Post conflict countries should watch their back The 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 10-13 November 2010

Post conflict countries should watch their back

12 November 2010

The ending of a war may not necessarily mean the finale to all its problems for post conflict nations, which are trying to pick up the pieces after a bloody battle. As one crisis after another continues to take toll on some of these nations, yet another fresh crisis is enveloping them – their vulnerability to organized crime.

We had the pleasure of talking to Dimitri Vlassis, Chief of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, during a meeting with the social media unit held on the sidelines of the 14th IACC. He conceded that post conflict nations are absolutely more vulnerable to organized crime. “Organized crime develops, if not already present, it evolves and thrives by absorbing elements of the combatants.”

Citing an example, despite the irony of it, Vlassis shared an experience of a particular post conflict nation, where a local group had begun to rent out an armored tank on a daily basis for anyone who wanted to use it for any purpose.

Vlassis in discussion with the IACC Young Journalists

The UN in recent times have started realizing the gravity of organized crime and had over a short period of time held several meetings to discuss the issue, ways to curb it and start looking more in detail at the link between organized crime and corruption.

Finally, Vlassis proposed that the most practical way to ensure that organized crime will not be prevalent in post conflict countries was to assist and support the criminal justice system in these countries. This will boost the development of their legal system.

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