UW-MUN

OAS/Res/1/1
Organization of American States
Sponsors: Ecuador, Jamaica, Panama, The Bahamas, The Republic of Bolivia
Signatories: Brazil, St. Lucia, Mexico, Paraguay

Combating Organized Crime within the Western Hemisphere

Organization of American States,

Recognizing the importance of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention) as well as the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of the trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Material,

Taking Note of the different concerns that affect different regions within the Organization of American States (OAS),

Deeply concerned with issues relating to corruption that facilitates organized crime,

Appreciating the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Bolivian 6- Component Programme has done to create solutions to combat drug trafficking, organized crime, and corruption,

Commending the efforts of the UNODC with the work it has done with the OAS to create a model law on witness protection program in different Latin American countries,

Acknowledging the efforts by the United States of America and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in joint actions to further combat the illicit drugs trade,

Stressing the importance of financial institutions in the operations of organized drug cartels,

Commending the efforts of the Caribbean Regional Drug Law Enforcement Training Centre (Redtrac) as a regional cooperation agency for the Caribbean states to combat drug trafficking with its efforts to train local police forces,


1. Recommends all OAS Member States to ratify the Palermo Convention and the Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of the trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Material;

2. Calls for the research and survey of the Bolivian 6- Component Programme in conjunction of the UNODC in order to see its effects on combating drug trafficking, organized crime, and corruption and to determine if the programme is successful and efficient at resolving these issues;

3. Recalls that the Bolivian 6- Component Programme contains the following components:

a. Integrated Development;
b. Prevention and Treatment;
c. The Fight Against Organized Crime;
d. Governance and Combating Corruption;
e. Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice;
f. Investigation, Analysis, and Information;

4. Fully Supports the UNDOC calling upon states party to the Palermo Convention to take the measures to protect witnesses who are involved with criminal trials dealing with organized crime, which has collaborated with the OAS to develop a model law for witness protection programs for Latin American countries and has already been implemented in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Panama;

5. Calls for a model of law for witness protection programs to help promote a positive and safe atmosphere for those witnesses being called to testify against people on trial for their association with organized crime;

6. Recommends Operation Casablanca, in conjunction with the United States, as a program to be emulated in regulating financial institutions that may be used by drug cartels for money laundering;

7. Calls for further action to be taken in limiting the ability for drug cartels to use financial centers in all Member States to fund drug cartel activities;

8. Encourages OAS Member States to consider applying the REDTRAC framework in other regional blocs within the Americas to train law enforcement personnel to combat drug trafficking;

9. Requests third countries such as Canada and the United States to help fund an expansion of REDTRAC, until the Caribbean states are able to fully shoulder the financial burdens, in order for the program to accommodate and train more participants to strengthen the effectiveness of the law enforcement efforts to reduce drug trafficking within the Caribbean states;

10. Recommends that a transparency process be implemented for the funding of the expansion of REDTRAC consisting of:

a. bi-annual financial report be compiled for the Donor States funding the expansion of REDTRAC;
b. REDTRAC allowing representatives from the Donor States to audit training sessions;
c. an evaluation to be compiled after a five-year period for Donor States to review the progress of the expansion of REDTRAC and determine whether to continue the funding;

11. Calls upon security forces that receive funding from Donor States to agree and comply with multilateral agreements to investigate and pursue organized crime groups, including but not limited to drug cartels, terrorist groups, mafias, etc;

12. Fully supports OAS states to pursue domestic strategies for combating more recent forms of criminal activities undertaken by organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations, including but not limited to:

a. cybercrime;
b. environmental crime;
c. counterfeiting;
d. flora and fauna smuggling;
c. express and virtual kidnapping.