India committed to combating, uprooting organised crimes: Nityanand Rai in Italy
Sep 29, 2023
New Delhi [India], September 29 : India is committed strongly to combating and uprooting organised crimes in all its manifestations, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said on Friday.
He was speaking at the two-day Ministerial Conference organised by the Government of Italy and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNDOC) Secretariat.
Rai's remarks came on the concluding day of the conference that marked the 20th anniversary of United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crimes (UNTOC) at Palermo in Italy.
Noting that organised crime signifies a major global threat, the MoS said such crimes cannot be seen in isolation.
He mentioned that advances in technology have been leveraged by organised criminals to rapidly expand their networks.
"This includes serious challenges posed by illicit trafficking in arms, drug trafficking, organized cyber-crimes, human trafficking, corruption, money laundering and international dispersal of proceeds of crime," he said.
He also mentioned that organized crime has emerged as one of the sources of terrorism and terror financing.
Pointing that organised crime networks often have deep links with terrorist outfits and activities like money laundering and financial crimes have been known to help terror funding, the minister expressed hope that the deliberations during the Ministerial Conference will give impetus to the cause of strengthening international cooperation to combat organized crime.
Addressing a session on ‘Legal and Judicial Instruments, National Actions and Challenges’, the MoS said India’s ancient philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ - sees all creation as a family.
"We are One Earth, One Family, and we share One Future," the union minister said.
Rai added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call for international cooperation by saying, "when threats are global, the response cannot be just local".
The MoS urged the world to "come together to defeat these threats".
