Persons in charge of the presentations:
Gaston Schulmeister, Director of the Department against Transnational Organized Crime (DDOT), OAS
Farah Urrutia, Secretary of Multidimensional Security (SMS), OAS
Douglas Farah, President of national security consulting firm, IBI Consultants; and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the National Defense University's Center for Strategic Research (United States).
Carolina Sampó, CONICET researcher (Argentina) and Coordinator at Amassuru, a network of women specialized in Security in Latin America and the Caribbean
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KUDO: https://live.kudoway.com/br/110117287123
Transnational Organized Crime is adapting to continue operating in the framework of the pandemic and in the post-Covid-19 world.
The exceptional context of virus containment has mobilized national health systems; but also to the security and law enforcement systems, which have been in charge of extraordinary control measures.
This has had an impact on the mechanisms and routes used by criminal groups - which are affected, in some cases, by the closure of borders and airports, and by the intensification of police traffic controls.
As a correlate, organized crime identifies new illicit business opportunities; diversifies its operations by enhancing its actions through Cybercrime; and modifies its dynamics to adapt it to the new situation and continue operating in increasingly sophisticated ways.
The use of the crisis by organized crime is manifested in the promotion of new methodologies applied to illicit drug trafficking, simulated among shipments of medical products; the proliferation of trafficking in counterfeit pharmaceuticals, in a context of shortages of supplies and equipment; and even “social assistance” actions in some cases, which challenge the authority of the States, to cite some of the most recent manifestations.
In this situation, it is essential that the OAS; other international and regional organizations; and the States, analyze what are the new manifestations of transnational organized crime, in order to prepare updated diagnoses and design responses.
The Department against Organized Crime of the OAS (DDOT) proposes a series of virtual conversations, which seek to address major emerging questions, facilitating a sphere of debate, the exchange of experiences and consultations on the subject at the hemispheric level, in order to propose accelerating capitalization of knowledge among OAS member states in the face of the crisis unleashed and continue promoting international cooperation in this area among the issues involved.
In this context, the present virtual round table raises the following trigger questions for the debate: How is Transnational Organized Crime adapting in its different modalities to continue operating in the world of pandemic COVID-19; And how should we respond to those adaptations? Which DOT modalities are most affected and what opportunities does Organized Crime use to act in times of crisis?
For such purposes, this activity has called specialists in organized crime matters to be able to debate the current scenario in the face of promoting actions that may be used by the different states and specialized organizations, in a strategic alliance with the private sector. and the academy.
Note: All the questions must be send by email to [email protected] including full name, organization, and country.