UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC)

The UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, UNTOC or the Palermo Convention, was adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 55/25 on 15 November 2000 and entered force on 29 September 2003. It is the main global instrument against organized crime, defining an organized criminal group and requiring states to criminalize participation, money laundering, corruption, and obstruction of justice. Its supplementary protocols cover trafficking in persons, the smuggling of migrants by land, sea, and air, and the illicit manufacturing of firearms; the migrant-smuggling protocol carries maritime interdiction provisions.