This study consists of a qualitative analysis on the subject of human trafficking in Canada. It is intended to explore the steps that have been taken to address the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementary Legislation to the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000c), also known as the Palermo Protocol, and examine Canada’s commitment to changing the international and domestic context in which human trafficking takes place. Through exploration of Canadian legislation, literature and prosecutions presented in Canadian courts between January 2005 and December 2011, this research aims to establish whether Canada has shown a commitment to ending and preventing the problem of human trafficking that is consistent with the Recommended Guidelines published by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (2002). A nominal coding scheme was used to show in basic terms the level of commitment Canada is showing toward combating the issue of human trafficking, both internationally and domestically. Results indicate that while Canada has met minimum standards by implementing anti-trafficking legislation in 2005 which is consistent with the Palermo Protocol, the country is falling short of commitments to combat human trafficking due to inadequate victim protection measures, lack of standardized data collection procedures and insufficient efforts to combat and prevent the root causes of trafficking.

This study consists of a qualitative analysis on the subject of human trafficking in Canada. It is intended to explore the steps that have been taken to address the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementary Legislation to the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000c), also known as the Palermo Protocol, and examine Canada’s commitment to changing the international and domestic context in which human trafficking takes place. Through exploration of Canadian legislation, literature and prosecutions presented in Canadian courts between January 2005 and December 2011, this research aims to establish whether Canada has shown a commitment to ending and preventing the problem of human trafficking that is consistent with the Recommended Guidelines published by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (2002). A nominal coding scheme was used to show in basic terms the level of commitment Canada is showing toward combating the issue of human trafficking, both internationally and domestically. Results indicate that while Canada has met minimum standards by implementing anti-trafficking legislation in 2005 which is consistent with the Palermo Protocol, the country is falling short of commitments to combat human trafficking due to inadequate victim protection measures, lack of standardized data collection procedures and insufficient efforts to combat and prevent the root causes of trafficking.

This thesis aims to study Russian soft security policy under Vladimir Putin and examines the basic soft security threats which Russia has encountered and how it fought against these threats in the post-Soviet era. Contrary to the mainstream literature suggesting that Russia has focused exclusively on hard security issues within its national security policies due to its historical background and geo-political factors, the thesis argues that Russia started to give more importance to soft security besides hard security in its national security policies since Putin&rsquo / s presidency. Among soft security challenges, Russia prioritizes especially terrorism, transnational organized crime and energy security. The thesis is composed of six chapters. The introductory first chapter is followed by the second chapter examining the role of soft security in Russian national security. The following three chapters discuss Russia&rsquo / s soft security challenges of terrorism, transnational organized crime and energy security respectively whereas the sixth chapter concludes the thesis.

Tarptautinės sistemos dinamiškumas, globalizacijos procesas bei kintanti saugumo sąvoka iškelia naujus iššūkius, kurie pasižymi transnacionaliniais bruožais, bei verčia iš naujo pažvelgti į valstybę ir kelti jos saugumo klausimą. Didėjanti ekonominių procesų reikšmė ir poveikis, akcentuoja valstybės ekonominio saugumo svarbą, kuris yra valstybės nacionalinio saugumo dalis. Vidinių ir išorinių šio saugumo sektoriaus veiksnių išskyrimas ir jų tarpusavio saitai formuoja ir kuria atitinkamą kiekvienos valstybės ekonominio saugumo suvokimą, kur šalia ekonominių aspektų itin svarbią vietą užima valstybės ir individo santykis. Pastarąjį dar labiau pabrėžia ekonominių procesų sunkiai kontroliuojama dinamika bei valstybės akistata su šiais naujaisias iššūkiais, kurie vis įgauna naujas kokybines ir kiekybines veiklos išraiškas. Tokiomis charakteristikomis pasižymi ir transnacionalinis organizuotas nusikalstamumas, kurio kontroliuojamos nelegalios rinkos ir kuriami politiniai-kriminaliniai santykiai, peržengia ne tik ekonominio saugumo „ribas“, kartu tai turi įtakos ir valstybės stabilumui tarptautinėje arenoje, kuris glaudžiai susijęs su valstybės institucijų efektyvumu. Organizuoto nusikalstamumo, valstybės ekonominio saugumo ir politinės sistemos santykis leidžia atskleisti organizuoto nusikalstamumo daromą poveikį valstybei kaip atskiram tarptautinės sistemos objektui ir kaip saugumo analizės lygmeniui. Transnacionalinio organizuoto nusikalstamumo veiklos modelio kūrimas ir... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The dynamics of international system, globalization process and changing concept of security brings transnational challenges and leads to a new look at nation state and the discussion of its security question. The growing importance of economic processes raises state economic security issue as a part of national security. Internal and external factors of this security sector and their links creates and shapes each state perception of its economic security, where near economic aspects, very important place is given for rate between nation state and individuals. The latter is emphasizes by comprehensive dynamics of economic processes and state's facing with these new transnational challenges, which are taking qualitative and quantitative features of operations. Transnational organized crime has these characteristics by controlling illegal markets and expanding political-criminal relationships, which goes further than economic security “limits”, this also has influence for state role in international arena and effectiveness of its institutions. The connections between organized crime, state economic security and state political system allows to analyze the impact of criminal groups for state as independent actor of international system and as the analysis of security level. Developing and using transnational organized crime model in analysis for Chinese triads, the Mexican cartels and Russian mafia and their home states involves country history, cultural context and legacy of... [to full text]

No description available.

No description available.

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

The Northern Triangle area made up by El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras faces a growing gang phenomenon responsible for the growth of violence and instability in the region. Many factors have contributed to the rise of gangs in the region, however, I argue that the deportation of Central American immigrants who became active gang members in the United States play a significant role in the growth of gangs. I analyze the impact of the lack of collaboration between the United States and the nations of the Northern Triangle, especially in the lack of reintegration programs and the other factors that could have influenced or spurred the escalation of gang activity such as a failed recovery process following the civil wars of the 1970s and 1980s and the state repression policies. Furthermore, I assess how the lack of collaboration between the United States and Northern Triangle region in the deportation of criminal immigrants has impacted the transnationalization of the two largest Central American gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. Due to the lack of quantitative data on gang size and membership, I conduct my analysis utilizing various studies that have been conducted in the three nations and data regarding homicide and deportation rates. Ultimately, I find that while the U.S. deportees played an important role in altering the characteristics and nature of Central American gangs, a variety of other factors were significant in their growth. Additionally, I find their assignation as Transnational Criminal Organizations premature and inconclusive due to their weak organizational and communication structure. Finally, I question whether gangs are truly the cause of high levels of violence in each of the nations of the Northern Triangle, determining that the Central American gang phenomenon cannot be assessed or treated as a singular issue. Instead, it is imperative to acknowledge the conditions at play in each country.

International criminality has been a challenging phenomenon for national police forces for years. States have developed international police cooperation relations and extradition instruments in order to fight international criminal activity. This treatise explores the reasons for the rise in transnational organized crime activities in Europe and presents an in-depth explanation concerning the emergence, mandates, and structures of multilateral police collaboration systems such as Interpol, Trevi, Schengen, and Europol. Since the extradition has become an inseparable part of international policing, this study examines the improvements in extradition procedure and emphasizes the importance of extradition. Finally this study compares traditional (European Convention on Extradition of 1957) and new (European Arrest Warrant) extradition systems.

[pt] O aumento do crime organizado transnacional nas últimas três décadas fez com que as autoridades mundiais procurassem novos meios de enfrentar, reprimir e punir organizações cada vez mais poderosas. A soberania estatal impede a intervenção de terceiros nos assuntos internos dos Estados, mesmo quando se trata de delitos de repercussão internacional, impossibilitando a criação um órgão supranacional dotados de poderes para investigar e punir esses delitos. A única resposta encontrada pelos Estados foi o incremento dos tipos e da quantidade de medidas de cooperação internacional em matéria penal. Para isso, fez-se necessário rever os métodos tradicionais de cooperação judicial, outorgando às autoridades encarregadas da persecução penal maior autonomia para cooperar diretamente, sem intervenção judicial. No Brasil, mesmo que de forma mais vagarosa que no resto do mundo, o mesmo vai acontecendo. A tese propõe que a Constituição da República, da legislação infraconstitucional e dos tratados internacionais, que regulam a cooperação em matéria criminal celebrados pelo Brasil, revelam que o Ministério Público Brasileiro, em especial o Ministério Público Federal, tem o dever de cooperar com as autoridades estrangeiras no combate à criminalidade transnacional. É o Ministério Público o principal ator da persecução penal, sendo-lhe inerente papel a atribuição de realizar atos de cooperação internacional. Decisões recentes do Supremo Tribunal Federal e do Superior Tribunal de Justiça negaram a validade de atos de cooperação direta. Apesar disso, persistem fortes argumentos a favor da cooperação pelo MP, mesmo quando a medida solicitada pelo Estado estrangeiro depender da autorização dos órgãos da base do Poder Judiciário. / [en] In the last three decades the world has seen an astonishing rise in transnational organized crime, a challenge that made the International Society search for new ways to prosecute organizations that seem to grow more powerful every day. In International Society, each and every State is an independent and sovereign entity, which means that no other State or international entity may meddle in another Stat s internal affairs. This means that the prosecution of transnational crime cannot be entrusted to an international organ, nor can a State pretend to pursue an offender into another s territory. To overcome this barrier, new and faster methods of international cooperation have been adopted with authorities being granted a greater degree of autonomy to perform acts of mutual legal assistance. The same phenomenon is occurring in Brazil, although in a much slower pace. This doctoral dissertation seeks to establish that the Constitution, Brazilian procedural and criminal laws, and the international treaties to which Brazil is party assign to the Ministério Público - MP, as the autonomous government office in charge of criminal prosecution, the task to assist international authorities in prosecuting transnational crime. Specially at the Federal level, the Ministério Público is the main actor in the investigation and judicial prosecution of criminals, however recent decisions reached by the Supremo Tribunal Federal and the Superior Tribunal de Justiça, Brazil s highest courts, have voided acts of direct cooperation by judicial authorities, raising a lot of questions about the possibility of mutual legal assistance acts by Brazilian authorities. That notwithstanding, there are several arguments which were not presented to those courts that clearly show that the MP has a crucial role to play in international cooperation in criminal matters.