14. International CrimeOver the course of FY �, the Department determined that the clarity and focus of planning for programs in support of this Strategic Goal could be improved by reducing from nine to two the number of Performance Goals listed in the FY �-02 Performance Plan. It was also determined that the two Outcomes Desired more accurately functioned as these two Performance Goals. Finally, it was decided that the nine original Performance Goals should be included as part of the Strategy and Tactics for reaching these goals. Accordingly, the two revised Performance Goals for minimizing the impact of international crime on the United States and its citizens are: 1) Improved law enforcement and criminal justice institutions in targeted countries and 2) Strengthened international cooperation against transnational organized crime. The following reflects that revision. International crime poses a serious threat to Americans at home and abroad. Trafficking in drugs and arms, terrorism, money laundering, trafficking in women and children, alien smuggling, counterfeiting, auto theft, intellectual property theft, cyber crime, and public corruption are all international in scope and cost Americans billions of dollars each year. They also affect U.S. interests in stability, immigration, and democracy. Given the global character and transnational reach of organized crime today, international cooperation on criminal justice issues is central to U.S. efforts to minimize the impact of transnational crime on the United States and its citizens. No amount of effort by a single country can have a lasting impact. In addition to diplomatic tools and initiatives, the Department draws upon the expertise of Federal, state, and local law enforcement and judicial agencies and nongovernmental organizations to provide criminal justice sector training, equipment, and technical assistance to help foreign governments act against international crime and to enhance their ability to provide the United States the assistance we need to identify, prosecute, and convict international criminals. This is a long-term process but one that has seen clear progress in several key areas over recent years and particularly in Fiscal Year 2001. Building Relationships Through Training. Training is a core element of the Department抯 strategy for combating transnational crime. Training not only imparts key skills to law enforcement officials, it builds relationships between U.S. enforcement agencies providing the training and their foreign counterparts and strengthens cooperation at the operational level. By helping to build justice sectors manned by officials who are trained to be competent, fair, and committed to the rule of law, such programs also serve the U.S. national interest in supporting democratic development abroad. In 2001, the Department opened a regional International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Gaborone, Botswana, which will initially serve southern and eventually all of Africa. This brings to three the number of regional ILEAs (others are in Bangkok and Budapest), which provide U.S. training keyed to regional issues and problems. The Department also opened an ILEA in Roswell, New Mexico, that provides advanced training for graduates of the three regional ILEAs. Plans are underway to open an ILEA to serve Latin America. Overall, through ILEAs and bilateral training programs, the Department provided training for more than 11,500 law enforcement officials in more than 120 countries in 2001. Department post-training assessments indicate that foreign law enforcement officials who receive U.S. training tend to move more quickly into leadership positions, which multiplies the impact of the training. UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. With U.S. financial and political support, the international community completed 3 years of hard work on the Transnational Organized Crime Convention (TOCC) and three supplementary protocols (trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, and trafficking in firearms), which obligate governments to strengthen laws against international crime and encourages cooperation among states. More than 140 states have signed the TOCC, with the United States assisting those states needing help in developing the necessary legislation and other legal changes to implement the convention. Anticorruption. Corruption routinely affects American interests overseas. It facilitates crime, impedes global economic activity of U.S. firms, stifles economic activity and investment in developing countries, and can even threaten the stability of democratic regimes. To strengthen international norms against corruption梞any countries do not regard corruption as a serious crime梩he Department is providing political and financial support for the start-up of negotiations on an international convention on corruption. Negotiators completed agreement on the terms of reference and a draft text in 2001 and will begin formal negotiations on the convention in early 2002. To help maintain the international spotlight on anticorruption issues, the United States and the Netherlands cosponsored the second Global Forum on Corruption in The Hague, which drew ministers and senior officials from 143 states. The first Global Forum on Corruption was held in Washington in 1999. Money-laundering. A common trait shared by transnational crime groups, narcotics traffickers, and terrorist groups is their need to launder money used in their operations and to move it surreptitiously around the international banking system. The Department works with other countries, both bilaterally and in multilateral forums, on ways to increase banking transparency, tighten practices against money laundering, make it easier to seize assets from such operations, and reduce and ultimately eliminate 搒afe havens� for illegal money. Working with the other 27 members of the multinational Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which focuses on money-laundering, the Departments of State and Treasury identified 8 additional states as 搉on-cooperating countries and territories� (NCCTs) and helped 4 other jurisdictions 揼raduate� from the list by improving their performance. This brings the current total of NCCTs to 19, all of which face diplomatic and other pressure by FATF members to improve their anti-money laundering policies and practices. The Department also provided political support for and technical assistance to efforts to form regional FATF-like bodies in South America and one for Eastern and Southern Africa. In 2001, the Department provided assistance to 27 states to improve their anti-money laundering systems. U.S. assistance in establishing anti-money laundering units in Thailand and Paraguay, for example, yielded their first-ever prosecutions for money laundering. Following the September 11 attacks, the United States shifted focus to terrorist financing nations; but even here, the training and institutional development will support our broader anti-money laundering goals and objectives. Trafficking in Persons. Each year, more than 700,000 people梞ostly women and children梐re transported across national borders, where they are subjected to various forms of sexual and economic exploitation. Some 50,000 of these are smuggled into the United States. To help combat this growing problem, the Department published the first annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in July, which assessed global trafficking trends and identified 23 countries as key areas of concern and as possible recipients for U.S. anti-trafficking assistance. The Department also set up an interagency Office on Trafficking in Persons to coordinate interagency information and policy and to serve as the secretariat for the newly created interagency cabinet-level Task Force on Trafficking in Persons. The Office formally opened in October 2001. Alien Smuggling. To combat the growing problem of alien smuggling, the Department took steps to establish an interagency migrant Smuggling and Trafficking Center that will coordinate policy and intelligence on smuggling activities and help with disruption operations. Combating alien smuggling has been an uphill struggle because many governments consider it to be a victimless crime since most aliens are seeking better economic lives. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, however, many governments have begun focusing on the need for better border security. The Center is scheduled to open in early 2002. States in Transition. The Department continues to play an active role in rebuilding police and criminal justice systems in states undergoing transition from civil strife. Working with the UN Mission in Kosovo, the Department helped build, from the ground up, a new 4,000-strong multiethnic police force that provides day-to-day policing for Kosovo. The Department provided more than 800 American policemen as part of peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, and East Timor and supported multiethnic police training in Southern Serbia and Macedonia. Africa. To strengthen African anticrime efforts, the Department conducted national assessments for six countries (Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Togo) to help determine the best mix of anticrime assistance and negotiated agreements with several of these countries to provide technical assistance and equipment.
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