Colombia is participating in the thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), the highest decision-making body of the Palermo Convention, with an agenda aimed at strengthening international cooperation in response to the increasingly complex threats posed by transnational criminal networks.
During the general debate, Foreign Minister Omar Bula Escobar reiterated that transnational organized crime constitutes one of the main threats to the peace, security, and development of States.
In his remarks, he highlighted that criminal organizations seek to control territories, exploit natural resources, undermine democratic institutions, and endanger the lives and well-being of millions of people. He also emphasized that no State can confront this phenomenon on its own and that an effective response requires strengthening international cooperation, information exchange, and the operational capabilities of States.
“It is time to strengthen coordination among States, share capabilities, and act more promptly so that our joint efforts have a real impact on criminal organizations and their structures,” the Foreign Minister said during his address to the Conference.
Against Drug Trafficking and Environmental Crimes
In line with this vision, Colombia, through its Permanent Mission to the international organizations based in Vienna and in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is participating in the substantive negotiations of the Conference and co-sponsoring two important draft resolutions that set a historic precedent for strengthening the international response to different forms of organized crime.
The first initiative, supported by Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mauritania, Panama, Peru, Sao Tome and Principe, and Uruguay, proposes the creation of a special committee tasked with negotiating an additional protocol to the Palermo Convention to prevent and combat crimes affecting the environment, including the illegal trafficking of wild fauna and flora, illegal mining, the illegal trafficking of minerals and precious metals, and the illegal trafficking of waste.
The proposal for an additional protocol is the only process to update the Convention in 25 years and represents a decisive step toward closing gaps in the international legal framework and strengthening States’ capacity to confront criminal economies that cause serious environmental, social, and economic impacts.
The second resolution, presented by the United States and co-sponsored by Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina, seeks to strengthen State action against the facilitators of criminal organizations engaged in transnational drug trafficking, including financiers, money launderers, providers of logistical and technological infrastructure, and other actors that enable these criminal networks to expand and sustain themselves.
The initiative promotes more effective use of the tools provided for in the Palermo Convention to investigate, prosecute, and dismantle the structures that make these organizations’ operations possible.
Furthermore, the adoption of this resolution would be historic, as it would be the first resolution adopted by the Conference of the Parties specifically devoted to addressing the relationship between transnational organized crime and drug trafficking since the Palermo Convention entered into force.
Argentina Designates ELN and FARC-EP as Terrorist Organizations
Alongside these discussions, Argentina included Colombia’s armed groups FARC-EP and ELN, as well as Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones, in its official register of terrorist organizations. This is part of the measures to combat transnational organized crime.
The measure seeks to strengthen strategies to curb the operations and financing of criminal organizations. The decision was announced by the Office of President Javier Milei and provides for the inclusion of the five groups in the Public Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and Their Financing (RePET).
The Argentine government based its decision, which was adopted through coordination among the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the State Intelligence Secretariat, on the criminal activities attributed to these organizations, their regional expansion, and the risks they pose to the country’s security.
Regarding the Colombian groups, the Argentine government described them as far-left insurgent organizations linked to Marxism-Leninism and armed struggle. It also warned that their operational capabilities and the expansion of their networks in the region pose a risk that extends beyond Colombia’s domestic sphere and could jeopardize Argentina’s national security.
It also attributed responsibility to them for events it described as serious human rights violations and for humanitarian consequences arising from the armed conflict.
Regarding the Sinaloa Cartel, it states that this is a Mexican transnational organization engaged in drug trafficking, smuggling, extortion-related kidnappings, and other criminal activities. Milei stated that the designation reflects Argentina’s commitment to the fight against narcoterrorism and maintained that several countries, including the United States, had already adopted a similar measure.
In the case of La Nueva Familia Michoacana, also Mexican, he emphasized its involvement in international drug trafficking and illegal mining, as well as what he described as a concerning regional expansion.
For its part, Los Tiguerones was described as an Ecuadorian criminal organization engaged in drug trafficking and contract killings. He recalled that the group split from Los Choneros in 2020, along with Los Chone Killers, an organization that Argentina had designated as terrorist in August of this year.