Organized Crime

Joint Statement of the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs from the States Participating in the South East European Co-Operation Process (SEECP) on a Joint Campaign to Fight Organized Crime and Corruption in South Eastern Europe

i. Recalling the Charter on Good Neighbourly Relations, Stability, Security and Cooperation in South Eastern Europe;

ii. Recalling the EU - Western Balkans Summit of Thessaloniki and the Thessaloniki agenda set out on 21 June 2003, as well as the EU - Western Balkan Forum from 28 November 2003 according to that the fight against organized crime and corruption has been defined as a matter of utmost priority;

iii. Acknowledging the accession process of Bulgaria and Romania, and the candidacy of Turkey, the Stabilization and Association Process for the Western Balkans (SAP);
Taking into account the initiatives which have been taken at a European Union level, in order to fight organized crime and corruption as well as the cooperation between the European Commission and the Stability Pact;

iv. Recalling the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo TOC) and its Protocols and the London Statement on Defeating Organized Crime in South Eastern Europe of 25 November 2002, and the SEECP Sarajevo Declaration (2003);

v. Determined to fight against organized crime by enhancing regional co-operation at the political and operational level, between judicial authorities, and between law enforcement agencies;

vi. Considering that the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe is providing fora for such enhanced regional cooperation, in particular its initiatives to fight organized crime (SPOC), to fight corruption (SPAI), to fight trafficking in human beings (SPTF on THB) and the Stability Pact Police Forum;

vii. Considering that the SECI Regional Centre for Combating Transborder Crime is providing an efficient regional mechanism for cooperation among law enforcement agencies in South Eastern Europe;

I. The Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the States participating in the South East European Co-operation Process (SEECP), together with the Minister of Justice of Republic of Croatia, as an observer to the SEECP, and of the Republic of Moldova, as special guest of the Chairman in Office, - gathered in Bucharest on May 18, 2004 in the presence of the Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and of Representatives of the European Commission.

The Ministers agreed on the following measures to be taken at the national level in order to step up efforts to combat organized crime and corruption:

a) to promote the effective functioning and mutual cooperation of the national agencies involved in combating organized crime and corruption;

b) to complete the legislative steps for implementing the Palermo Convention and its Protocols, and to strengthen national law enforcement agencies where needed;

c) to take further legislative steps and to provide the necessary framework for confiscating the proceeds of crime, including financial assets of criminal organizations supporting terrorist activities;

d) to strengthen cooperation among the competent, national law-enforcement bodies and Europol;

e) to sign, ratify and implement the Council of Europe Convention of 1981 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, with a view to facilitating operational cooperation between the SECI Centre and Europol for the countries who have not started it yet;

f) to enhance cooperation with Eurojust, by nominating national contact points, if not done so;

g) to monitor progress and to identify obstacles in fighting organized crime and corruption and to report such a progress and obstacles to SEECP Ministers when required;

h) to involve civil society in the fight against organized crime and corruption by public information, by raising awareness on the risks of corrupt practices and reducing toleration towards these and by inviting views and recommendations by civil society, including the private sector;

i) to provide legal and technical assistance to victims of trafficking in human beings and other forms of organized crime and to provide protection to witnesses, also to encourage them to give testimonies in trials against members of organized criminal groups;

j) the law enforcement agencies personnel as well as the personnel of the competent judicial authorities should be well trained on matters of organized crime and corruption and be informed of the negative consequences of such actions to societies;

II. The participants acknowledge the negative impact of corruption on the economic and social development in South Eastern Europe and the necessity to promote responsive, transparent and accountable governance. They express the determination to fight against this phenomenon by promoting the initiative to adopt a SEECP Anti-Corruption Charter;

III. Moreover, the Ministers agreed on the following measures at regional level to intensify cooperation to combat organised crime and corruption in South Eastern Europe:

a) to identify and fight all links to criminal activities, such as organized crime, corruption, including terrorist activities;

b) to make better use of the existing mechanisms to prevent and combat organized crime and corruption, such as: SECI Regional Center for Combating Trans-border Crime, the relevant initiatives of Stability Pact for SEE, South East European Prosecutors Advisory Group (SEEPAG), a/o, and to facilitate their cooperation through the exchange of views, best practices and up-dated information on these two phenomena in SEE.

c) to enhance regional cooperation to fight organized crime within the fora provided by the Stability Pact for SEE and the SECI Centre, and by inviting these mechanisms to increase their efforts to achieve tangible results in compliance with European standards;

d) to facilitate mutual legal assistance and judicial cooperation by signing, ratifying and implementing the Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and its Protocols and by concluding the necessary bilateral agreements with their neighbours;

e) to facilitate extradition by signing, ratifying and implementing the European Convention on Extradition and its Protocols and by concluding the necessary bilateral agreements with their neighbours;

f) to strengthen regional cooperation in fighting corruption in SEE by ratifying and implementing the UN Convention against Corruption (Merida Convention) and by making full use of the Stability Pact Anti-corruption Initiative (SPAI) and its Regional Secretariat Liaison Office in Sarajevo;

g) to mount more pro-active, joint investigations to counter organized crime networks, including the ones engaged in human beings trafficking across and within countries of origin, transit and destination, and to prevent illegal migration;

h) to invite the South East European Prosecutors Advisory Group to join the regional efforts in countering organized crime and corruption;

i) to inform civil society on policies and measures taken to fight organized crime and corruption in SEE and to seek public support for such policies;

j) to discuss on annual basis progress achieved in the framework of this campaign at the next meetings;

IV. The representatives of the States participating in the South East Co-operation Process (SEECP) and of the Republic of Croatia, as an observer to the SEECP, agreed to assess progress achieved in the framework of this campaign during their next meeting.

V. The Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of the States participating in the South East European Co-operation Process (SEECP), together with the Minister of Justice of Republic of Croatia, as an observer to the SEECP, agreed upon the need to speed up the implementation of the measures foreseen above, in order to be able to report concrete results at the next JHA EU - Western Balkans Forum. Prior to this Forum a SEECP expert level Meeting will be convened in order to assess the progress achieved.