International cooperation as a mechanism to tackle organized crime

By: Atty. Alicia Salgado Macías

The post-Cold War period and the resulting impulse of globalization led to a major opening of borders worldwide, but it also gave way to the presence of new threats that threaten international security. Among these is transnational organized crime, which today is one of the greatest challenges to the stability of States. In such circumstances, international cooperation has emerged as a mechanism that is becoming more relevant among States. The essence of this resource is reciprocal collaboration between countries in order to achieve mutual benefit.

Organized crime, seen as a global problem, affects all nations, especially the less developed ones. For this reason, since the beginning of the twenty-first century, certain countries have embraced the liberalist idea of cooperating with each other in order to adopt regional and global measures to combat these criminal groups. Indeed, the United Nations encourages its member states to facilitate the implementation of measures aimed at mutual assistance through the incorporation of certain international instruments such as the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols.  

In this sense, international cooperation represents a viable proposal to effectively combat these criminal groups and counteract the economic, social and political problems they cause, all this through instruments that promote cooperation between different States, thus ensuring true national security.