20-21 June 2022, Naples – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) organizes the high-level international conference “The Palermo Convention: the future of the fight against transnational organized crime”. The event benefits from the cooperation of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Vittorio Occorsio Foundation. The conference is generously hosted by the Presidency of the Campania Region, at the beautiful Royal Palace of Naples.
Over 220 participants, composing 48 delegations will attend and contribute to the event supported by the inputs of representatives of relevant international bodies.
Two decades after the adoption of the Palermo Convention and its Protocols, PAM parliamentarians consider necessary to determine the current topicality and validity of the legislative rules deriving from the application of the Convention within the Euro-Mediterranean and the Gulf regions.
The Naples conference provides a unique platform to review the current state of effectiveness of the Palermo Convention and its Protocols in PAM Member States, by identifying best legislative practices and proposals to effectively combat transnational organized crime, with the aim of facilitating cooperation among the legislative, judicial and executive powers, taking into account modern technologies used by global criminal networks.
On 20 June, following to a message from Sergio Mattarella, President of Italy, among the keynote speakers in the Opening Ceremony, are: Luciana Lamorgese, Minister of the Interior of Italy; Vincenzo De Luca, President of the Campania Region; Gaetano Manfredi, Mayor of Naples; Mohamed Lemine Guig, Assistant Secretary General of the League of Arab States; Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of UNODC; and Gennaro Migliore, President of PAM.
On 21 June, the conference will be open by a keynote address of Luigi Di Maio, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The conference is structured in five sessions dedicated to human trafficking and migrant smuggling and exploitation; criminal misuse of information and communication technologies; environmental crimes; trafficking in cultural artifacts: counterfeit drugs; nexus between organized crime and terrorism; and other forms of transnational organized crime.
The results of the parliamentary debates will be shared with the UNODC Conference of the Parties in October 2022, in Vienna, at which the Palermo Convention mechanism will be reviewed at governmental levels.
At the end of the second day, PAM President, Hon. Gennaro Migliore, will read the Declaration of Naples, aimed at reinforcing the juridical cooperation among PAM member states in the fight against transnational organized crime, with practical and results-oriented recommendations.//