INTRODUCTORY NOTE
It is with pride that the United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crimeand the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI) offers to the international community Resource
Material Series No. 73.
This volume contains the work produced in the 134th International Training Course that wasconducted from 28 August to 6 October 2006 and the Ninth Training Course on Corruption Control
in Criminal Justice that was conducted from 18 October to 17 November 2006. The main theme ofthe 134th Course was “Challenges in the Investigation, Prosecution and Trial of Transnational
Organized Crime”.
Advances in communications and technology have shrunk distances between states, made state
frontiers porous and opened up previously unimaginable opportunities for commercial, political andsocial interaction, and consequently have dramatically expanded legitimate internationalcommercial transactions. This process of globalization has also led to unprecedented opportunities
for illegitimate activities by criminal organizations. Transnational criminal organizations have beenamong the first to take advantage of the new global reach made possible by the revolutions incommunications, transportation and commerce. The rapid growth and geographical extension oforganized crime in its various forms have been undermining the development process andimpairing the safety and quality of life of citizens.
Following the increased threat of transnational crime, since the mid-1990s, the international
community began to recognize the gravity of the threat posed by transnational organized crime tothe political, economic and social fabric of society. Subsequently, in November 2000, after several
years of negotiations by the United Nations, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, together with its two following protocols as ahistoric step forward in countering this threat: (i) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and (ii) Protocol against the Smuggling ofMigrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime. These instruments were supplemented with the subsequent
adoption in May 2001 of the Protocol against the Illicit manufacturing of and Trafficking in firearms, their Parts and Ammunition.
By the use of the Convention and its Protocols, States Parties are able to rely on one another ininvestigating, prosecuting and punishing crimes committed by organized criminal groups whereeither the crimes or the groups who commit them have some element of transnational
involvement. This should make it much more difficult for offenders and organized criminal groups
to take advantage of the difficulties inherent in the investigation, prosecution and trial of cases
involving several jurisdictions.
Giving due consideration to the significance of the Convention and its Protocols and thenecessity of their effective implementation in the fight against transnational organized crime asmentioned above, UNAFEI, as a regional institute of the United Nations Crime Prevention andCriminal Justice Programme Network, believes that it is of vital importance to make full use of thecountermeasures provided in the Convention and the Protocols in order to combat this threat. It
has been several years since the international community first recognized the threat oftransnational organized crime and each state has started to strengthen its legal regime to combat it
both domestically and internationally in line with the Convention and the Protocols. In order tofacilitate such efforts, which are still in progress in many countries, it is time to review how eachcountry’s criminal justice system has in practice dealt with transnational organized crime, and whatproblems and challenges it faces. UNAFEI, therefore, explored in this Course various practicalissues that relate to the investigation, prosecution and trial of transnational organized crime, withv

special attention to the Convention and its three Protocols.
In this issue, in regard to the 134th Course, papers contributed by visiting experts, selectedindividual presentation papers from among the participants, and the Reports of the Course arepublished. I regret that not all the papers submitted by the Course participants could be published.
In regard to the Ninth Corruption Course selected individual presentation papers from among theparticipants are published.
I would like to pay tribute to the contributions of the Government of Japan, particularly theMinistry of Justice, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Asia Crime Prevention
Foundation for providing indispensable and unwavering support to UNAFEI’s international trainingprogrammes.
Finally I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who so unselfishly assisted in thepublication of this series; in particular, the editor of Resource Material Series No. 73, Ms. Grace
Lord.
December 2007

Keiichi Aizawa
Director of UNAFEI