U.N. declares war on world's mafias

Kofi Annan says global criminals thrive in countries with weak constitutions

PALERMO, Sicily -- The United Nations declared war on the world's mafias on Tuesday when Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened a high-level conference on fighting international organised crime.

The conference is being held in Palermo, a one-time hotbed of mafia violence, in tribute to the city's fight against organised crime.

The conference is intended to target the illegal international trade in drugs, weapons and trafficking in human beings and prostitution, one of the fastest-growing mafia activities.

Annan warned that worldwide mafia gangs were "exploiting" globalisation while crime-fighters' methods to combat them were "obsolete".

The Convention against Transnational Organised Crime will become international law after 40 countries ratify it.

"If the enemies of progress of human rights seek to exploit the openness and opportunities of globalisation for their purposes, then we must exploit those very same factors to defend human rights and defeat the forces of crime, corruption and trafficking in human beings," Annan said.

"This conference is evidence of the will of the international community to answer a global challenge with a global response," he told delegates from some 150 countries.

"As crime crosses all borders so must law enforcement. If the rule of law is undermined not only in one country but in many, then those who defend it cannot limit themselves only to national means," he said.

The treaty being signed in the city marks a turning point in legal, political and financial attempts to confront the dark side of globalisation, including trafficking in humans for forced labour or prostitution.

Signatories will be required to establish or strengthen national legislation for four criminal offences -- participation in an organised criminal group, money laundering, corruption and obstruction of justice.

The conference opened a day after the Italian newspaper La Stampa carried a report leaked from the Palermo prosecutor's office that 329 politicians, law enforcers and businessmen were suspected of having links with the Mafia.

The allegations had been made by criminals who had become informers.

Annan painted a worrying picture of the international community's response to globalised crime and said this would change radically after the treaty became law.

"Criminal groups have wasted no time in embracing today's globalised economy and the sophisticated technology that goes with it but our efforts to combat them have remained up to now very fragmented and our weapons are almost obsolete," he said.

The number of terrorists, drug dealers and traffickers in people was growing and they were using ever stronger weapons, he said.

"They take advantage of the open borders and the free market and technological advances. They thrive in countries with weak institutions and they show no scruples about resorting to intimidation and violence," he said.

"They are ruthless and the very antithesis of all that we regard as civil. They are powerful, represent an entrenched interest and the clout of a global enterprise worth billions of dollars. But, my friends, they are not invincible. I repeat they are not invincible," he said.

Pino Arlacchi, the United Nations' top official for drug enforcement and crime prevention, said the convention would help eliminate inconsistencies among states that criminal networks have been quick to exploit.

"It contains the most advanced toolkit to ever be made available to policy makers, investigators, and civil society to prevent large-scale crimes," Arlacchi told the conference.

Arlacchi said these measures were "state of the art" and "together, they comprise a powerful global weapon to fight the mafias of the world during the coming decade."

One of the first to sign the new treaty was Bolivian President Hugo Banzer.

According to the text, countries which ratify the treaty would "deny safe havens to those who engage in transnational organised crime by prosecuting those crimes wherever they occur and by co-operating at the international level."

To combat money laundering, it calls for countries to further regulate financial institutions, lift bank secrecy laws which prevent investigation of crimes, outlaw anonymous bank accounts or accounts with false names, and set up financial intelligence units to share information.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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