanding its partnership with the UNODC and States Parties, and to having access to the technical assistance necessary to develop the capacities of its competent institutions. We call for enhancing direct communication channels, exchange of information and expertise, and the facilitation of participation by national institutions in training, technical assistance, and regional and international cooperation programs and mechanisms. In closing, The Syrian Arab Republic renews its commitment to the goals of the convention, and we stand ready to actively contribute to the international response to organized crime. We look forward to building practical and sustainable partnerships that translate international obligations into tangible results, and that achieve security and justice, and protect societies from the scourge of crime. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you for your statement. I now give the floor to her Excellency, Ms. Veronica Bahaya Daboud, Permanent Representative of Honduras to the International Organizations in Vienna. You have the floor.

Thank you. Excellency, Ambassador Gabriel Orellana, President of the 13th Session of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. Excellencies, Honorable Delegates, greetings and blessings. President, on behalf of the Government of Honduras, allow me to congratulate you for your election as President of this 13th session. For Honduras and for the Central American region, it is a source of pride to see a fellow Central American leading our work. I wish to express my delegation's full support. I also extend my greetings to the other members of the Bureau and appreciate the Secretariat and UNODC for their efforts. Honduras reaffirms its commitment to multilateralism, the rule of law and international human rights as the foundation of cooperation in addressing transnational organized crime. The Palermo Convention and its protocols remains the universal legal framework for tackling a phenomenon that continues to evolve and no state can combat alone. As a region, we are fully aware of the challenges that this threat poses to our institutions, our communities and development. They are shared challenges and therefore require shared responsibilities. We underscore the importance of further strengthening international cooperation, including information exchange and mutual legal assistance. to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, particularly involving adolescents, women and children, the smuggling of migrants with full respect of their rights and other forms of transnational organized crime covered by the Convention and its protocols. These activities increasingly rely on new technologies that know no borders and in many instances exploit the vulnerabilities of migrants. At national level, Honduras continues to strengthen its institutional and operational capacities through international cooperation and coordinated work with its partners. We participate in regional efforts through the Latin American Committee on Internal Security to combat illicit trafficking of firearms. As pertains to cybercrime, we have strengthened police cooperation with the EU through El Pacto 2.0 and with Interpol. We have taken part in Operation Ad Nera against child sexual abuse material and continue to participate in joint operational actions against illicit drug trafficking and facilitating intelligence sharing. For Honduras, the response to transnational organized crime calls for strong, transparent, and accountable institutions, as well as strategic partnerships with the region, with our international partners, and with the United Nations. In this spirit, we will continue working constructively with the UNODC and all delegations convinced that cooperation and dialogue remain the most cost-effective path. Thank you very much, President.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much for this statement. I now give the floor to Mr. Abdul Aziz Daouda Salifou, second conseiller at the Permanent Mission of Niger in Geneva. You have the floor.

Thank you, President. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, my delegation aligns itself with the statement made by Ghana on behalf of the African Group. We would like to address to you our warm congratulations following your election, and also to the other members of the Bureau. We would like to assure you of our full cooperation for the success of our common efforts. Our thanks go also to the UNODC Secretariat for preparing this session and for their steadfast support to state parties in implementing the convention and its protocols. President, 25 years after its adoption, the Palermo Convention continues to be the main international law framework for combating transnational organized crime. It's an essential tool for promoting international cooperation, strengthening the rule of law, and supporting the efforts of states in preventing and interdicting transnational organized crime activities. However, the challenges we continue to face are evolving. Organized crime networks are increasingly making use of new technologies, globalized financial flows, and situations of vulnerability so as to diversify their operational modes and spread their activities. Smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons, firearm trafficking, narcotic drugs trafficking, money laundering, illicit financial flows, and emerging forms of crime related to digital technologies continue to undermine the security, stability, and sustainable development of many states. For the Sahel countries, these threats are particularly grave. The increasingly close nexus between organized crime networks and terrorist groups is a major threat to peace and security. Cross-border trafficking feeds criminal economies and undermines national institutions, thereby compromising development efforts and the resilience of our populations. Distinguished delegates, Mr. President, Niger is fully committed to implementing the Palermo Convention and its protocols. Notwithstanding the complex security situation we're in, my country continues to improve its legal framework and our institutions and to build the capacity of our justice and security services. We attach great importance to the implementation review mechanism of the convention. which allows identification of good practices, exchange of experience, and mobilization of technical assistance that's adapted to the needs of states. In the same spirit, Niger underscores the need for further strengthening international cooperation in combating illicit financial flows, money laundering, and economic crime. We also reiterate the importance of efforts made to identify, confiscate, and recover criminal assets for the benefit of the countries concerned. Fighting transnational organized crime goes hand in hand with implementing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and specifically SDG 16, related to the creation of peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. Above and beyond suppression, it's essential that We address factors that contribute to vulnerability among our populations, namely poverty, social and economic exclusion, youth unemployment, and the effects of climate change. We also call for increased technical assistance, skills transfer, and support to the developing countries so as to enable them to properly benefit from the Convention as a country of origin, transit, and destination for migratory flows, Niger attaches importance to a balanced approach to combating smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons that reconciles the imperatives of security, respect for human rights, and the protection of the dignity of the affected persons. President, distinguished delegates, in the face of organized crime that knows no borders and consistently adapts to changes in our international environment. Our response must be based on strengthened cooperation and shared responsibility, as well as effective solidarity among states. Egypt reiterates its determination to work hand in hand with all states parties so as to improve the effectiveness of the Palermo Convention and to move forward with our common efforts for peace, security, and the rule of law and sustainable development. Thank you.

Thank you for the statement. I now give the floor to Mr. Amadou Bienne, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior of Gambia.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. It is an honor to address this gathering on behalf of the Gambian delegation. At the onset, please allow me to express our sincere appreciation to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for the continued leadership in strengthening international cooperation against transnational organized crime and for the successful organization and hosting of this conference. This conference provides an important platform for renewing our collective commitment to confronting criminal networks that threaten national security, undermine the rule of law, violate human dignity, and impede national development. The Gambia recognizes that transnational organized crime is an increasingly complex challenge that no country can effectively address in isolation. Criminal networks exploit porous borders, institutional weakness, and vulnerable population to expand their operations. Our collective efforts are therefore guided by the principles of international cooperation, respect for national sovereignty, accountability, rule of law, and the protection of human rights. Mister President, The Gambia places strengthening law enforcement cooperation, border security, and institutional cooperation at the center of its national security priorities. Guided by our recovery-focused national development plan, the national security policy and strategy, we continue to pursue reforms aimed at strengthening institutional capacity, improving intelligence sharing, modernizing law enforcement, and enhancing operational effectiveness. Distinguished delegates, The Gambia remains firmly committed to preventing trafficking in person, prosecuting perpetrators and protecting victims. Our national response is anchored in the Trafficking in Persons Act and the work of the National Agency Against Trafficking in Person in collaboration with the Gambia Police Force and relevant government agencies. On illicit drug trafficking, The Gambia has recorded significant seizures demonstrating the scale and international dimension of this threat. Between 2001 and 2024, the country intercepted multi-ton consignment of cocaine, including approximately 2.9 tons in 2001 and over 800 kilograms in 2022. Recent figures provided indicates a substantial increase in ecstasy seizures from over 100,000 pills in 2024 and to over 600,000 pills in 2025. This development highlights the adaptability of trafficking networks and the need for enhanced intelligence-led investigation, stronger border and maritime surveillance, improved forensics capabilities, and coordinated regional enforcement operations. Mr. President, the illicit trafficking and diversion of small arms and light weapons also remain a serious threat to peace, stability, and public security across West Africa and beyond. The proliferation of illicit firearms can strengthen criminal networks, intensify violence, and undermine the capacity of states to maintain security and protect their populations. Through the National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons, The Gambia continues to pursue coordinated national action plan guided by relevant regional and international arms control commitments. The Gambia recognizes that sustainable progress against transnational organized crime depends on more than enforcement operation. It requires strong institutions, adequate resources, public trust, meaningful community participation, and sustained international solidarity. Our security sector reform agenda seeks to modernize institutions, strengthen accountability, and improve operational effectiveness. We therefore invite development partners and international organizations to support nationally owned priorities through specialized training, modern investigative techniques, improved forensics and intelligence capabilities, and stronger legislative frameworks. Mr. President, Excellencies, in conclusion, the Gambia particularly emphasizes the importance of translating international commitments under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its relevant protocols into practical national and regional action. The success of our collective efforts will ultimately be measured not by the number of declarations adopted, but by our ability to prevent crime, protect victims, secure convictions, and dismantle the networks that profit from human suffering. Finally, we reaffirm our readiness to work closely with the United Nations, the international community, and all relevant partners to strengthen our collective response to transnational organized crime. I thank you for your attention.

Thank you for this statement. Now I give the floor to Mr. Ibrahim Yahni, the representative of the President of Somalia. You have the floor.

In the name of God, most compassionate, most merciful. Mr. President, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, allow me at the outset to congratulate you and the Bureau on your election. I trust that our conference will achieve successful outcomes under your leadership. I also wish to thank the UNODC Secretariat for the excellent preparation for this session and for its continued support to States Parties. Mr. President, this is the first time Somalia addresses this conference as a state party. On 25th of March 2025, Somalia acceded to the UNTOC and its three additional protocols, namely the protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, the protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air, and the protocol against the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms. The accession to those instruments reflects a clear national commitment to avoid any gap in the global response to organized crime. Somalia seeks to be a reliable partner in closing any gaps. We are fully aware in our region of the damage inflicted by transnational organized crime as trafficking and smuggling routes go through the Horn of Africa, with illicit firearms fueling insecurity, criminal networks taking advantage of our long coasts, and illicit financial flows infiltrating our systems, challenges that no one state on its own is capable of responding to, Mr. President. Article 4 of the UNTOC recalls that States Parties should carry out their obligations in a manner consistent with the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States. Somalia attaches the utmost importance to those principles. Thus, any act that undermines Somalia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, including dealing with entities functioning outside the federal government, weakens state institutions in charge of combating organized crime. Such acts create gaps in governance, and law enforcement that are rapidly exploited by criminal networks. Therefore, we call upon all States Parties to respect Somalia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to pursue their cooperation efforts with the legitimate federal institutions according to the UNTAC provisions. Since joining the UNTAC, the federal government sought to translate its commitments into national measures. We are diligently reviewing our criminal legislation to align the same with the UNTAC and its protocols. Also, a central authority was designated for MLA and extradition. We are currently working on enhancing coordination between the police, the public prosecution office, the judiciary, border authorities and maritime authorities in collaboration with the states members to the Federal Union. Mr. President, ratification is only the beginning. For a state invested in rebuilding its institutions, effective implementation critically depends on sustainable and targeted support. In this regard, Somalia welcomes, in particular, the assistance extended in four areas. First, development of legislation by streamlining the UNTOC and its protocols fully in domestic legislation. Secondly, training investigators, public prosecutors, and judges. on processing transnational sophisticated cases. Thirdly, international cooperation mechanisms, including MLA and extradition, underpinned by UNTOC provisions. Fourthly, border and maritime security and firearms control. We are grateful to the UNODC and our partners for the support extended to us so far. We intend to fully and actively engage in the mechanism for the review of implementation as we consider it an opportunity to identify our needs and follow up on the progress made. Mr. President, Somalia reaffirms its commitment to the purposes and principles of UNTOC and looks forward to constructive deliberations and promoting our partnership with all States Parties. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your statement. I now give the floor to Ms. Yi Mar Aung, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the International Organizations in Vienna.

Mr. President, Excellencies, and distinguished delegates, on behalf of Myanmar delegation, I have the honor to deliver this statement. At the outset, Allow me to join others in congratulating you on your election as the President of this session. Myanmar also thanks the Secretariat for their efforts in organizing this important conference. Mr. President, transnational organized crime remains a multifaceted threat to global peace, security, and stability. Myanmar is no exception. Therefore, we attach great importance to the UNTOC annex protocol. Let me highlight some of our efforts. In our fight against trafficking in persons, Myanmar is implementing five-year national plans on anti-trafficking, with a focus on prevention, protection, prosecution, and international cooperation. Public awareness initiatives are widely conducted in close collaboration with the civil society. We are also strengthening border controls and conducting joint maritime patrols along the Mekong River with our regional partners. These efforts have yielded concrete results. From 2025 to August 2026, over 400 trafficking victims were rescued and reunited with their families. On countering drug trafficking, our approach combines law enforcement with prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and alternative development. From 2013 to 2026, a total of 42 special operations were carried out on a nationwide scale. As a result of these operations, in early 2026, largest ever drug production sites were uncovered in Chiang State. Furthermore, we are intensifying measures to trace and confiscate criminal proceeds. The Financial Intelligence Unit of Myanmar has signed MOUs with 15 countries to enhance information exchange on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing. Turning to technology-enabled organized crime, Myanmar is deeply concerned by the continued evolution of online fraud and online gambling. Following alerts received in 2022 from foreign diplomatic missions and Interpol channels, Myanmar has taken decisive actions to combat online scam activities. These measures include the establishment of national-level committees, an anti-scam center, as well as the enactment of an anti-online scam law in July 2026. To suppress online fraud, Myanmar security forces has conducted joint operations in Kiki Park and Shri Gokul near Myanmar-Thailand border since late 2025. More recently, enforcement efforts have been intensifying against relocators scam locations, including in major cities. Our experience therefore indicates that Action against individual scam centers must be accompanied by measures to prevent their relocation and reestablishment. Mr. President, given the close link between online scams and other transnational organized crime, Myanmar calls for stronger international cooperation, information sharing, border cooperation, financial disruption, and the effective protection of victims. To conclude, Myanmar reaffirms its commitment to combating all forms of transnational organized crime and stands ready to work closely with the reviewing States and the Secretariat to advance the implementation of the NTOC review process. We look forward to continued cooperation with UNODC, as well as regional and international partners, in strengthening our collective response to transnational organized crime. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you for your statement. Now I give the floor to Brigadier General Ralaibeza Hubert Claudion, Director in Charge of Combating Terrorism, Drug Trafficking, and Transnational Organized Crime of Madagascar. You have the floor.

President, distinguished ministers, Distinguished delegates, as head of my country's delegation at this important conference, I would like to take the floor on behalf of the Republic of Madagascar. And I take the opportunity of congratulating you, President, on your election to chair this 13th Conference of the Parties of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Allow me to describe, President, the situation with transnational organized crime in Madagascar. Owing to our geographic location in the western Indian Ocean and due to our large maritime territory, Madagascar faces major challenges with marine surveillance. and border control. This necessitates a constant strengthening of our national capacity, as well as increased international cooperation, so as to allow us to prevent and combat illicit flows of weapons, narcotic drugs, goods, and also trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. To that end, we have aligned our policy, our legal framework, our national strategies also with the objectives enshrined in the Convention and its three additional protocols in view of the threats that we face. In terms of our legislation, Madagascar has a legislative framework to combat terrorism and transnational organized crime, and also to combat trafficking in persons. Our legislation provides a framework for prosecuting and suppressing these offenses, as well as protection of victims and compensation for harm suffered. We have legislation on asset recovery. There was a decree adopted which established a legal framework to allow for the freezing, seizure, and confiscation of illicit assets. The aim is to deprive criminals and criminal networks of the profits from their activities and to obstruct their ability to raise funds and to strengthen the criminal justice response. Our legal framework has allowed us to put in place specialized structures such as the National Bureau to Combat TIP, which was established in 2018 and which leads national policy against trafficking in person. Also, we established a financial intelligence unit to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We also set up an illicit asset recovery agency for asset recovery. These agencies work together with our national gendarmerie, our anti-terrorism directorate, and also our drugs agency and transnational organized crime body. In terms of international cooperation, Madagascar is steadily increasing its participation in international regional mechanisms of SADC, and also participating in COMESA strategy against money laundering, terrorist financing, and transnational organized crime. At the legislative level, magistrates from our anti-corruption jurisdictions specialized in countering corruption recently benefited from a training course in international judicial cooperation and effective criminal law enforcement. This initiative helped build their capacity to understand the specificities of the common law legal systems as juxtaposed with our civil law system so as to facilitate mutual legal assistance with relevant states. In addition to these efforts-- or rather, these efforts have resulted in the following outcomes. Traffickers of drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine have been apprehended. Trafficking in persons perpetrators have been arrested. And victims who are nationals of Madagascar have been repatriated. And Coast Guard surveillance actions are being conducted with regional and international partners. And we are carrying out controls in airports and ports. By way of conclusion, we note that Madagascar submitted its self-evaluation on implementation of the protocols in September 2025. And we would like to examine the feedback there so as to better guide our actions. We call for solidarity and partnership with states and international and regional organizations, as well as technical and financial partners, which would like to help us with our efforts with technical and financial assistance, capacity building, sharing of good practices to allow us to consolidate our national achievements and build the effectiveness of our collective response to transnational organized crime. President, distinguished delegates, I thank you for your kind attention.

Thank you for your statement. This was the last speaker from the member states. And now we will go to statements from the observers. I give the floor to Mr. Tom Nombukaya, Director, Interpol Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center.

Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates. The evolving nature of transnational organized crime continues to present significant challenges for law enforcement authorities worldwide. Criminal networks are increasingly sophisticated, interconnected, and technologically advanced, exploiting differences in national capacities, legal frameworks, and access to information to conduct illicit activities across borders. From trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants to illicit firearm trafficking, organized fraud, money laundering, and environmental crime, these threats increasingly converge, requiring coordinated and intelligence-led responses that extend beyond national jurisdictions. No Member States can address these threats alone. As the world's largest international police organization, Interpol facilitates secure global law enforcement cooperation. Through its secure global communication network, 19 criminal databases, notices and diffusions, Interpol enables authority to share information securely, identify links between cases and coordinate investigation. The Silver Notice and Diffusion Pilot shows the practical value of these tools. Launched in January 2025, it enables participating countries to request and exchange information to trace criminal assets across borders. close to 300 Silver Notices have been published, seeking to trace assets valued at approximately USD 2 billion. To date, the initiative has contributed to the successful tracing of assets approximately 40 million euro through civil notice and diffusions. Crimes that affect the environment continue to pose a growing threat. Illegal deforestation, mining and trafficking in wildlife and waste are increasingly connected to corruption, fraud, and money laundering. Investigating these offenses requires piecing together information across multiple jurisdictions. Through Project Gaia, supported by the government of Germany, Interpol continues to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement authorities to detect, investigate and disrupt transnational criminal networks involving environmental crimes. In its first year, GAIA contributed to 511 investigations. Operation Madrede Terra VII, coordinated under GAIA across nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, led to 225 arrests. Project LEAP, supported by Norway, compliments this work by helping authorities to combine intelligence analysis, digital forensic and financial investigation to disrupt environmental crime networks, including in Peru and other countries where it has supported investigation into illegal deforestation, illegal mining, fraud and money laundering. As State Parties consider additional measures to strengthen the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, INTERPOL stands ready to support its Member countries through its global policing capabilities, specialized expertise and operational program. Interpol remains committed to strengthening international cooperation, disrupting organized criminal network and supporting member states in protecting the environment, promoting security and advancing sustainable development. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the representative of Interpol. Before I give the word, the The word to the next speaker. I would like to remind all speakers that they should limit their statements for the general discussion and all other agenda items to three minutes. And now I give the floor to Mr. Indramani Pandey, Secretary General of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation.

Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, namaskar, good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. President, for giving me the floor. BIMSTEC welcomes this opportunity to participate at the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. I thank the Executive Director for her invitation. Mr. President, distinguished delegates, BIMSTEC is an intergovernmental organization which comprises seven member states located around Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Established in 1997, it serves as a bridge between South and Southeast Asia. It has developed a comprehensive agenda comprising 18 sectors of cooperation, of which security has been an important pillar. The comprehensive agenda of BIMSTEC for security cooperation covers all the key challenges that our member states face, such as terrorism, human trafficking, illicit drug trafficking, money laundering, financing of terrorism, cyber security, maritime security, and scamming centers. Apart from the expert groups and joint working groups and their subgroups, the national security advisors of our member states have been meeting regularly. And for the first time, we had also meeting of BIMSTEC home ministers who took a comprehensive review of the security sector cooperation. In all the domains of security cooperation, we have created institutions, plans of actions, and frameworks for cooperation focused on capacity building, information and intelligence sharing, and collective action. BIMSTEC has also made a steady progress in developing policy and legal frameworks necessary to combat transnational and organized crime, including negotiating a number of conventions. The details of various initiatives that our member states have taken to deal with various kinds of transnational organized crime are provided in my detailed statement. I would just like to highlight the recent proposal for establishment of BIMSTEC Regional Security Cooperation Centre in order to enhance consultation, coordination and cooperation among our member states, given the interlinkages of various transnational crimes. BIMSTEC attaches a particular importance to its partnership with UNODC. A Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation between the BIMSTEC and UNODC was signed in April 2025 in Bangkok at our sixth summit. It provides a vital framework for cooperation between the two organizations against transnational organized crime and other related security threats. Both the organizations are keen on full and effective implementation of this MOU, and we have finalized the plan of action to do so. The progress that BIMSTEC has made in regional security cooperation has contributed to the efforts of the BIMSTEC member states in combating drug trafficking and other organized crimes. In this context, BIMSTEC is very keen to continue its cooperation with UNODC and other international and regional organizations to achieve the shared goals, provision of technical assistance, Capacity building, exchange of good practices and other kinds of support to strengthen national capabilities of our member states will be welcomed. BIMSTEC is looking forward to working closely with UNODC and all relevant partners to advance our shared objective of preventing and combating transnational organized crime and promoting a safer, more secure and resilient Bay of Bengal region. To conclude, I thank you all for your kind attention. And I wish the conference success in attaining all its objectives. Thank you. Namaskar.

Thank you for your intervention. Now I would give the floor to the representative of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

Thank you, Mr. President. On behalf of the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, SEACR, I would like to warmly congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election and thank you for the opportunity to address this session. Transnational organized crime is among the most severe threats to security and development across Asia. It fuels Violence corrodes institutions, finances corruption, and exploits the most vulnerable. Its networks adapt faster than our responses. No single state or organization can confront them alone, and no region is insulated from their reach. UNTOC and its protocols remain the essential framework for cooperation. Their application requires national ownership, sustained international assistance and trust between competent authorities. Building that trust is central to CICA. Under its new challenges and threats dimension, the CICA catalogue of confidence-building measures provides for the exchange of information on measures taken by Member States against transnational organized crime. including trafficking in persons, smuggling in migrants, money laundering, and illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons. It also promotes law enforcement cooperation and the exchange of information on legal, judicial, and criminal matters. These measures are voluntary and are advanced in accordance with Member States' decisions and priorities.

Mr. President.

The challenges we face transcend institutional boundaries, and so must our response. Regional organizations have a distinct role to play. Their efforts complement the central role of the United Nations in setting norms and standards, and they help translate universal commitments into practice. We welcome the discussions at this session on strengthening the Antwerp review mechanism and on the work of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group on crime that affect the environment. We support turning identified gaps into targeted technical assistance. We also encourage continued dialogue on emerging forms of organized crime, including the exploitation of digital technologies by criminal networks. This session follows closely the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly and the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal justice. Across all three forums, one theme recurs: the need to move from agreed commitments to delivery. The UNTOC review mechanism is a key tool for tracking that progress. We encourage State Parties to strengthen it, and we support shared accountability efforts that keep our focus on results on the ground. UNODC is a valued SICA partner. The 2015 Memorandum of Understanding combines SICA's convening capacity with UNODC's expertise within its mandate. and guided by Member States' needs, the Secretariat stands ready to support delivery through expert exchange and training against organized crime, illicit drugs and the criminal use of information and communication technologies. I wish the session every success and thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. Now I give the floor to Mr. Rafael Benitez, Director of Social Rights, Health and Environment from the Council of Europe.

You have the floor.

Thank you very much, President.

Needs results. For nearly eight decades, the Council of Europe has developed legal instruments to facilitate cooperation in criminal matters. The value lies in their practical impact. Although rooted on the European continent, the Council of Europe also plays a global role in shaping criminal law standards. We remain committed to multilateralism and to working closely with the United Nations to combat transnational organized crime. Many of our 230 treaties provide tools to meet this challenge. Together, they strengthen cooperation. close safe havens for criminals and enhance the security of our societies. They address extradition, mutual legal assistance, the transfer of sentenced persons, cybercrime, trafficking in human beings, corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing, environmental crimes, counterfeiting of medical products and many other serious crimes. Organized crime threatens public safety, weakens institutions, and undermines the rule of law, human rights, and democratic security. New technologies and forms of finance, including crypto assets, amplify these threats. Yet, crime prevention cannot be separated from the conditions in which crime develops. Inequality, exclusion and corruption create opportunities that criminal networks exploit. Effective prevention requires evidence, early identification of risks and stronger communities and institutions. Our conventions are instruments of prevention and prosecution. They close legal gaps, facilitate cross-border cooperation, protect victims and support implementation, while adapting to evolving threats. Environmental crime is a clear example. Our newest treaty, the Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, was open for signature in Strasbourg in December last year. And it goes beyond punishment. It promotes prevention, awareness raising, multidisciplinary cooperation, and protection for victims and whistleblowers. Open to States from all regions of the globe, our binding instruments help build a global legal space, complementing the work of UNTOC and the work of UNODC in reinforcing human rights. Mr. President, we invite UN Member States to consider acceding to Council of Europe Conventions which are most relevant to their needs, joining thus the cooperation they enable. to prevent and combat transnational crime through the rule of law, the protection of human rights and the effective international cooperation. We renew our pledge, the pledge we made in Abu Dhabi, to strengthen our cooperation with UNODC to achieve these objectives.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Thank you. Now I give the floor to Mr. Martin von den Hiltenband, Secretary General of Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization. You have the floor.

Mr. President, Distinguished delegates, it is an honor to speak on behalf of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, ACTO. When we speak of crimes that affect the environment, it is easy to imagine them as distant. For those who live in the Amazon, they are not. The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, home to more than 50 million people and about a fifth of the planet's surface freshwater. For Amazonian peoples, forests, rivers, and communities are bound together. These relationships sustain food, health, and knowledge. Organized crime exploits the region's resources while breaking the system that sustains its life. Gold shows us how. Illegally extracted gold changes hands many times before it leaves the region. It enters international markets where its origin is hard to establish. Along the way, criminal networks seek to corrupt public institutions and launder their profits into the legal economy. What stays behind is poisoned water. What stays behind is fear. What stays behind are communities living under threat. For those who profit the most are far away. Those who pay the price are not. Bridging that gap is the task of international cooperation. For our eight member countries chose to respond together. The commitments adopted in Belen de Para and in Bogota, and the creation of the Special Commission of Public Security and Cross-Border and Transnational Activities in the Amazon region are foundations for that response. They have committed to connecting investigation, tracing gold and financial flows, exchanging evidence and coordinating action across borders, and strengthening the legitimate livelihood and institutions that protect communities. None of this is possible without respect for national sovereignty, the protection of biodiversity, and defense of human rights. Full and effective participation of indigenous people and local communities are essential. Their knowledge and their role protecting their territories are vital to lasting public security. This convention offers important tools. Crimes that affect the environment strain them. Criminal networks move across jurisdictions and exploit gaps between legal systems and operational responses. National efforts are indispensable, but collective action can only collect and collective actions can close the gaps. It is for those state parties to determine the way forward. ACTU stands ready to contribute together with UNDC and our partners. Let us act together and act ahead so that these criminal networks find no gaps to exploit and justice reaches those who have borne the cost. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you very much. Now I give the floor to Mr. Ivan Marquez, Secretary for Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States. You have the floor.

Mr. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, it's a privilege to address this 13th session of the Conference of the Parties on behalf of the Organization of American States. The OAS reaffirms that the Palermo Convention and its three complementary protocols remain the fundamental global legal framework for our collective security against transnational organized crime in the Americas. In the Americas, a regional architecture anchored by the OAS Hemispheric Strategy against Transnational Organized Crime and the Hemispheric Plan of Action is designed specifically to operationalize the Palermo obligations across our 34 member states. Mr. President, transnational organized crime across our hemisphere has undergone a profound transformation. We are no longer confronting isolated cartels, but a complex, highly adaptable ecosystem defined by criminal convergence. Illicit narcotics, trafficking, environmental crimes, including illegal mining and wildlife trafficking, cybercrime, arms smuggling, human trafficking, and corruption now share the same logistical corridors, digital platforms, and illicit financial systems. Fragmented national prosecutions targeting isolated offenses are no longer sufficient. An interconnected threat demands an equally integrated strategic and regional response. To translate multilateral consensus into operational impact, the Organization of American States is advancing three key priorities. The first, promoting joint and parallel investigation teams. We're fostering multidisciplinary investigative teams across police, prosecutorial, financial intelligence and customs authorities to execute macro investigations that disrupt complete criminal structures. Second, targeting illicit financial flows through tight synergies between our regional bodies like GELAVEX, GAFILAT and CEFAT. We are standardizing methodologies for financial mapping, virtual asset tracing, and asset recovery. And finally, data-driven policy. In partnership with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, the CAF, we have established the Inter-American Observatory on Organized Crime and Illicit Markets, known as DAVACRIM, to provide standardized, comparable data for evidence-based policymaking.

The OAS.

And that way remains fully committed to working hand in hand with UNODC and all states parties to ensure that the mandates of the Palermo Convention are translated into safer communities across the region. Thank.

You.

Thank you for your statement. And I'll give the floor to Mr. Ian Tennett of the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Thank you, Excellency. On behalf of the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, we thank you and congratulate you on your election to the presidency of this conference. And we thank the outgoing chair, Ambassador Burian, for his support and recognition of the importance of civil society participation in the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. This conference meets at a crucial time for this Convention, with organized crime increasingly threatening safety, security and rights in communities around the world. That is why there is such a large interest from civil society in this Convention and in seeing it implemented fully and effectively. More than 1,000 NGO representatives from more than 300 NGOs registered for this conference, and more than 1,400 people participated in the constructive dialogues in the last two years alone. But despite this high interest, the avenues for engagement for civil society are regrettably narrow. We greatly value the constructive dialogues that have been instituted under the review mechanism of this convention, and we appreciate that some countries have included civil society in their national review processes. However, the constructive dialogues need to be brought closer to the rest of the process and efficiencies and innovations need to be found to make the whole process more valuable and to avoid the repeats of measures such as holding the constructive dialogues online only in the last year. For example, it would be more useful for States Parties if the working groups took place after constructive dialogues and were therefore able to benefit from the outputs and expertise that are in those meetings. It would also be more logical and efficient and in line with the rules of procedure of the Conference of Parties for civil society observers to then also attend the meetings of the working group. At the moment, observers are not invited to attend the working groups, which is contrary to the rules of procedure and the spirit and intention of this Convention. The challenges facing the review mechanism are now clearer than ever, and it can't go on in its current format. The challenges are in part down to the limited sources of data on which it relies and the lack of cross-sectoral engagement and analysis that is needed. It should be a normal part of the process for countries to invite civil society to be included in national reviews, rather than an exception. We therefore welcome that there are discussions taking place on reforming the UNTOC process, and we hope that new ways of working can be found. The Alliance stands ready to support the incoming presidency, secretariats and chairs of the working groups, as well as any new bodies created this week, to ensure that they are inclusive and effective. Nevertheless, we are sure that this week's COP will showcase the substantive, technical and constructive inputs of civil society, including perspectives from affected communities, indigenous people and all of those whose voices are not heard often enough. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your intervention. Now I give the floor to Mr. Qingqiang Li, Executive Director of China Labor Watch.

Thank you, President. My name is founder and director of China Labor Watch. For 26 years, we have worked to improve the rights of workers. We have published investigations of more than 200 factories. These factories supply change, supply hundreds of global brands. More than 100 international companies responded to our reports, and some factories improved worker conditions. Over the years, We have talked with thousands of workers. We found systemic forced labor and human tragedy in some global supply chains. Because government support for factory construction is concentrated in certain cities, many rural workers cannot find enough work near home. They have to leave their families and work in other cities. Many children live apart from their parents for a long time. It also puts many workers in a difficult financial position. Many workers become victims of forced labor and human trafficking. In some factories, workers work seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Sometimes they have only one day off a month. Low wages are withheld, and the workers in dangerous conditions. This low labor rights model has spread to other countries. Some workers cannot freely leave their factories. Their passports may be taken away. I hope the UN will examine how government policies lead to forced labor. and how companies use the forced labor to gain unfair advantage in global competition. Thank you.

Now I would like to give the floor to Ms. Alice Pasqualato, representative of Wildlife Conservation Society. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. I have the honor of delivering this statement on behalf of 19 organizations working to prevent and combat environmental crime, whose full names will be reflected in the version published online. Mr. President, 25 years ago, the world adopted the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime with one promise, to fight organized crime in all of its forms, those we knew then and those still to come. Alongside it, and soon after, three protocols gave specific tools to cooperate against what were then the most pressing threats: trafficking in persons, the smuggling of migrants, and illicit trafficking in firearms. Today, at the 13th Conference of the Parties, governments have an opportunity, an historic opportunity, to renew that promise. In the quarter century since, criminal markets have evolved and environmental crime has grown into one of the most profitable among them. Illegal logging, illegal mining and fishing, wildlife and waste trafficking, and other crimes that affect the environment are driven by the same networks, protected by the same corruption, and laundered through the same financial systems as the crimes that existing protocols were designed to address. And they have lasting harm behind them. lost revenues, devastated ecosystems, and communities, indigenous people, environmental defenders and whistleblowers who pay with their livelihoods, and too often with their lives. Our organizations see these consequences every day, and so do states. In the intergovernmental expert group established under Resolution 12/4, which carefully examined the gaps that allow these crimes to thrive, states described cases collapsing because an offense was not considered serious enough to trigger mutual legal assistance or extradition, and criminals moving their operations to wherever laws are weakest. The Convention offers powerful tools, but for environmental crime, too many of them remain out of reach. Mr. President, the analysis is done. What is now needed is a decision on the way forward. So we therefore urge State Parties to do the following. First, agree at this session on a mandate to negotiate an additional protocol on crimes that affect the environment. Second, make full use of the convention today by treating serious environmental crimes as serious crimes under domestic law. Third, ensure that any instrument is grounded in human rights, protect those who defend the environment, and is shaped with the meaningful participation of civil society, indigenous people, and local communities. Mr. President, the drafter of this convention looked ahead. This week, parties have a historic opportunity to do the same and give AMTAC the tools to meet one of the most defining criminal threats of our time. Our organizations stand ready to support you. Thank you.

Thank you. Now I would give the floor to the floor to Miss Alice, no, Miss Patricia Gualinga, representative of Amazon Watch.

President, honorable delegations, I am from the Kichwa people in Equatorial Amazon. I come with indigenous people from the Amazon region. The leaders here present our authorities among our people. We represent thousands of people and we take care of thousands of hectares in the Amazon, as has been the case for thousands of years. I take the floor today in my capacity as the Forum of Indigenous Persons of the United Nations, and I share with you the concerns and the recommendations that the Forum has heard from the Indigenous persons and is now bringing to Member States. The Permanent Forum is a member of UN ECOSOC on Indigenous issues, and its mandate is to hear from Indigenous persons from all around the world and to draft recommendations to member states and United Nations systems in order to protect the rights of Indigenous persons. During the last session, the forum heard from indigenous persons from around the world who shared their concerns, which are increasing on the expansion of illicit economies and transnational organized crime on their territories. Based on these testimonies, the forum reaffirmed the crucial role played by land resources and the relations of Indigenous people with Mother Earth. They also underscored our leadership in conserving biodiversity, adaptation to climate change, and environmental governance. But the forum also heard a common concern-- mining, contamination, militarization, illegal mining, illegal logging, drug trafficking, and other illicit economies that continue to undermine the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples. They lead to displacements, overturn our livelihoods in many areas. illegal mining, drug trafficking, logging, they overlap in routes and firearms, they recruit our young people. Mercury is invading our rivers. The participants in the forum expressed concern as far as illegal mining goes in the Amazon area. It increases deforestation, river contamination, widespread mercury contamination and sexual exploitation. Those that live in these areas are paying with their lives. Around 96 defenders were killed between 2014 and 2022. The forum expressed concerns based on the fact that indigenous women suffer disproportionately the outcome of these effects and the related violence. Indigenous people are not only victims. We are the guardians, we are the monitoring systems, and our own governments do help to protect some of the ecosystems that have been preserved for centuries. We are therefore calling on member states to recognize the role of Indigenous people in defending our territories. Please protect our leaders and our Indigenous people, bring an end to impunity, and guarantee the full effective participation of Indigenous persons in decisions that affect them. We hope that Member States of UNTOC will consider these recommendations in their deliberations and respond to transnational organized crime. Solutions will be effective if they include the knowledge and the institutions of Indigenous persons. The Permanent Forum is drafting a study on illicit economies and organized crime in the areas inhabited by Indigenous persons, and it will be tabled in 2026. This work is being offered to you as well as our energies to UNODC and Member States. There will be no security in the Amazon or in any indigenous region without indigenous people. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you for your statement. I would like to remind all speakers that we request them to limit their statements to three minutes. I now give the floor to Ms. Olivia Swack-Goldman, Executive Director of Wildlife Justice Commission.

Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, it's an honor to address you today on behalf of the Wildlife Justice Commission.

We work alongside governments globally to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal networks involved in wildlife trafficking, including terrestrial, marine,

and timber species, a major form of crimes that affect the environment.

All over the world, species are vanishing, forests are cut and burnt down, and our rivers and oceans are poisoned.

These threats aren't distant.

They are unfolding as we speak, driven in large part by serious transnational organized crime, facilitated by corruption, and often converging with drug trafficking, money laundering, and other illicit activities. The price is paid in extinct species, devastated ecosystems, weakened climate action, and governance, and communities

left to bear the economic and social costs.

The UNTAC was built to prevent and combat exactly this type of crime.

It provides special investigative techniques, financial investigations, anti-money laundering mechanisms, asset confiscation, cross-border cooperation to address organized crime. In our operational work, we've seen what happens when these tools are applied consistently. Organized criminal networks fall.

Yet in environmental crime cases, these tools often sit unused.

Environmental offenses are criminalized inconsistently, and many fail to meet the convention's serious crime threshold, leaving them outside its scope.

Where definitions differ, dual criminality becomes a barrier.

Mutual legal assistance, extradition, and joint investigations slip out of reach.

Criminal networks know this and exploit these gaps deliberately and systemically.

We therefore urge states to support the resolution before this conference to establish an ad hoc

committee to negotiate a dedicated protocol on crimes that affect the environment.

Such an instrument would provide a common legal

foundation to harmonize criminalization, strengthen international cooperation and enforcement, and apply UNTOC tools consistently across jurisdictions

so the borders stop working in favor of the criminals.

The Convention's three protocols have already shown what targeted instruments can achieve.

Environmental crime has grown into a threat of comparable gravity and deserves the same response.

And civil society should be involved in every step along the way.

This conference is a defining moment in the fight against organized environmental crime.

which state parties decide this week

will show whether the international community is ready to match the scale of this threat.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you for your intervention. Now I would give the floor to Mr. Sheldon Jordan from the International Council on Environmental Law.

Thank you, Mr. President. I am speaking on behalf of the International Council of Environmental Law and the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, a worldwide coalition of over 60 civil society organizations, academic institutions, and experts on crimes that affect the environment. We thank Brazil and the many co-sponsors for proposing the draft resolution on the establishment of an ad hoc committee to elaborate an additional protocol to this convention concerning crimes that affect the environment. States have built great momentum with dozens of resolutions in UN and other international fora over the last decade. It is time to translate well-meaning resolutions into concrete action that help enforcement officers, prosecutors, and policymakers tackle transnational organized crimes that affect the environment. Criminals who steal and traffic natural resources, who make victims of communities, economies, and ecosystems, must never again feel safe hiding behind borders. But despite the needle moving in the right direction, there still is no global instrument addressing the criminalization of the conduct or the criminal justice measures needed to effectively detect, investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate them. A protocol will help close that gap by bringing all of the tools available under the UNTOC to bear against crimes that affect the environment, strengthening international cooperation, financial investigation, asset recovery, and giving practitioners a common legal language. Environmental crimes are estimated to cost the global economy hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars annually. So the cost of negotiating a protocol would be just a tiny fraction of this and is clearly justified. We encourage States Parties to include and involve civil society experts, our knowledge and our experience, in the elaboration of a new protocol. As a former national and international enforcement officer, I stress that officers and prosecutors need the full range of untapped tools to protect communities. They don't have them now. We need to provide environmental law enforcement officials with 21st century tools to take on 21st century transnational crimes that affect the environment and their converging crime areas. The political momentum achieved over the last decade must now be matched with practical action to ensure that the tackling crimes that affect the environment is clearly embedded within the international criminal justice arena and with the urgency that this global crime crisis demands. Thank you.

Thank you. Now I will give the floor to Mr. Mark Shaw by video statement of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.

Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates.

This 13th Conference of Parties is the most important session of this treaty body for many years.

What is agreed here will have a long-term impact on the success or failure of the Palermo Convention.

Why is that? Because it's a moment of reckoning for the UNTOC And that brings with it an opportunity for change. The Palermo Convention is the UN's central legal instrument responding to organized crime. But organized crime continues to rise in strength and in the harm that it causes, despite almost all countries in the world signing up to the instrument. It was not always welcome when we previously raised concerns about the implementation and impact of the Convention. But we feel there is now an emerging consensus that there are indeed issues that need urgent attention. The most obvious is the review mechanism itself, which has failed to produce the results required to help Member States improve on their implementation. We welcome any efforts to increase its efficiency and speed, and we have offered extensive recommendations in this regard. But we emphasize too that any reform process must be based on the need to leverage external data and expertise, including that produced by civil society. Widening the pool of data and analysis as part of the review mechanism can only increase its value to government, civil society, and to ordinary people. Civil society interest in the UNTOC has never been greater. precisely because of the threats and harms that organized crime causes in communities across the world on a daily basis. This week, demonstrating the interest from civil society, the GI-Talk delegation of over 70 people includes partners working on the ground from very diverse parts of the world. Those building resilience to human trafficking and smuggling, those responding to environmental crimes in Central Africa, and representatives of local governments working in an international coalition reduce the impacts of organized crime on biodiversity. These are the constituencies needed to spark new life into the implementation of the UNTOC. It's a legal instrument, but its objectives are ambitious and can only be achieved with combined efforts led by the international community here in Vienna, but working hand in hand with many partners. So let us grasp this opportunity together for reform and to pave the way for a more efficient and impactful UNTAC.

I thank

you.

Thank you very much. I now give the floor to Mr. Damian Makura of the Dominicans for Justice and Peace.

Your Excellency, thank you for giving us the floor. The Antok and its protocols has repeatedly addressed various situations faced by refugees, trafficked persons, and migrants on their journey. Yet, in doing so, we run the risk of primarily focusing on the injustices they face en route while being smuggled or trafficked, or after arriving in the countries of destinations. We at Dominicans for Justice and Peace believe that the issue must be viewed from a broader perspective. It's not enough to make escape routes safer or even block them off. It's not enough to take action against organized criminal groups engaged in trafficking and smuggling of migrants. And it's not enough to reduce it to a question of funding on such complex issues. Rather, We must raise awareness that it is the responsibility of us all to create conditions in the countries of origin to enable people to live in dignity. This involves not only economic aid, the creation of suitable social structures, a culture of lawfulness, but also a conscious and sustainable approach to the environment. Only by safeguarding the environment, people can sustain livelihoods and create prosperity for themselves and the future generations. Dominicans for Justice and Peace incorporates environmental protection in its work, thereby enabling people to build a future and a dignified life in their ancestral homelands. And we very often see how crimes affecting the environment go hand in hand with other, more traditionally recognized forms of crimes, or build the foundation for other crimes to flourish. The nexus between the core intervention and its protocols and environmental crimes is evident. We therefore support the push for an additional protocol on crimes affecting the environment to supplement this landmark convention and its protocol. We call on the conference to adopt the resolution and to pave the way for this much needed evidence supported protocol. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Now I would give the floor to Ms. Marta Santos Romero from the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. You have the floor.

Buenas tardes.

Good afternoon, President, Excellencies, Honorable Delegates. Our organization, the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is present in more than 40 countries. We work together with women, children, migrants, and communities that are at risk of exploitation, we have noted a very important principle. Effective implementation of UNTAC has to be based on human dignity, rights, and the capacity to ensure that the rights of the survivors are taken into account. We would like to underscore some areas for your consideration. First and foremost, trafficking due to new technologies. We are calling on member states to bolster their legal frameworks and their institutional frameworks to promote cooperation with businesses, civil society, and the survivors. Secondly, international cooperation. We are urging member states to have and to continue in secure information sharing and cooperation between police forces, civil society, and those that offer assistance to victims. This is especially important to deal with trafficking, which is tied to scams online. Thirdly, protection of women and children. Gender inequality, poverty, exclusion, limited access to sustenance and education does increase vulnerability to trafficking. It is important to address these structural issues through education, capacity building, offering economic opportunities, guaranteeing that women and girls have access to protection and support when exploitation does take place. Fourthly, identification of victims, legal support and non-penalization. We are calling on State Parties to strengthen multidisciplinary frameworks to support victims and to offer the necessary support. They should not be prosecuted for criminal activities that are directly tied to their trafficking, especially this has to do with those that were forced into slavery, including online fraud. Lastly, the survivors and civil societies need to be taken on board as partners. The experience of survivors is important in designing policies that would be efficient in practice. This must be voluntary, safe and secure, and they should also take into account the contribution by civil society in the prevention, prosecution and long term recuperation. Thank you very much.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much for your statement. Now I give the floor to Mr. Oluwatobi Ayodele of Cybersecurity Education Initiative.

Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, I speak on behalf of the Cybersecurity Education Initiative, a civil society organization dedicated to digital resilience in the Global South. The landscape of transnational organized crime has fundamentally shifted. We are no longer merely dealing with localized cyber fraud. Today, we are confronting the rapid industrialization of cybercrime and the franchising of transnational scam compounds in developing regions like mine. Transnational syndicates are actively establishing cross-border operations in foreign regions, disguising themselves as legitimate tech support or call center jobs. They weaponize systematic youth unemployment to build their illicit workforce. young people seeking honest digital employment are lured across continental borders and trapped into a life of crime. Strip of their free wills, they are forced to execute financial fraud under threat and duress. This is not just crime, this is digitalized human trafficking. This is cyber slavery. As a leader in information security, I have witnessed this sophisticated attacks targeting financial infrastructures daily. But as a civil society leader, I see the devastating human cost on the ground. The Palermo Convention is a protocol to prevent trafficking in person, providing us with the preventive roadmap, indispensable tool for international cooperation. However, when facing mechanized cybercrime that exploit extreme social economic vulnerabilities, Prosecution alone is reactive. We cannot simply arrest our way out of this crisis. We must disrupt the supply chain. At SASED, we view community diversion as an upstream security control. By equipping at-risk youth with legitimate digital skills, we actively starve this transnational syndicate of the local talent they desperately need to scale. We urge Member States here today to integrate grassroots digital capacity building into their national strategies against transnational organized crime. We must protect our digital borders by empowering our youth force. Thank you very much and God bless.

Thank you for your intervention. Now I give the floor to Mr. Bram Ebus from Amazon Underworld.

Thank you, Mr. President. Distinguished guests and excellencies, at Amazon Underworld, we study crime in the world's largest tropical rainforest. And what we see is how this crucial climate regulator and carbon sink is under full frontal attack by organized crime. For a healthy planet, we need a healthy Amazon. Nevertheless, we see that organized crime is a main obstacle and impediment for climate action and environmental conservation. We see how organized crime drives illicit economies such as illegal mining, land grabbing, but also other products, agro commodities coming from the Amazon rainforest and beef from the cattle industry. What we see is that those who defend this crucial asset against climate change, indigenous communities, are attacked and killed by those interested in advancing illicit economies that prey on the natural environment. To protect the Amazon, we need to protect the people who are in the best position to protect the tropical rainforest. This is why we also welcome the participation of indigenous peoples coming from the Amazon at this UNTOC gathering here in Vienna. What we also witness is how drug trafficking groups reached the Amazon rainforest to occupy river corridors for cocaine trafficking, but they stayed for the gold, the timber, the minerals, and expanded their criminal portfolios. It's really important to understand how the profits of drug trafficking are laundered through these environmental crimes that we see in the Amazon basin. It's also really important to understand that organized crime and environmental crimes enable these non-state armed groups to undermine democracy. Their budgets are bigger than the law enforcement agencies tasked with combating crime. When we go to the Amazon as investigators, we depend on the access, because when we talk about criminal governance, we talk about mobility restrictions, we talk about crime taxing legal and illegal economies, but also bribing and buying the conscience of law enforcement teams, of local state authorities, and they suffocate the capacities of state governance. But it's also important to understand that money laundering is a predicate offense for the gold mining industry, but that the demand for gold comes from international markets. But not only gold is a commodity from the Amazon wanted by foreign buyers. What we see is that the food you eat, the jewelry you wear, but also the way you invest your money are all linked to environmental crimes. So we need to understand on a global scale what can we do as governments from different regions of the world. Because if we learn something from organized crime, is that how you can cooperate across borders enhances the impact manifest yourselves. And we think it teaches governments a lesson as well, how to cooperate and make joint decisions about how to tackle organized crime in the Amazon. Because at the end of the day, cooperation is key. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Now I give the floor to Ms. Ingrid Paula Mohana Nisoy of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Via Garzon, Putumayo.

Today I take the floor as an indigenous leader of Putumayo in the Colombian Amazon at the border with Ecuador. Indigenous territories are surrounded by criminal groups that control the coca economy and illegal mining of gold. They lead to environmental crimes, they recruit our young people, and they commit murder, they threaten, and lead to the displacement of our peoples. In 2024 alone, more than 4,000 Indigenous persons were confined or displaced in Putumayo. These experiences that we as indigenous people in Colombia live through are felt by our brothers in Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. This is a cross-border problem. As the voice of indigenous peoples, we are here to support the development of the protocol against crimes that affect the environment. indigenous peoples have succeeded in slowing the expansion of these crimes with our own indigenous goods, with our spirituality, with our traditional economies as part of our self-governance strategies, particularly in areas where the state has not been able to reach. Intermittent state responses, whether through military pressure or aerial fumigation, have not been effective. Instead, they increase the crime lords repression against indigenous peoples. For this, we are calling for meaningful participation on discussions on crime, illicit economies and security. Because we live in the territories where organized crime takes roots and operates. Our self-governance systems are essential to maintaining security in areas where the state is unable to maintain constant presence. We are urging states to recognize and financially support our security systems and our life plans. There is no security in the Amazon and in our territories without Indigenous Peoples. Thank you.

Thank you for your statement. Now I give the floor to Mr. Tariq Kosa from the Center for Governance Research. You have the floor.

Mr. President, Excellencies, and distinguished delegates, it's indeed a great honor for me to speak on behalf of the civil society especially the Civil Society Alliance formed in Pakistan, before the launch of voluntary pilot initiative on review mechanism in Islamabad in September 2022. Supported and mentored by UNODC Civil Society Unit, UNTOC Secretariat and Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Pakistani civil society reached out to the government of Pakistan who appointed a national focal person, a senior police officer, and a notified expert on organized crime. We embarked on that journey together and presented our unified stance before Untok Conference of Parties in October 2022. Since then, We have further strengthened our partnership and constructive engagement with the key stakeholders and focal persons of all the relevant agencies, departments and institutions dealing with review mechanism under Cluster 1 on criminalization and jurisdiction. Today, we stand strong as 35 NGOs, CSOs and about 60 professional experts on organised crime. Academics, industry and private sector representatives are working together to advance the review process. On behalf of the civil society, the Centre for Governance Research has come up with an annual report on the progress of the review mechanism process. These annual reports are disseminated nationally and globally. Advocacy by the civil society culminated in the ratification of the Protocol on Trafficking in Persons by Pakistan. Pakistan's civil society alliance has been actively engaged in drafting and in presenting the civil society declaration during Conference of Parties in 2024. That declaration was a clarion call of the global civil society to combat the menace of transnational organized crime through concerted efforts and unified strategy. Mr. President, we must acknowledge that the review process is rather slow. We are still stuck in the first cluster, while the next three clusters appear on a distant horizon. The rule of 70% clearance by Member States in order to move to the next cluster requires an urgent review. Why are we depriving some of the most efficient and committed States from progressing to the next clusters smoothly and expeditiously. The bottlenecks require urgent attention. The peer review countries may also be bound to give feedback to the country under review within three to six months. It is also recommended that for the sake of transparency, the responses to the self-assessment questionnaires may be made public for wider dissemination and information. We commend those States who have opened their responses for the information of general public. We are sure that the Chair will not only promote but actively work to address the concerns of the civil society. We must pay tribute to the spirit of active dialogue and engagement pursued by the new Executive Director UNODC, Excellency Monica Juma. Let me conclude by thanking the Government of Pakistan National Focal Person and our Permanent Representative in Vienna and the Mission staff, who have been great supporters of civil society in the review mechanism process. Let me also express our gratitude to the UNTOC Secretariat, UNODC Civil Society Unit, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, and the Alliance of NGOs for their support and mentoring. Thank you all. Our best wishes for the UNTOC Conference of Parties during the week. Thank you.

Thank you for your statement. I would like to remind speakers to limit their statements to three minutes as we are running out of time. Now I would give the floor to Ms. Popescu-Miruna from the Romanian American University.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates. The Center for Human Rights and Migration is honored to take the floor and share a practical example of how the UNODC SHERLOCK knowledge management portal has supported education, research, awareness raising, and professional capacity building activities in the field of transnational organized crime, mainly human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Since 2019, SHERLOCK has become an integral component of our academic and training activities. Within higher education programmes, resources available through SHERLOCK have been incorporated into teaching materials for courses such as international organisations, international humanitarian law, the European system of human rights protection and European Union law. Modules and case studies addressing trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, cybercrime and organized crime have helped students better understand these crimes and the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols. Beyond teaching, SHERLOC's legislative, treaty, jurisprudence, and bibliographic databases have become valuable research tools supporting the Centre's academic and policy-oriented.

Work.

These resources have also contributed to the development of training curricula and educational materials used in professional capacity-building programmes.

Over the past five years, we estimate.

That more than 5,000 university and high school students have benefited from educational and awareness-raising activities.

Developed with the support of SHERLOCK resources.

Furthermore, over 3,000 professionals participating in our training programs have been encouraged to use relevant sections of the SHERLOCK Education for Universities initiative as preparatory learning materials before attending specialized courses. The Centre has delivered training programmes for a wide range of European professionals, including legal and law enforcement practitioners, public officials, educators and civil society representatives. The demand for such training increased significantly in recent years as governments and institutions sought to strengthen their capacities to identify and address risks associated with trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, exploitation of vulnerable populations, and other forms of transnational organized crime. Our experience demonstrates that accessible, Comprehensive and practical knowledge platforms such as Sherlock are essential for translating international standards into education, research and professional practice. We therefore commend UNODC for maintaining and continuously developing this valuable research, which contributes directly to prevention, awareness, capacity building, and the effective implementation of UNTOC worldwide. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. I would now call the representative of Massed Human. They're not in the room. The representative of the Dimoon Foundation. Not in the room. The representative of Casa Monarca. They're also not in the room. The representative of National Research Center on Drug Governance. I do not see them either. The representative of World Peace Message Foundation. Also not in the room. Representative of Janggi. No. And the representative of International Promoting Human Development? Also not in room. So with that, we have concluded our list of speakers for item 1F. Thank you.

Excellencies, distinguished-- Excellencies, honorable delegations, ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to invite the conference to turn its attention to agenda item two, entitled Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and Protocols thereto. The first subtheme, 2A, is the review of the convention. In order to facilitate the deliberations, the conference has the following. The report entitled Strengthening Future Efficiency of the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols, document CTOC/COP/2026/9. secretary note for reports on meetings of the subsidiary bodies of the Conference of Parties and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols published under CTLC/COP/2026/5 and a document that reflects the summary of the list of observations of countries pursuant to article 39 of the procedures of the mechanism under ctoc cop RM 1/ 2026/1 The conference also has before it three conference room papers: a paper on the status of adherence to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols with a status of 30 September 2026 contained in document CTOC/COP/2026/CRP.1; a paper on the performance of the mechanism for the review of the implementation of the United Nations Convention against transnational organized crime and the protocol 32 contained in document CTOT CTOC slash COP slash 2026 slash CRP two and a paper entitled summary of the president following constructive dialogues on the review process in accordance with paragraph 53 of the procedures and rules for the functioning of the mechanism for review of the implementation of UNGTOC and protocols there to summaries by the chair. These are contained in document CT/COP/2026/CRP.3. In regard to status of adherence, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the States that have become parties to the Organized Crime Convention and its protocols since the last session of the conference. In the inter-sessional period, there were 15 accessions and ratifications. In total, three states, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Solomon Islands, and Somalia, have become parties to UNTOC, bringing the number of parties to 195. Three states, the Marshall Islands, Somalia, and South Sudan, have become parties to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, bringing the number of parties to 185. Four states, Andorra, Somalia, South Sudan, and Qatar, have become parties to the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, increasing the number of state parties to 156. Five states, Andorra, San Marino, Somalia, South Sudan, and Qatar, have to the Protocol against Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components, and Ammunition, meaning that since the last session, the number of parties has increased to 128. Now, I'd like to give Mr. Giovanni Gallo, Chief of Conference Support Section of the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch, to introduce the item to the Conference. Mr. Gallo, you have the floor.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, the review of implementation of the Convention and the Protocols is not an end in itself. It is the process through which the Conference fulfills its mandate. and Article 32 of the Convention, acquire knowledge of implementation measures and challenges to ultimately improve the capacity of States Parties to combat transnational organized crime. The value of the mechanism lies not only in individual country reviews, but in the collective knowledge of the state of implementation of the Convention and its protocols. As States Parties meet at the 13th session of this Conference, 123 country reviews are underway, representing a 46% increase compared to the 12th session of this Conference. 85 self-assessment questionnaires have been completed, providing solid ground for the next steps of these country reviews. More information, detailed information of such progress is contained in the conference room paper number 2, made available to this conference. Mr. President, two years ago, at the 12th session of the conference, one country review had been finalized. That was Estonia. Today, the Secretariat congratulates 11 additional States Parties on the finalization of their country reviews, and it is appropriate to identify them by name: Canada, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Nepal, Norway, New Zealand, Romania, Suriname and Uganda. And of course, we congratulate the peer reviewers of these 11 States Parties. 10 of these 11 reviews have been finalized in the past six months. Another 12 reviews have advanced to the final list of observation stage and are expected to conclude in the near future. The Secretary is also pleased to welcome the delegation of Bhutan. Bhutan is the first new State Party, by new we mean a party that has acceded to the Convention after the establishment and launch of the mechanism, that has requested on a voluntary basis to undergo the review process. We welcome Bhutan. The steep increase in the number of finalized reviews, although still small in absolute terms, speaks of the potential yet to be fully realized of the mechanism. At the same time, Mr. President, significant delays in its performance persist. A detailed account of the reasons for such delays and of the structural and financial challenges of the mechanism is contained in documents CT

Thank you, Mr. Gallo, for this presentation. Now, I would like to open the floor to delegations so that they can address this agenda item. And given the efforts by my predecessors, I would like to reiterate the fundamental importance of the review mechanism of the implementation on the Convention and Protocols thereto. The Secretariat has informed us that despite difficulties, structural and financial, There are advances being made. Delegations are considering a resolution on strengthening the future efficiency of the mechanism, which is essential for the conference to get the necessary information on measures adopted by member states as pertains to the implementation of the convention and its protocols, as well as the difficulties that they have faced. I now give the floor to delegations that wish to take the floor under this agenda item. I remind you that you can request the floor by pressing the button on your microphone once, and this will be registered on the President's screen. I now give the floor to the delegation of Norway.

Thank you, Chair. We thank the Secretariat for your introduction and for preparing very clear background documents outlining the serious challenges the review mechanism is facing. This is a matter of great concern for all countries. The slow pace of the review process affects the value and relevance of the findings. Information gathered through the mechanism has been limited, though valuable. A number of structural challenges exist at all stages, and despite strong efforts from the Secretariat, we, State Parties, have not managed to make the review mechanism work. The Secretariat confronts us with an honest and direct overview of our alternatives. Do we now wish to complete the review in 76, in 20, or in 15 years from now? and 76 years being the realistic timeline if we carry on as we have done till now. The least bad option, 15 years, allows the Secretariat to deliver necessary support in the form of providing voluntary direct dialogues and other services, updating RevMod, all of which are needed. But it seems totally unrealistic to expect funding to become available for this option. It is expensive. In 2026, the Secretariat undertook a valuable exercise in order to see what could be achieved with changes in the role of the Secretariat. Enhanced substantive support was provided to 20 reviews. Norway was one of the countries that received this strong support from the Secretariat with the aim of finalising the review of our country, which had been in trouble. The Secretariat carried out a number of tasks, including an analytical revision of all information submitted throughout the review process and preparing draft lists of observations and recommendations. This made possible the finalisation of the country review of Norway. We are grateful to the Secretariat. At the same time, we have not managed to fulfil our tasks in the other reviews we are involved in. One conclusion we draw from the exercise carried out by the Secretariat is that, within the current framework, enhanced substantive secretarial support is necessary at all stages in order to make the review mechanism work. If we are to be realistic at this critical juncture, we cannot expect the level of funding or engagement from countries to improve enough. It will not be possible for the Secretariat to deliver needed strong support. We must therefore explore possibilities to simplify the review, and the Secretariat has outlined some possible approaches. We strongly encourage States to explore constructive and innovative approaches in the negotiations on the draft resolution on strengthening results-based and effective implementation of the IANTUC, while enhancing the efficiency of its Conference and subsidiary bodies. This is the most important draft resolution in this Thank you.

Thank you for your statement.

Now I give the floor to the representative of Italy.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

Italy has recently completed the first thematic cluster of its country review on criminalization and jurisdiction. These experiences confirmed the importance of a credible and constructive review process grounded in cooperation among State parties. For Italy, the review process is also an opportunity to bring the international discussion the experience developed over decades in combating mafia-type organizations while remaining open to the approaches and lessons of other legal systems. This exchange is one of the Convention's greatest strengths. Our experience confirms the value of the review mechanism as a tool for mutual learning, for sharing good practices and for supporting the effective implementation of the Convention. Its credibility, however, ultimately depends on its ability to deliver meaningful results within a reasonable timeframe. Yet progress remains too slow. At the current pace and capacity, the Secretariat estimates that completing the full review cycle could take approximately 76 years. This is a warning that calls for political decisions, not merely technical adjustments. We need to accelerate reviews and make the process more efficient timely and operationally relevant. This also requires adequate, predictable and sustainable resources. A review mechanism designed to support all States Parties cannot depend on an increasingly narrow voluntary donor base. This is why we encourage all States Parties to contribute to a lasting solution. If we consider the Palermo Convention a cornerstone of our collective response to organized crime, we must be equally serious about reviewing its implementation.

As we.

Discuss new challenges and ways to strengthen existing instruments, we cannot neglect the foundations on which that work rests. But completing reviews is not an end in itself. What matters is what follows. sharing good practices, addressing identified gaps and directing technical assistance where it is most needed. The success of the review mechanism should therefore be measured not only by number of reviews completed but by the concrete improvements they bring to the implementation of the Convention. Italy stands ready to share its experience and learn more from others.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much for your statement. I now give the floor to the EU delegation.

Distinguished Presidents, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine align themselves with this statement. Criminal networks have an international and often global reach. It is therefore only with strong international cooperation that we will be able to fight transnational organized crime groups. The European Union is particularly well placed to testify the importance of international cooperation. Our dedicated agencies, Europol and Eurojust, bring together the efforts of 27 Member States as well as those of partner countries. Using the international and European legal framework as basis for operational cooperation, they deliver significant results in order to address all forms of organized crime. Our success to prevent and fight organized crime also depends on our capacity to use common terminology in our legal frameworks and to strengthen our international cooperation on this basis. At global level, the Palermo Convention has been in force for almost a quarter of a century now. It remains the main international instrument to fight organized crime. With more than 190 State Parties, it serves as a basis for our cooperation to fight organized crime. We therefore remain convinced that our capacity to implement the UNTOC Convention and its Protocols is key to our effectiveness in responding to the global threat posed by transnational organized criminal groups. The UNTOC Implementation Review Mechanism is a crucial tool to support this effective implementation of the Convention. Since becoming fully operational in 2022, the mechanism has already shown its value in helping State Parties to identify implementation gaps, technical assistance needs and sharing good practices. At the same time, we must acknowledge the significant challenges it faces. The EU recalls that the mechanism was designed to be cost-effective, concise and user-friendly. Yet progress remains too slow, with only a very limited number of reviews finalised since the launch of the process. Organised crime is quick to move its operations to stay out of the law's reach. Our efforts must be faster in response. We should consider practical ways to accelerate implementation of the UNTOC Convention, and the European Union is ready to contribute to those reflections. We could simplify certain procedural steps, enhance the support delivered by the Secretariat to State Parties in completing their reviews, as well as set clear timelines for the completion of certain steps of the review. The mechanism could also make more effective use of existing information, tools, resources and technologies, in order to facilitate the completion of the review by Parties to the Convention and contribute to the quality of these reviews. Also, while preserving the intergovernmental nature of the review, we believe that better use could be made of external sources, including those of civil society organizations. At the same time, the European Union remains deeply concerned by the challenges associated with securing sufficient, predictable and sustainable resources for the mechanism. As reflected in the meeting documents, extra-budgetary contributions are decreasing. In 2025, only three parties made voluntary financial contributions: the European Union, Italy and Norway. We therefore call on Member States to provide voluntary contributions to the mechanism, with a view to broadening its donor base and ensuring its long-term sustainability. Furthermore, the European Union and its Member States have consistently underlined that UNODC activities linked to treaty-based obligations should be covered under the UN regular budget. If we are serious about safeguarding the UNTAC and its review mechanism and making them more effective, we must ensure adequate funding while making the best possible use of available resources. This includes achieving efficiency gains across the UNTAC, notably through a more efficient organization of meetings and streamlining of working methods. Such gains should, in turn, benefit the implementation of the UNTAC and its protocols, including through the review mechanism. Ultimately, the effectiveness of the mechanism depends above all on the political commitments of States Parties. The European Union therefore calls on all Parties to showcase their commitment to cooperate in the fight against organised crime by completing their review. We may wish to reflect on ways to incentivize timely completion of reviews, including by increasing visibility for those States Parties that have completed the process, particularly in the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention in 2030. In conclusion, the European Union stands ready to work with all partners to foster the implementation of the UNTOC Convention and to make the mechanism more efficient, better funded and fully capable of delivering on its mandate. We are therefore actively engaged in the negotiations on the resolution aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the UNTOC and hope it will result in the establishment of an implementation review group that will quickly deliver recommendations to improve the mechanism. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

I thank the representative of the European Union, and now I give the floor to the United States of America.

Distinguished colleagues, I'm Ambassador Barbara Thornhill of the U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Person. I'm here to discuss two forms of trafficking. Right now, a shipment of fentanyl is moving across the border. trafficked by a criminal organization this conference has spent 20 years failing to disrupt. It is headed to a community we all swore to protect. When this shipment hits the street and a teenager ends up in the hospital or dead, their parents will not be asking about conference papers, side events, or plenary discussions. They will be asking why law enforcement officers, investigators, and prosecutors did not do their job. They will ask, why is my child dead? It is time for this body to start doing its job. The United States has taken a strong posture in Vienna's counter-drug and counter-crime foray. because the threats this convention was built to address are not abstract. Children are dying of overdoses. There are citizens dying because governments have failed to take down narco-terrorists operating within their borders. Under President Trump, the United States is calling on states and the UN to step up its fight against organized crime. We tabled resolutions at conventions against corruption conferences of states parties, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. And now we are tabling two resolutions during this session, pressing this body to finally act in accordance with its mandate. The first resolution commits us to use the tools of the Entente to go after the facilitators of the organized crime groups engaged in drug trafficking, the financiers, the money launderers, the corrupt officers, the technical enablers who may never handle drugs themselves, but whom the trafficking networks depend on. This resolution complements the work of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs on this topic by exploring how the UNTAC can disrupt criminal networks involved in crimes not covered by the 1988 UN Convention against illicit drugs and narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance. The second resolution confronts U.N. machinery that has consistently failed to deliver real-world results, which has proven cumbersome, ineffective, and unsustainable. We are demanding results, performance over paperwork, solutions over speeches, and a U.N. structure built for action. The U.S.-sponsored resolution proposed common-sense reforms to the structure and frequency of the UNTAC working groups. This small but meaningful fix will help reinvigorate the UNTAC as a problem-solving forum. Chair, the United States came here to fix this. Every delegate in this room has a choice. Continue defending a system that has produced 20 years of talk while criminal organizations continue to operate with impunity, or join us in making the conference the result-driven, relevant instrument it was always supposed to be. And now, I would like to turn to trafficking in person. Every day in compounds in Southeast Asia, victims of human trafficking are beaten for failing to meet daily fraud quotas, for failing, under threats, including physical abuse, to scam financial targets, including Americans, out of their life savings. Scam centers represent the industrialization of trafficking in person, the mass production of fraud through forced labor, and the most destabilizing expansion of trafficking in person in nearly 25 years since the UNTOC and its trafficking protocol entered into force. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are forced into exploitation, in compounds across Cambodia, Burma, and Laos. These compounds are largely operated by transnational criminal organizations, including Chinese nationalists. Scam centers are replicating globally, and under the Trump administration, the United States is going after the scam operators wherever they are. Following the money out of these compounds is how we find both the criminals and the victims. Over the last two years alone, the United States government has restrained over 938 million in cryptocurrency and imposed economic sanctions over 200 individuals, including two Cambodian senators. involved in online scam operations of the kind that defrauded Americans of billions of dollars and using traffic victims to carry out their schemes. When a sitting senator is sanctioned for his role in abuse of trafficking victims subject to forced labor and scam centers, it shows how deeply these scam operations have penetrated positions of power, and it's evidence that countries need to do more to root it out. Simultaneously, many of the countries, including China, Burma, People's Republic of Korea, Cambodia, and Laos, failed to protect the victims forced into criminality. who are too often penalized for crimes they were compelled to commit. In January 2026, President Trump signed the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, giving trafficking victims a path to clear their federal convictions and expose arrest records for crimes they were forced to commit. When survivors no longer fear a permanent criminal record, they are more likely to assist law enforcement. Chair, the NTUC and its Trafficking in Person Protocol gave us tools to dismantle these networks. The only thing standing between these tools and justice for hundreds of thousands of victims is political will. The United States has that will. We call on every state in this room to match it. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for your statement. Now I would give the floor to the delegation of Indonesia. You have the floor.

Mr. President, Indonesia values the review mechanism as an essential platform for self-assessment, sharing good practices and evaluating legal frameworks, and reaffirm our commitment to implementing the Convention and its protocol in a balanced, transparent and non-intrusive manner. Mr. President, as a State under review, as our commitment to the review mechanism, Indonesia has submitted our complete responses of the cluster one, and looks forward to constructive dialogue with our reviewers. As a co-reviewer, Indonesia is actively working with the United Kingdom on the review of New Zealand, and has been able to complete the review of cluster one. We are looking forward in working with Botswana on the review of Niger, and with North Macedonia on the review of Georgia. These partnerships across different regions reflect our mutual learning across diverse legal traditions. Domestically, Indonesia continues to strengthen inter-agency coordination against evolving crime patterns. On trafficking in persons, we focus on forced criminality in cross-border online scam operation, applying the non-punishment principles. to the victims while targeting the syndicates behind them. On smuggling of migrants, our enforcement strategy focuses on disrupting illicit financial flows and smuggling networks while ensuring full respect for the human rights and basic safety of vulnerable migrants under the principle of shared responsibility. On the mechanism itself, Review cycles spanning decades undermine the relevance of findings. Indonesia supports strengthening the Secretariat's substantive capacity to accelerate reviews, provided that any dialogue or country visit remains voluntary, request-based, and respectful of national sovereignty. Furthermore, sustainable and predictable regular budget resources must be secured to ensure the long-term viability of the mechanism. Mr. President, review outcomes must translate into tailored technical assistance that meets practical needs on the ground, notably in digital forensics, tracing and recovering cryptocurrency assets, and strengthening central authorities to expedite requests for mutual legal assistance and extradition. In conclusion, Countering transnational organized crime requires strong implementation of the UNTOC and INS Protocol. Indonesia stands ready to work constructively with UNODC and all States Parties toward an effective, responsive and sustainable framework. Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the delegation of Indonesia. Now I give the floor to the representative of Czechia.

Thank you. Thank you for the floor. Dear Mr. President, Excellencies, dear colleagues, the Czech Republic aligns itself with the statement of the European Union as well as that of the delegation of Norway. In our national capacity, allow me to thank all of you for taking the time to travel to Vienna and participate in this session. In the current geopolitical context, marked by numerous conflicts and challenges, I would invite all of us to pause for a moment and reflect on how important it is that we can still come together, engage in dialogue, and listen to one another. Thanks to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, we are not only able to talk together, but also to act together and help protect our societies from some of the most serious forms of crime. We have also collectively agreed to review and support one another's implementation of the commitments we have made. While some colleagues have expressed concerns that the review mechanism is too slow or insufficiently efficient, my own experience has led me to a different conclusion. Of course, as we heard from the Secretariat, the system needs urgent reform. However, ultimately, it is never only about the system. It is about the people who make it work. I became an UNTAW focal point a year and a half ago. At the time, I knew very little about the Convention itself. However, thanks to the support of my former colleagues, and in particular the Secretariat, we were able within a single year to finalize one review and make significant progress on another. This was made possible through the dedication of three focal points, numerous experts, and the extraordinary efforts of the Secretariat under the enhanced substantive support provided to accelerate the review process. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Switzerland and Romania for their excellent cooperation throughout the review process. I also look forward to continuing our work with Brazil and Serbia to ensure that our review is completed before the next session. I hope that we can all find time in our exceptionally demanding agendas, as I am sure that UNTAC is definitely not the only file we are working on, and dedicate it to the review process. I am convinced that it will be worth the effort. Once adopted, the recommendations emerging from the review process can bring tangible improvements from policy to practice and from the office to the field. Once again, it is not only the system, it is above all the people behind it. From my personal experience, the commitment and tireless work of Maria Cristina, Mayara, Dorothy, Citlalin, Shin, Issam, and other colleagues from the UNTOC Secretariat, such as Gabrielle and Manuel, together with the reviewers and countries under review, have made a genuine difference. I wish all of us continued progress in our respective reviews and look forward to celebrating their successful completion together. Thank you.

I thank the delegation of Czechia. Now I give the floor to the Russian Federation. You have the floor.

Distinguished colleagues, today one of the main threats to stability of societies is crime. States are increasingly formed with hybrid manifestations of transnational organized crime. using ICTs. For that reason, the review mechanism is very important for forming collective knowledge, and we would like to inform you of our developments in Russia. criminal and law enforcement practice in Russia meets international standards and in some aspects it even exceeds it. We are carrying out consistent work to improve our material base in 2025. We have been using blocks of measures that seek to combat telephone and internet fraud. Uh, often these are carried out by transactional organized groups, a key specificity is the transition from a diverse, uh, interdictions to the creation of a unified state shield in which banks, telecommunications oper- operators and information systems all work together, we're seeing that the attention of criminals is gradually shifting from Russia to other states with less developed, uh, legal and technical environments. Whereas Russia is seeing the emergence of new trends involving a shift among fraudsters from mass telephone calling to targeted operations against selected individual victims. We are particularly concerned at the emergence of risks of the involvement of children in crime. It can be stated with confidence, modern technologies are no longer an ancillary resource used by criminals. The very architecture of transactional organized crime has changed. Against that backdrop, the volume of digital evidence is rising from year to year, whereas international cooperation in view of changing digital exchanging exchanging digital evidence is often treading water, including this due to the unconstructive positions of some states. countries are left to their own devices. For example, our investigative committee is considering creating its own equivalent of Interpol's ICSC database, which stores images and video of children subjected to sexual exploitation. The next step would be to create a system for express analysis and registration of multimedia digital evidence that would allow immediate identification of evidence of sexual and exploitation of children, search and comparison of faces and distinguishing features, and establishing links and evidence of serial offenses. We must also address situations whereby digital influencing is used to turn people, including adolescents, into cogs in the criminal machinery. For example, while we have dispersed investigative resources in the field of judicial linguistics, we continue to see a need for broader international exchange of audio, video, and text records of communications between criminals and their victims. Using the analytical services of expert linguistics, psychologists, and forensic scientists would allow identification of typical means of criminal influence and enhance investigative methods and also develop scientifically based preventive measures. Testing of such database could be used on the basis of the 24/7 contact point network of the Hanoi Convention. Regarding prevention, prevention is our most powerful instrument right now. However, existing methods are often addressed towards, are not adequate. The Russian Federation has developed comprehensive proactive preventive measures. An important tool that we have is called Exit 31. It's aimed to resist adolescents who have been targeted by criminals seeking to recruit them for terrorism and other destructive activities. To conclude, we note that Russian practices and innovations demonstrate a high level of adequacy to the new challenges that we face, while underscoring the importance of global partnership in combating transnational organized crime. Thank you.

Thank you. Now I would give the floor to the delegation of Germany, followed by Switzerland. Germany, you have the floor.

Mr. President, distinguished delegates. Thank you very much for the possibility of sharing our experience with you. First of all, Germany aligns itself with the statement delivered by the EU. We strongly support the review mechanism and are grateful for the achievements made since our last conference. Having said that, let me underline that, as others have already mentioned, we believe that the efficiency, effectiveness and the sustainability of review mechanism could and should be enhanced. The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is our most valuable global instrument in fighting organized crime, and a well-functioning review mechanism is key to unlocking its full potential. The Convention can only serve as an effective global response if it is implemented properly, which is precisely why this review mechanism plays such a crucial role in our view. Germany is strongly committed to this process. We are the eighth country to have concluded the review process following the acceptance of our list of observations in October 2026. So just for a minute. Our own country review started in February 2023 with preliminary consultations. In July 2024, our responses to the executive questionnaire were published by UNDC. In March 2026, nearly two years later, first written feedback and the draft of list of observation were provided by Canada and Suriname. Thanks to their tremendous efforts, we were able to agree on the final list of observations just days before this conference. What are our key takeaways from this experience? It clearly demonstrates that the process requires significant resource investments from all involved. The review placed high demands on everyone, from coordination by lead officials in ministries, to selecting suitable experts, to completing extensive questionnaires. More often than not, this workload comes on top of daily operations in investigating and combating organized crime. The process was continuously supported by the UNDC Secretariat, and brought to a successful conclusion by our reviewing States. However, streamlined procedures, clear prioritization and digital efficiency remain essential to avoid bottlenecks and sustain momentum. Does the review process currently meet these requirements? It is cost effective, efficient, and user friendly. We believe there is still some room for improvement. We therefore thank the United States for introducing a draft resolution aimed at increasing efficiency. Furthermore, we believe that UNDC funding must be secured so that reviews can be managed properly, and it remains key to find a broad donor base for a balanced solution that avoids placing an additional burden on UN regular budget. Thank you.

I thank the delegation of Germany. Now I would give the floor to the delegation of Switzerland, followed by Namibia. Switzerland.

President, excellencies, distinguished delegates, we thank the Secretariat for the, and also the delegations for their contributions. We underscore the importance of the Convention and its protocols in combating transnational organized crime. and reducing the suffering that it causes. International treaties can, however, only have an impact through effective implementation. Switzerland firmly believes that the mechanism for the review of the implementation of the Convention will help to ensure this. The review mechanism is neither intended to blame states nor to dictate their conduct. Rather, it aims to provide an opportunity for dialogue and mutual learning through the exchange of good practices and the challenges to be addressed. Over the past few months, Switzerland has engaged in constructive exchanges with its partner states and, with the support of the Secretariat, has contributed to advancing the review process. Thanks to the excellent cooperation among Czechia, Romania and the Secretariat, we welcome the completion of the first cluster of Romania's review. At the same time, thanks to the outstanding work of Denmark, Hungary and the Secretariat, the list of observations concerning Switzerland has also progressed well and should be finalized in the coming weeks. This work has already enabled us to draw valuable lessons regarding the effective implementation of the mechanism. On the one hand, the explanations provided by the State party under review regarding its legal system, together with the relevant sources, including legislation, case law and their translations, provide a valuable basis for the review. On the other hand, The preparation of a first draft list of observations helps to identify information that may still need to be supplemented. This allows the State Party under review to provide the necessary clarifications as well as additional information. Switzerland is convinced of the value of this mechanism and encourages the strengthening of its impact through the participation of other States. In this regard, it's important to maintain a balance, to remain open to considering possible developments of the mechanism with a view to increasing its efficiency and effectiveness, and to draw lessons from the experience gained. At the same time, what has already been achieved must be preserved. Any changes should therefore be considered carefully while constantly ensuring that the review mechanism remains transparent, impartial and functional. Switzerland will continue to work towards the effective and feasible implementation of the review mechanism. Finally, Switzerland wishes to thank the Secretariat for its support throughout the steps that have already been completed. I thank you.

I thank the Swiss delegation and now give the floor to the delegation of Namibia, followed by the delegation of Guatemala. Namibia, you have the floor.

Mr. President, Namibia reaffirms its commitment to the Convention as a central international instrument for preventing and combating transnational organized crime. We recognize that effective implementation requires not only appropriate legislation and institutional framework, but also sustained political commitment, international cooperation, technical assistance and the capacity to translate international obligation into practical national actions. Six years after the launch of the implementation review mechanism, its progress must be assessed against its intended objective rather than the mere existence of the review process. As envisaged in paragraph 8 of the procedure and the rule for the function of the mechanism, The process should support implementation, identify challenge and technical assistance needs and facilitate international cooperation and enable the Conference to obtain clear understanding of the measure taken by the State Party in the difficult encounter. The delay in completing country review warrants serious attention. A mechanism intended to examine implementation across the Convention cannot fulfil its full potential if the review advances too slowly to provide timely, sufficient and comprehensive evidence. Namibia therefore supports a frank evidence-based assessment of progress, including the obstacles that prevent State Parties from completing their review within the agreed time framework. Regarding the performance of mechanism as addressed in the CT, OC, COP 2026, CRP2, Namibia emphasized the importance of assessing both procedural progress and substantive result. The number of review initiated is relevant, but it does not by itself demonstrate that the mechanism is achieving its intended objective. The Conference should therefore consider the timeline of the review, the completion of the review stage, the quality of observation, the identification of technical assistance needs, and the extent to which recommendations inform national implementation. Namibia encourages the Secretariat to assist State Parties in identifying bottlenecks, sharing practical solutions, and establishing a realistic approach to completing outstanding reviews. On constructive dialogue reflected in the CT, OC, COP 2026, CRP3, Namibia recognized the value as means of facilitating exchange between state party and relevant stakeholder. This dialogue can help identify implementation challenges. Mr. President, Namibia attaches particular importance to national ownership and the practical value of country review. A review should not be regarded as an end in itself, but an opportunity to identify areas requiring improvement and strengthen coordination. From Namibia's perspective, country review should enable state party to exchange experience in good faith, identify legislative and institutional gap, determine where additional expert training and other technical will be useful. Namibia therefore encourage the secretariat to provide practical guidance throughout the review cycle, including encouraging those country that have nominated their focal point and those that have not nominated their focal point, but there's no progress in terms of the review. Going forward, we encourage the Secretariat to also acknowledge the country that are reviewing the other country that are under review, because from this, it seems those that are acknowledged is the one that have completed, but those that are reviewing, they are also doing hard work. Namibia considers that the future effectiveness of the mechanism rests with the four mutual reinforcement priorities. First, accelerate the completion of the review. Second, strengthen the evidence base. Third, ensuring adequate technical and financial support. Fourth, improve follow-up and knowledge sharing. The priority should be pursued in a manner that safeguard the mechanism, transparency, impartiality, inclusiveness and efficiency. In conclusion, Mr. President, Namibia supports strengthening the implementation of review mechanism as a practical instrument for improving the implementation of the Convention. Its credibility will depend on our collective willingness to address delay, learn from the evidence provided, the necessary resources. Namibia stands ready to engage constructively with other states and the Secretariat in advancing a review mechanism that delivers meaningful results, strengthens international cooperation and contributes more effective response to transnational organized crime. I thank you.

Thank you very much for your statement. I now give the floor to Guatemala, followed by the delegation of Chile. Guatemala, you have the floor.

Thank you, President. It's an honor for Guatemala to take part in this session of the Conference of Parties to UNTOC as we take multilateral efforts to strengthen the implementation of the Convention of the United Nations against transnational organized crime, especially the protocol to prevent, suppress, and sanction trafficking in persons, especially women and girls. Combating trafficking in persons also needs to be measured by the capacity of states to identify victims, dismantle criminal structures, train officers who are in charge of identifying and assisting victims, as well as stifling the economic benefits for traffickers in order to guarantee the effective restoration of the rights. Trafficking in persons calls for comprehensive state responses which are long lasting and coordinated beyond national borders. In Guatemala, national legislation is the baseline for our national response. Similarly, specialized prevention, care, investigation and prosecution mechanisms, the Secretariat against sexual exploitation and violence and trafficking in persons under the office of the Vice President plays an important role in coordination of public policies. strengthening the institutional capacities and coordinating with other institutions and sectors. Guatemala recognizes that no institution alone has all the capacities necessary to deal with the crime of transnational organized criminal activities. In 2025, decree 3/2025 was adopted, and the goal is to improve the protection and the best interest of the child It serves as an oversight for children and adolescents in detention centers, establishing measures to prevent and prosecute behavior that goes against their rights. holds in high priority cooperation between FIUs, prosecutors, police force and judiciary systems, as well as international cooperation for timely sharing of financial information and evidence that is admissible in criminal proceedings. Dealing with trafficking in persons should not only be viewed as a crime against human dignity and freedom, but also as an illicit economic activity that could generate, mobilize, and also hide the gains. Trafficking in persons is also tied to fake job offers, and this is a real challenge for Guatemala, especially as pertains to cross-border labor migration. For this reason, the National Migration Authority this year approved the creation of a commission to address labor mobility and migration, and we aim to prevent and promote the denouncing of trafficking in persons for labor purposes. We also are addressing and upholding the importance to investigate fraud during recruitment, job brokering, and transborder exploitation. We are also promoting safe contracts, verification of job offers, consular assistance, and international cooperation between labor, migration, and judicial authorities. Through SVET, we are participating in the Regional Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, CORIT. The advances made does not spare Guatemala from the effects of transnational organized crime. Allow me to underscore the need for detecting improving the capacities of detective authorities, job centers, border points, migration offices, digital space, paying special attention to children, adolescents, women, indigenous persons, people with disabilities, migrants, in coordination with labor authorities, migration authorities, police force, and tax authorities, increasing investigation on financial flows and identifying the final benefactors and freezing their assets without losing sight of the victims. The generation of very viable information is important. Guatemala recognizes that investigation, cross-border cooperation needs to be improved. For this reason, we reaffirm our commitment to the effective implementation of the Protocol against Trafficking in Persons, and we are ready to work with various sectors to strengthen the effective implementation of the Protocol. We highlight special gratitude to UNODC for the unwavering support and assistance offered. It has been key in continuing the strengthening of our institutions, promoting inter-institutional and regional coordination, and developing responses that are adapted to the new manifestations of trafficking in persons. We value this space as an opportunity to share experiences, identify needs for technical assistance, and strengthen cooperation between states in order for us to move towards a response that is more effective in the face of all trafficking in persons. Thank you very much.

I thank the delegation of Guatemala. I now give the floor to the delegation of Chile, followed by Peru and Japan. Chile, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, President. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The review mechanism of UNTOC, United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, plays a fundamental role in ensuring that states effectively fulfill their obligations under this instrument. For this reason, Chile recognizes the importance of strengthening its functioning with a view to optimize its processes, improve its outcomes, and ensure that the convention remains a robust instrument capable of adapting to the evolving nature of organized crime. In this view, this delegation would like to reaffirm that the effectiveness of the Convention depends on genuine, consistent and comprehensive commitment of all State Parties to comply with obligations arising from the instrument. For this reason, we urge all State Parties to ensure that any reservations they may maintain are compatible with the object and the of the Convention and to review those that may undermine the fulfillment of their obligations under it. Thank you very much.

I thank the delegation of Chile and now give the floor to the delegation of Peru.

President, Peru welcomes the review mechanism reports. Six years after it became operational, we remain concerned that certain design challenges and the pace of reviews may limit the usefulness of its findings in improving the implementation of the Convention. The summaries by Italy and Canada demonstrate concrete progress in identifying good practices and legislative gaps. However, the limited scope does not yet allow us to conclude that these objectives have been fully achieved. nor to establish a broader impact on national capacities and international cooperation that could be extrapolated to other states. My delegation welcomes this substantive support by the Secretariat. aimed at accelerating the review process and improving its quality while preserving state's ownership of the review outcomes. We take note of the three scenarios proposed to strengthen the mechanism, and we consider that scenario B represents the most realistic basis for moving forward. with an estimated annual cost of 2.2 million US dollars. It offers a reasonable balance between expected results and available resources. We recognize that the 20 year time frame seems lengthening and that its feasibility will depend on sustainable funding and active participation of states. In this regard, the proposed cause of action may be pursued in a complementary manner. On one hand, efforts can focus on ensuring effective existing regular budget resources while encouraging donors to provide voluntary contributions in support of the mechanism implementation. On the other hand, the Secretary General could be requested to include the corresponding resource requirements in proposals for the next program budget. Concerning the latter, it will be necessary to coordinate with our missions in New York to follow up on this request during the General Assembly budgetary process. Peru remains committed to work constructively towards the strengthening of the review mechanism so that its outcomes contribute to the effective implementation of the Convention and its protocols, as well as to enhance international cooperation in the face of transnational organized crime. Thank you.

Thank you. I now give the floor to the delegation of Japan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you very much for the very informative presentations. Excellencies and distinguished delegates, the fight against transnational organized crime demands more than shared commitments. It demands laws that work, institutions that act, and the State Party that honor their obligations. The UNCTAD review mechanism must help turn those obligations into actions. Japan sees three priorities, identify the gaps, learn from experience, and deliver improvements. First, the review must strengthen implementation. The review mechanism must be transparent, fair, and effective. It must identify shortcomings as well as good practices. Its findings must help state parties improve their laws and practices and verify where technical assistance is needed. Reservation also required careful attention. Under general international law, reservation must not be incompatible with the objective and the purpose of the convention. Where questions arise about such compatibility, the review process should enable constructive exchange on the reservations made by States under review, including their implications for the Convention's effective implementation. The objective must be clear, to ensure the Convention works in practice, not merely on paper. Second, Japan is committed to constructive review. Japan thanks the UNODC Secretariat for its continued support. As a State Party under review in Group 2, Japan is being reviewed by Canada and Palau. The process has reached step C, preparation of the list of observations. The Secretariat has recognized Japan as one of the countries whose review has progressed farthest. This progress reflects the close and constructive cooperation. Japan thanks Canada and the Palau for their active engagement. Japan will continue to work with both reviewing states and the Secretariat to bring the review to a successful conclusion. The sum, the review must lead to actions. A review is not an end in itself. Its value lies in what it changes. State parties should share not only good practices, but also the obstacles they face and the practical solutions they develop. Japan encourages the UNODC Secretariat to continue promoting such exchanges. Sherlock is a valuable tool in this effort. By bringing together national legislation, case law, and the crime prevention strategy, it helps the state party understand each other's legal framework and the practices. Japan has supported the development and the operation of Sherlock since 2019. Japan will continue to support the sharing of legal information and the practical knowledge that the strengthening implementation. Chair, The test of this mechanism is not how many reviews it completes. The test is whether States Parties emerge better equipped to fulfil their obligations. The Convention must be more than a promise on paper. It must be a living instrument of cooperation, backed by the action and the measures, by results. Japan will work with all States Parties and the UNODC Secretariat to make the promise real. As a responsible member of the international community, Japan will do its utmost to advance the common fight against transnational organized crime. We must let the review expose the gaps, let the Convention be judged not by the commitments States parties make, but by the results they deliver. Thank you very much.

I thank the delegation of Japan. We still have a substantial list of speakers. I will read it out. Azerbaijan, Gabon, Australia, China, Romania, Colombia, Sudan. So we will continue with this list of speakers tomorrow. We have taken note of the list since the electronic system might erase it. So I ask delegations for tomorrow to be prepared so I will call on them. And if there's any additional state that wishes to take the floor on this agenda item, you can do so tomorrow. With that, I will suspend the session for the evening and we will resume tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Thank you.