Thank you Mr President for giving me the floor,
On behalf of the United Kingdom, I would like to start by expressing our sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for your efforts to convene the 10th Session of the Conference of Parties, during the international, COVID-19 pandemic. It is testament to technology that still we’ve been able to enhance international goals to combat transnational organised crime and launch the UNTOC Review Mechanism.
We are proud that we, as States Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its Protocols on Trafficking in Persons, Smuggling of Migrants and Illicit Trafficking in Firearms were able to adopt, in 2018, through consensus, and after almost a decade of negotiation; Resolution 9/1 on the Establishment of the Mechanism for the Review of the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto.
We are also proud that States Parties were able to agree to launch the Mechanism this week and commend the efforts of the Italian delegation to table the resolution at the 10th Session of the Conference of Parties. We are proud to have added our name to the list of co-sponsors.
The Review Mechanism will not only allow States Parties to demonstrate best practice in the tangible implementation of their international obligations but facilitate peer-to-peer assistance; identify future capacity needs; and demonstrate where there are existing gaps within the Convention. It will also provide an essential platform to demonstrate best practice in the promotion of public-private partnerships and the development of national responses to combat crime, in collaboration with survivors, victims and first-responders. We remain committed to working with those countries, which will review the United Kingdom, to ensure that the views and contributions of our civil society are accurately reflected.
We underscore that the review mechanism will be funded entirely within the existing regular budget and that ‘where necessary, additional costs shall be funded from extra-budgetary resources.’ The United Kingdom is aware of the UNODC’s Global Programme aimed at assisting States to mitigate and overcome gaps and challenges identified in the implementation of the Review Mechanism. We look forward to closely working with you to exploring ways to support this across the next decade.
Thank you Mr President.
