Probing russian organised crime
London
A new two-year project analysing the problems of organised crime in Russia and the Baltic States is under way, funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.
Dr Paddy Rawlinson is one of three researchers who will be surveying the potential effects of cross-border movement of Russian and Baltic criminal groups into the European Union.
Various case studies will be used to generate an understanding of how criminal organisations interact with legitimate economic and political structures and how the authorities respond.
EU policy responses to Russian crime groups will be evaluated, as will those from international law enforcement organisations, such as Europol and the UK's National Criminal Intelligence Service.
Ex. 6. Read and translate the text:
Corruption conference
Durban‚ South Africa
South Africa has hosted an international anti-corruption conference, staged by the Berlin-based political group Transparency International, which publishes an 85 country corruption perceptions index, ranging from the Cameroon (most corrupt), to Denmark (least).
James Wolfenson, president of the World Bank, said that his organisation had developed an action plan to fight corruption, without cutting aid.
Other initiatives at the conference, in Durban, included a scheme to tackle bribery at Nigeria's largest airport and a plan by 11 African countries to fight corrution in their own institutions. Botswana's president said hat his country was planning to set up a database on corruption.
Interpol
Interpol has its origins in the decisions of an international congress which was held in 1914 to discuss possibilities for simplifying and accelerating the international search for wanted suspects, the improvement of methods of identification, the harmonization of extradition procedures and the centralization of information concerning international criminals - needs which are still valid and underpin the role of Interpol in the new millenium. There are 186 member countries throughout the world (2007), and activities are coordinated from an ultra-modern General Secretariat in Lyon, France. One of Interpol's constitutional aims is to ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in the different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Intervention is forbidden, however, in political, religious, racial or military matters.
Today, the vast majority of the work of Interpol is carried out through the offices, the National Central Bureaux (NCBs), established in each member country to serve as the focal point for international cooperation.
The particular problem of language is overcome by Interpol by largely restricting communications to four languages - English, French, Spanish and Arabic. The prerequisite for cooperation of any kind is an adequate means of communication. With 181 member countries, Interpol has been faced with an enormous challenge to develop a system which will operate quickly and efficiently whichever of those countries should need to speak to each other. Today Interpol boasts an efficient, secure and reliable telecommunications system which links each of the NCBs by e-mail and gives automated access to a central database of information on international crime and criminals.
Interpol is a source of criminal information and intelligence. The Interpol Criminal Information System (ICIS) is a powerful storage and retrieval system which incorporates several fields, one of which, for example, is dedicated to information relating to drug seizures.
One of the most important features of the role of Interpol as a source of information concerns its international notices, relating to persons who are wanted for extradition. The notices include all available identifying details, including photographs and fingerprints, together with all the relevant information giving rise to its issue.
Interpol also is a medium to establish a policy for international police cooperation. More than 500 conferences are organized every year. These provide members with the opportunity for their decision-makers to agree policy and set standards for international police cooperation.
As an organization Interpol has undergone dramatic changes during the last few years. Every effort is being made to take advantage of developments in terms of information technology, and structures are being created to ensure the delivery of a service that is focused upon the needs of its member countries. There remains, however, much to be done. It has yet to be decided, for example, how best Interpol should take advantage of the progress that has been made in the field of identification of persons such as DNA profiling and Automatic Fingerprint Identification Systems. It is not enough, for example, simply to equip the NCBs with modern telecommunications facilities when many countries lack the infrastructure to communicate efficiently internally.