21ST CENTURY DECLARES WAR ON GLOBALIZING CRIME

(1) TrHaving lived through two world wars, the danger of a nuclear holocaust, and a series of
environmental catastrophes in the 20th century, humankind is entering a new millennium - an era of
globalization - still encumbered with its old social woes, among which crime, in particular terrorism,
corruption, and drug trafficking, has become a real scourge. TrThese phenomena are the result of man's
failure in the past century to address such problems as social and economic inequality, and political,
racial, ethnic and religious intolerance.
In the past 30 years the incidence of crime in the world has increased fourfold, including in the FSU and the
United States, eight times; Great Britain and Sweden, seven times; France, six times; and Germany, four
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times. According to UN statistics, in the late 1990s, crime in the world was growing at an average rate of
5 percent a year, as compared to population growth at a rate of 1 percent. In 2001, not less than 450 million
crimes will have been registered on our planet while their actual number could be three times as high.
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In the past few decades of the 2Oth century, large sections of the world's population have ended up
socially and economically unprotected and insecure at a time of sweeping changes and the information
revolution, when capital, goods, and people are moving across the globe at a hitherto unheard-of speed,
world market development is resulting in cutthroat competition, and regional maps are being constantly
re-carved owing to ethnic, communal, and political conflicts.
The more interdependent the world becomes, the more mutually vulnerable it gets. Globalization of the
social and economic sphere has brought about globalization of crime, making it increasingly organized,
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transnational, and ingenious. Criminal communities are, much faster than state systems in different
countries, taking advantage of new communications facilities, any loosening of border controls, and any
liberalization of movement in the world.
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This manifests itself above all in illegal migration, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Every year,
transnational criminal groups unlawfully organize the movement of 1 million illegal migrants, yielding in excess
of $3.5 billion. In the late 1990s, the drug business turnover stood at more than $500 billion a year.
Approximately $90 billion received from drug trafficking is laundered and used as legal investment. In all, ac-
cording to the IMF, about $600 billion in ill-gotten money is laundered in the world every year.

CRIME IN A GLOBALIZATION ERA

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Seeing globalization as evolution of universal principles of world order resulting from rapid expansion of the
transnational financial and information space based on state-of-the-art high technologies, the UN has identified
its six main trends underlying the general process of change leading to transformation of international crime.
Spread of liberal democracy. This has enabled a large number of people to openly and freely express
their opinion and engage in politics. But this trend has also brought about new contradictions - both in
the world at large and in individual countries oftentimes aggravating political, economic, religious, ethnic,
or territorial conflicts, leading to outbreaks of violence and acts of vandalism, armed clashes, and ter-
rorism. TrAs a result of various conflicts, there are over 23 million refugees or displaced people in the
world today.
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Prevalence of market forces in the economy. Economic liberalism has been a predominant ideology
since the mid-1970s. While economic efficiency increased, socio-economic division in various states deepened
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considerably. With the lion's share of profits from national economies concentrated in the hands of a narrowly
circumscribed stratum of oligarchs, the proportion of the destitute part of the population grew, as did
unemployment, poverty, and homelessness among children and teenagers - phenomena that tend to provide
fertile soil for the spread of crime, drug abuse, and alcoholism. According to the UN, one-third of the people in
developing countries live in abject poverty. More than 100 million children on our planet are homeless.
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Predictably, the level of corruption in the power and administration system has grown as a result of close
links between government officials, on the one hand, and the narrow circle of national oligarchs and
representatives of international financial organizations, on the other.
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World economic integration. This trend is, first and foremost, a product of high mobility of world
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capital. In countries with an underdeveloped economy and market infrastructure this process is
responsible for capital flight, outflow of skilled workforce, and the brain drain. The negative by-products
of globalization are deftly used by criminal groups which reap colossal profits.
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Integration of the world economy brought about globalization of international finances and as a result,
evolution of offshore markets, which, on the one hand, precipitated the development of international trade
and investment but, on the other, brought forth a world shadow economy, exempt from taxation in offshore
zones.
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The new global financial system is outside the control of any particular country and is increasingly dictating
its own priorities - in the interest of quick money return and short-term gains, as opposed to the priorities
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of producers, national budgets, and governments. As a result, national economies are gradually breaking
away from social developments in their own countries, triggering a chain of anti-social consequences.
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Consolidation and merging of regional and sectoral financial markets into a worldwide financial market
leads to the emergence of global monopolies wielding unprecedented supra-national power on world
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markets. Frequently these global monopolies are not even institutionalized and therefore do not lend
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themselves to traditional analysis. The speed of capital flow on the present-day global financial market is
basically equal to the speed of information flow, not surprisingly far outpacing the comprehension of both
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these processes. Trillions of dollars in “hot" money, produced by the flow of capital, can send a shock wave
capable of overthrowing any national economy, as could be graphically seen from the 1997-1999 world
financial crisis.
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Globalization process and the emergence of supranational commercial conglomerates mean that the
well-being of every individual may be contingent on decisions made in some obscure office at the other
end of the world, by top executives in a group of companies not subject to national government control.
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Moreover, not infrequently these executives also happen to be the shadow leaders of transnational
organized crime groups.
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Transformation of production systems and the labor market. In recent decades, industry has been
increasingly based on small and flexible production systems with employees preferring to move into the
services sector, work part time, or engage in informal activities, thus substantially weakening the potentialities
of trade unions and the state in the field of labor market regulation, tax collection, and social program
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funding. This also considerably impairs traditional state oversight of corporate performance and so provides
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fertile ground for massive tax evasion. Flexible labor organization methods disturb the balance between
industrial production growth and creation of new jobs, leading to higher unemployment. For its part, mounting
unemployment creates a reserve "army" for organized crime groups. Leaders of such criminal communities are
increasingly seen by the public as "economic dissidents" of globalization and even people's protectors against
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poverty and unemployment. They cleverly pose as social benefactors, which often helps criminal kingpins get
into elective power structures.
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Transformation of production in less developed countries and within social groups that are not ready to
embrace changes brings about a situation where large sections of society, untrained in new technology and
having no prospects for professional growth, sink into poverty. This leads to spontaneous protests against
globalization, accompanied by acts of vandalism and violence (cases in point are Davos, Seattle, and Prague
2000 / Also Paris 2005)
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The pace of technological modernization. The emergence of first electronic computing machines in the
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mid-1900s signaled the beginning of an information revolution. By the end of the century, the foundations
of a new post-industrial or IT society were already in place. The evolution of production technologies and
social relations was accompanied by an evolution of criminal behavior and the emergence of new forms of
crime, fully tapping modern IT tools, one such tool being information warfare.
Today any bank, any electric power station, any transport network, or any television broadcasting facility
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constitute a potential target for criminal attacks from cyberspace. Theft of financial or material assets by
altering electronic information content has become commonplace. This also applies to the use of information
obtained through unauthorized access to its electronic carriers, for criminal purposes; causing material
damage by electronically damaging or destroying software, and illicit copying of software (piracy) that
infringes copyright and other software-related intellectual property rights. "Computer hacking" and
"computer terrorism" - that is, electronic blocking, damaging, or destruction of systems ensuring the
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operation of separate facilities or whole complexes - is especially alarming in this context. Using the com-
puter as a tool to model criminal acts and their outcome is among the most exotic forms of modern IT-
related crime.
The media revolution and dictate of consumer ideology. The impact of the all-pervasive mass media
in the world today is so great that they can sometimes even destroy national cultural and traditional values.
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Confronted with fierce competition for information markets, mass media in many countries, especially in
nascent market economies, in a bid to retain and expand their outreach, have to resort to what is,
essentially, illicit impact, in particular, by manipulating traditional spiritual, social, and legal values, playing
on basic human weaknesses, and glorifying human vice.
Promotion in the media of certain forms of deviant behavior that have at all times been considered morally
unacceptable and reprehensible (prostitution, pimping, debauchery, drug abuse, solvent abuse, gambling,
pornography, and sexual exploitation of children), creates the impression that it is natural, inevitable, and even
trendy. TrAs a result, society becomes increasingly tolerant (moreover, at all levels, including the government)
of all sorts of social and physiological perversions.
One of the most dangerous symptoms of criminalization of society is the process of crime legalization.
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Many mass media outlets relish describing in minute detail unconventional forms of criminal activity
purportedly not punishable under the current criminal code and yielding large and stable profits.
What is happening is that elements of crime are penetrating the normal social organism, while the law-
abiding citizen finds it difficult to distinguish between what is legal and what is criminal, between what is
criminal and what is socially approved, and between what is criminal and what has become daily routine
practice - such is the extent to which these phenomena in actual and media-portrayed virtual reality are
interwoven and interacting with each other, providing a distorted role model for the younger generation.
THE WORLD COMMUNITY TAKES UP THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZING CRIME
The last few decades of the 20th century have showed beyond any doubt that the crime problem cannot be
solved within the limits of national/state resources and methods. This is why the world community has
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pooled its efforts in looking for ways of standing up to crime. A number of conventions, agreements,
guidelines, and recommendations on main priority areas in combating crime, terrorism, corruption, drug
trafficking, and money laundering have been worked out and adopted under the auspices of the UN, the
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Council of Europe, the EU, the G8, and other international organizations. Much work is in hand to promote
international standards for administration of justice, police work, enforcement of sentences, and handling of
law-breakers.
The majority of countries are rendering effective assistance to each other in investigating criminal cases,
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and tracking down and extraditing criminals. International cooperation in crime prevention is no longer
conceivable without such an organization as Interpol, which has become coordinator of law enforcement
efforts in nearly 180 member countries. Such organizations as Europol, CIS interstate structures of law
enforcement agencies, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, and Black Sea Economic Cooperation are
stepping up their efforts in battling international crime.
Nonetheless, the challenge of crime is such that the world community cannot rest content with what is being
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done to fight this evil. The efforts of the world community tend to come too late - rather as a knee-jerk
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reaction to criminal processes. The "brain trusts" of transnational criminal organizations are acting in a
more consolidated, pro-active, and expeditious manner.
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This is largely due to the fact that even the most efficient international inter-governmental organizations often
take too long to make a decision owing to cumbersome procedures and the lack of effective interaction and
teamwork between them and the numerous international public organizations. It is, therefore, vital for anti-
crime forces in various parts of the world to look for more effective mechanisms of interaction in order to raise
the awareness of society about the danger of globalizing crime, pool the efforts of all sections of the population
to actively resist this social evil, and ensure greater rapprochement between countries in working out new,
unconventional approaches to fighting crime.
In this connection, the Russian National Anticrime and Antiterrorism Foundation has come out with
the initiative to set up a Steering Committee of the World Anticrime and Antiterrorism Forum
(WAAF) as a coordinating nongovernmental international agency to strengthen and expand interaction
between various international and national governmental and nongovernmental organizations in working
out effective measures to combat crime.
This initiative has been supported by representatives of the UN, the CE, the EU, and Interpol; heads of law
enforcement agencies in the United States, Central and Eastern Europe, and the CIS; prominent scholars:
lawyers, economists, sociologists, and political scientists; business and media representatives; heads of
various international and national public organizations, and representatives of various world religions.
Annual WAAF forums should become a kind of "Anticrime Davos" which, by dispensing with protocol,
diplomatic, and political hurdles, would provide an informal venue for discussing the aforementioned
problems related to crime globalization, as well as working out recommendations to develop international
standards of law, and put in place uniform international principles for the system of justice and the
operation of law enforcement agencies.
On behalf of the founders of the Russian National Anticrime and Antiterrorisrn Foundation, we invite all
individuals, institutions, and national and international organizations concerned to take part in preparations
for a World Anticrime and Antiterrorisrn Forum.
We are looking forward to hearing from you with new, unconventional ideas and proposals, research and
analysis documents on combating crime at a time of the ongoing globalization in the social sphere. The
most worthwhile contributions will be published in WAAF publications.
Alexander Gurov, chairman, RF State
Duma Security Committee
Nikolai Kovalev, chairman, RF State Duma
Anticorruption Commission
Anatoly Kulikov, chairman, RF State Duma
Subcommittee for Legislation on Combating
Transnational Crime and Terrdrism
Please send your proposals to the
following address:
 Fax:(095)209 1728
E-mail: antimafia@mn.ru
Project coordinator Vladimir Ovchinsky
Moscow News N 44 - 45, November 15-21, 2000

VOCABULARY / 21ST CENTURY

проблемы общества
нетерпимость
количество преступлений
прирост населения
слой населения
социально незащищенный
товары
привести к …
конфликты на межэтнической / религиозной / политической почвы
воспользоваться, извлечь пользу
сретства связи
наркотрафик
отмывание денег
незаконный
разработанный, внедренный, новый
вспышка насилия
акт вандализма
вооруженное столкновение
беженцы
перемещенные лица
социально-экономическое расслоение
беднейшие слои населения
злоупотребление наркотиками
развивающиеся страны
полная нищета
неразвитая экономика
утечка / вывоз капитала
отток квалифицированной рабочей силы
утечка мозгов
оффшорные рынки / зоны
теневая экономика
социальный проект
держать в своих руках власть
движение капитала
разрушить / подорвать экономику страны
благосостояние
зависеть от …
высший управленческий персонал
“подлежать”
организованная преступная группировка
профсоюз
сбор налогов
финансирование социальных программ
государственный контроль
деятельность корпораций
уклонение от уплаты налогов
нарушать равновесие
создание новых рабочих мест
«тот, кто действует в интересах общества»
выборные структуры власти
неопытный, не имеющий подготовки
основы
информационная война
электростанция
несанкционированный доступ
причинять материальный ущерб
незаконное копирование
нарушать авторское право / право на интеллектуальную собственность
потребительская идеология
зарождающаяся рыночная экономика
прибегать к …
запрещенный прием
модный
действующий уголовный кодекс
законопослушный гражданин
пример для подражания
объединить усилия
«область основных приоритетов»
бороться с преступностью / правонарушениями
при содействии
расследовать преступления
экстрадиция преступников
предупреждение преступлений
проблема
общественные / неправительственные организации
«информировать»
нетрадиционный подход
правоохранительные органы
«место проведения переговоров / конференций»
единые международные нормы / принципы