The international community suffers from a dangerous and disturbing phenomenon, which is represented by the increasing growth of transnational organized crime gangs, which have developed in a terrible way, and benefited from the successive technological developments and the great changes brought about by the global political, economic and cultural conditions, so that the advanced international security agencies were unable to pursue them and limit their power.

Research Importance

In view of the risks posed by organized crime to all aspects of life, especially on the economic and security side of states, people are no longer far from sensing the enormous imminent dangers they face as a result of the wide spread of organized crime gangs and the disruption they cause in the economies of states, breach of their sovereignty and undermining their security. It is also the cornerstone of widespread corruption, all of which made us investigate the reality of this type of crime and its relationship to the crime of money laundering.

Research objectives

This research aims to identify transnational organized crime and distinguish it from other international crimes, and to clarify its relationship to the crime of money laundering, which is considered one of the most serious crimes because it works to destroy the economies of countries and lead to their weakening and spreading corruption in them and undermining their security and stability.

If we want to understand organized crime, its causes, and ways and means to combat it, we have to look at it within its global scope by asking the following questions:

• What is organized crime? And why has it become a real threat to the economy and sovereignty of countries

• Are efforts and capabilities available to combat internationally organized crime

• What is the relationship between organized crime and money laundering

Undoubtedly, shedding more light on these serious crimes in the world makes us understand what they are and what they really are, and look for appropriate means to confront them.

Research problem 

The research problem arises through the lack of fixed meanings of organized crime, due to its continuous development and the emergence of new images of it, and the difference of jurists and state legislation in defining it, and its association with the crime of money laundering made it a real threat to the economies, security and sovereignty of states.

In order to achieve the objectives of the research and overcome its problem, we decided to follow the descriptive approach to clarify the nature of organized international crime and the definition of transnational organized crime. We also followed the inductive approach by clarifying the texts that were developed to combat these crimes.

Research Structure

 In order to achieve all of the foregoing, we decided to divide the research into two sections, in the first of which we will deal with transnational organized crime, its characteristics and elements, and distinguish it from other international crimes in two branches. Then, in the second topic, we will discuss the forms of common organized crime and its relationship to the crime of money laundering in two branches. Then we will conclude the research with a number of conclusions and proposals.

International Crime and Organized Crime

There is no doubt that shedding more light on these serious crimes in the world makes us understand what they are and what they really are, and look for appropriate means to confront them. On this basis, in this research, we will study the issue of what international crime is And organized crime, elements, characteristics and elements of organized crime, and international cooperation in combating organized crime in two matters.

The Concept of Organized International Crime

The concept and expression of organized crime is not considered an accurate term that expresses its content because organized crime is not an image or form of a single crime, but rather it is a term used for a group of crimes and criminal acts that differ from each other so that it is preferable to name such acts as crimes. Organization or organized crime [1]. 

Determining the nature of this crime differs according to the countries’ definition of it and the definition of its content. Most countries did not set a single agreed definition, as they differed in terms of criminalization and punishment mechanisms. Therefore , we will show the disagreement over the definition of this crime . Three trends have appeared in the definition of organized crime in the penal code of different countries, represented in:

• The first trend was not to include organized crime, i.e. not to focus on its definition if it was not completely overlooked. Among the most prominent of these laws are the Polish Penal Code issued in 1997 AD, the Slovak Penal Code and the Iraqi Penal Code (amended) No. 111 of 1969 AD, as well as the Penal Code of Federal Germany issued in 1992 AD 

• As for the second trend, it defines organized crime in terms of criminal organizations. Among the laws that took this direction, the Canadian legislator and the Italian legislator

• The third trend: Where organized crime is known at the heart of the criminal law, and among the laws that took this direction is the Russian Penal Code [2]

First: the linguistic definition: the language of crime is guilt, error, accusation, transgression, and the consequences of punishment. And on what Previously, the verbal definition confirms that it is a group of people who have organized and cooperated in illegal activities for the purpose of obtaining money and illegal enrichment.

Fiqh Definition of Organized Crime

Donald R. Cressey Defines organized Crime as: “A crime committed by a person who occupies a position in a structure based on the division of labor and is designated to commit the crime.” It is noted that this definition focuses on the crime committed by members of the criminal organization. Accordingly, organized crime is achieved if the following two conditions are met:

• The existence of a criminal organization established with the intent to commit a crime

• Committing the organized crime

knows " Thorsten " Organized Crime" by saying: "It is synonymous with economic actions organized for the purposes of carrying out illegal activities, and in the event that those activities are carried out by legal means , they should be complemented by illegal means . " 

Giovanni Falcone, an Italian judge who was a victim of organized criminal groups in 1992, defined organized crime as : " It is not a simple criminal organization that commits its crimes after reflection and deliberation, but it is a cohesive and closed criminal community that includes hundreds and sometimes thousands of professional criminals. He relies on sowing fear in the hearts and spreading terror in the hearts, and commits his crimes in full view of the political and executive apparatus after filling their mouths with money, and filling their time with forbidden sex and pleasure, and the mafia society is subject to A law that governs it and sets out the conditions for joining it, promoting it, sitting at its top, punishing those who break it, or informing the authorities about its activities [3]. 

Organized Crime is Also Defined as

"a continuous collective building of individuals who use criminality or violence and the desire for corruption to achieve the preservation of power and wealth." The term "organized criminal group" means A group with an organizational structure, consisting of three or more people, that has existed for a period of time.

Interpol knows It is the International Criminal Police Organisation . Organized crime is defined as:

• “an interest or a group of individuals who indulge in an illegal act on an ongoing basis aimed at achieving profit, without respecting national borders, and Italy, Spain and Germany objected to this definition, because it did not include the organization of building power” 

Palermo Convention of 2000 Defines Organized Crime

Returning to this definition, we see that it is a condition for the establishment of organized crime to have the ability of the organized group to corrupt officials and the judiciary to achieve its illegal goals, and that in requiring such a condition, a large group of experienced criminals exit under the pretexts of their inability to influence power, especially that violence and extortion can occur on The victim of organized crime, such as the white slave trade, where coercion and extortion are imposed on the victims of the crime, who are women and minors. Also, this definition has overlooked the most important thing that countries have turned to in their attempt to deal with this phenomenon, which is the international character, which is one of the most important characteristics of this crime. Accordingly, and to solve this problem, opinions have tended to define the organized criminal group as well as the group with an organizational structure instead of defining the crime. This is what was adopted by the United Nations Convention against Crime [4].

A definition of organized crime was also included in the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime ( Palermo ), Italy, for the year 2000, as Article (2) states: And adopted by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session No. 25 of November 10 , 2000 According to the provisions of Article Two of the agreement, which stipulates the following:

For the purposes of this Agreement:

• Organized criminal group” means a structured group, consisting of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offenses established in accordance with this Convention, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, financial or other material benefit

• that is not randomly formed for the purpose of immediate commission of a crime, and it is not necessary for its members to have formally defined roles , or to continue their membership in it, or to have an organizational structure , and this principle has been adopted by the Penal Code Al-Kindi defined organized crime according to the definition of the terrorist organization, and among the laws that defined the organized criminal group were the Egyptian law and the Jordanian law . There are laws that did not provide for any definition of organized crime, including the Polish Penal Code of 1992, the Iraqi Penal Code, and the Federal Penal Code of Germany .  Based on what has been mentioned The need to reach a definition agreed upon by countries and international bodies has become an urgent matter So that international efforts to pursue and suppress this crime will not be dispersed, and this is what most legal researchers tend to do. And the reason for the lack of agreement is mostly due to the countries not adopting unified policies in the mechanism of dealing with criminal gangs, and because the matter , despite its international character, is that it collides on the ground with the national sovereignty of every country that has committed an act that constitutes a crime

Therefore, the tendency in most laws was to define their characteristics or elements , or to criminalize a number of their texts by independent laws, and it is left to jurisprudence to determine this definition. This definition cannot be determined in absolute terms except after studying its characteristics. Organized crime, such as terrorism, does not have an accurate or agreed upon definition. It is a criminal project with a graduated structure that operates in complete secrecy and has an internal law that regulates work and sets penalties for violators of its members, in order to ensure its continuity for a long time, and even to increase camouflage, some organized gangs operate under the banners of legitimacy [5]. 

Many attempts have been made to define organized crime, distinguishing it from other similar crimes in order to facilitate dealing with it. To define this crime, they unanimously agreed on the difficulty of developing a comprehensive definition for it, so their definitions were different,  given that the term organized crime is ambiguous and controversial, and its definition raises many problems, and one of those problems is related to the meaning of the term itself, as some believe that it has a popular meaning . It is not legal. The other problem is the absence of a clear concept of organized crime that enjoys international agreement, due to the different vision of the legislator in each country according to his political, economic and social reality.

Elements of Organized Crime and Its Characteristics

After we have come to define organized crime as one of the crimes that are punishable by law, we must learn about the concept of this crime by looking at the elements and characteristics of this crime.

Elements of Organized Crime

Corner language is the angle Or what is based on the thing and pillar legally is what is required for the commission of the crime, and for each crime according to what The opinion of the jurists has settled on two pillars, which are material and moral, and some add the legal or legal pillar [6].

• The Legal Pillar: What is proven in jurisprudence and law principle “ There is no crime or punishment except according to a legal text .” Therefore, organized crime remains mere ink on paper It derives its existence and entity only from the criminalization of this crime by states, or through accession to international conventions that stipulate its criminalization. It has become clear to us that organized crime is a general concept that has not been criminalized abstractly by all countries, but some forms of organized crime have been criminalized , as directed by the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime of 2000. In Article Five thereof, the definition of an organized criminal group is penalized for participating in such organizations or merely agreeing to participate. From here, organized crime derives its legal and compulsory character in order to carry out this crime and thus punish the perpetrator.

• Material corner: The material element is represented by the images of the criminal act according to the criminal text . The material element differs according to the criminal behavior punishable for it. The legal jurisprudence requires that the material element be present with three elements, namely:

• Act : It is the criminal activity or behavior, which is the act or omission of the criminal act according to the law

• The Criminal Result: jurisprudence required in crimes the occurrence of a criminal result for the existence of the material element of the crime, but the modern trend in criminalization no longer requires the occurrence of a criminal result for the occurrence of the crime in a certain type of crime that is currently called dangerous crimes. For example, the United Nations Convention The United Nations of 2000 mentioned above punished the mere agreement to commit one of the crimes provided for in it , even if the criminal result was not achieved

• The Causal Relationship: If the law stipulates that a criminal result should occur in order to commit the crime, then there must be a causal relationship between the act and the result in order for the material element to complete its elements

These are the elements of the material pillar that must be available together in order for its elements to be completed The text of the law did not expressly intend not to require the availability of one of its components, such as the criminal result.

Moral pillar

 The moral element in any crime requires the availability of two basic elements, an accessory and a conditional element, namely:

• Knowledge: It is the knowledge of the perpetrator of the form of the criminal behavior committed by him, i.e. his knowledge of the crime and its act, and knowledge means knowledge of the legal text or that his act requires incrimination, such as the knowledge of those who buy stolen goods that they are stolen when they are purchased

• Will: It is the will of the offender to commit the crime, so it is required that both the compulsory capacity for criminalization and the freedom of will be available, so it is not possible to criminalize the child just as it is not It is possible to incriminate a person without a will, such as an insane person, or a person who was given a drug without his consent, or in the event of the use of physical coercion and forcing a person to perform a criminal act without his consent [7]

Intent or special criminal intent: Most crimes are based on the availability of the two elements of knowledge and will The legislator sometimes tends to be strict in declaring the person 's criminal responsibility by stipulating that the perpetrator has the special intent. Article 5 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Crime of 2000 states: On the need to criminalize the acts specified in Article (1) when they are committed intentionally, the Convention stressed the criminal responsibility of the perpetrator by requiring that the element of intentionality be available when committing the crime, which is the direction of the perpetrator’s total will to commit the crime. It would have been a crime to participate in a criminal group, even if this participation did not result in any criminal consequence or harm, so the criminalization results from mere participation or agreement, but so that this crime does not affect people other than Actors in the criminal organization must show their verified will to enter the criminal organization.

Characteristics of Organized Crime

Organized crime is characterized by a number of characteristics that distinguish it from other types of crimes. The scientist "Crispy" identified some of the characteristics of organized crime, considering its size, the chain of orders and instructions that are similar to the arrangement and gradation of military and security organizations, as well as complex planning, resorting to force or threatening to use it, in addition to To the existence of a central command at the top and the enjoyment of a degree of maintenance towards the procedures of arrest and raids at the levels of its senior leadership.

We will discuss these characteristics in some detail, with our focus on the most important ones, through the following points:

Structure and Organization (Multiple Actors): Organization in work, planning, and adopting a hierarchical or cluster form : The exact description of the organized criminal network was and still is the focus of disagreement among researchers, but they at least agree that there is a higher management that coordinates the relationship between the two legally acceptable and unacceptable activities, and it also requires A human group that constitutes a dividing point between the two overlapping layers of acceptable activity and criminal activity, and is called middle management . The third is the lowest level of employees who lead the field implementation of direct criminal acts, and in addition to what was mentioned, there are temporary employees, who are added to the criminal work capacity according to specific tasks and for the purposes of camouflage or rapid implementation, enough to mislead any competent security authorities who work for a long time in order to Uncover the threads of these criminal gangs. From that it can be said:

• Organized crime groups are based on a gradual hierarchical organization, based on clear graded levels, and a presidential hierarchy of authority, responsibility and unity of command

• It is also a tightly built organization and is characterized by stability and continuity. The strict regime controls the relationship between the heads and the members, and the absolute authority over all the members rests in the hands of the supreme leader

• Although this organization is based on an authoritarian system in the concentration of power, it cares about developing feelings of belonging to power among the people Members, as it gives clear attention to the care of their own affairs, such as the family’s care and sponsorship in the event of the loss of its breadwinner, the provision of various guarantees, pension and insurance systems, their defense, the appointment of lawyers, the payment of financial guarantees, and the provision of legal services in the event of the arrest of one of the elements [8]

These important features have led some researchers to say that the most important feature of organized crime is its feudal pattern and the leaders' enjoyment of all power and loyalty on the part of the subordinate members, who differ between the employees who act on behalf of the leaders and those who are called serfs or slaves. Burgess emphasized the same meaning by saying : “The organized crime syndicate is held together by strong leaders and strong personal loyalties , by codes of ethics among gang members, by agreements with gang bosses, and by joint and declared criminal warfare against the forces of society. 

• Complexity, confidentiality and planning: Criminal organizations have witnessed remarkable organizational growth in recent times This growth was reflected in building criminal organizations and making them more complex, and it also affected the diversity of their activities and their association with permanent success in most cases, which led to a lot of secrecy and secrecy in the implementation of their criminal acts and the movements of their elements. This complex organizational growth of criminal organizations was evident in Organization permeated the global capitalist system. Organized crime gangs are also characterized by the fact that it is difficult to arrest their threads, despite their criminal behavior, because they take precautions against falling into the form of open legal violations. It leads to direct conviction by a criminal act , and what these criminal activities include are separate dimensions from direct criminal leadership. Exploitation, fraud, smuggling, drug marketing, arms sales, and money laundering are matters in which network management is separated from field elements. The complex network known in organized crime as professional analysis, is more than the direct criminal classification, and is found within legal social organizations, such as legal trade and respected activities, such as employment, hotel services, health, tourism, and charitable works.  In addition, the activities of organized crime are secret activities and depend entirely on trust between dealers within the organization. There are also strict internal laws that impose punishment for those who try to betray the organization or reveal its secrets. The punishment may reach the point of killing with the mutilation of the corpse to be an example to others. As a result, it was difficult to know the secrets of criminal organizations, or to plant guides within them to know the extent of their activity

• The ability to Adapt and Blackmail Flexibility in Work and its Continuous Development, Continuity in work, Steadfastness , and the use of Violence and Bribery : Organized crime is characterized by flexibility and the ability to adapt to different and emergency situations and with the available opportunities, since criminal organizations have the primary goal of making a profit using all legal and illegal means, so we find criminal gangs adapting their positions and methods of work with the encountered reality and with the economically volatile conditions, and from that Organized crime gangs are various criminal projects. Wherever there is profit and money, criminal organizations are present with their projects and plans to reach it. Therefore, we find that these groups adapt to the political, economic and social environment of the society in which they practice criminal activity. Organized crime gangs also take advantage of global opportunities to increase their activities in an additional way, because it is an innovative or unknown method. For example, in the opening speech of the seventh session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna on 04/21/1998, the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations indicated To a statement by the Colombian police chief, that drug gangs in this country took advantage of the opportunity to hold the 1988 FIFA World Cup in Paris, in coordination with mafia gangs in eastern Europe, to flood the French market with drugs [9]

• Temporal and Geographical Extension and Exceeding its One-State Business: Among the characteristics that distinguish organized crime as well, is the characteristic of continuity and constancy in criminal activity, which is the feature adopted by the European Union in its definition of organized crime, and some positive documents and laws consider that the characteristic of continuity is essential in defining criminal organizations for a long time, Or not specified, and among the laws that I also dealt with in defining the criminal organization, the Austrian Law in Article (287), and the Hungarian Penal Code in Article (137). Therefore, organized crime is characterized by the nature of geographical extension, as it is often a transnational crime, and the participants in it may belong to different nationalities or societies, in addition to that, the crime scene usually extends to include two or three societies, which means that Some types of organized crime require a strong structure that confronts the strength and development of the security services in more than one society. Let us take an example of the drug trade, as narcotic substances may be produced in some societies , although this production may be criminalized in them and are transported across state borders to be distributed and consumed in other societies, which means that the participants in it belong to many nationalities, some of which belong to the producing society. While others belong to the consumer society, while others belong to other nationalities that may participate in the completion of this criminal behavior. Therefore, the risks of organized criminal actions will not be limited to a specific country, but rather the whole world will be its scene, where criminal gangs can commit a crime From anywhere in the world and anywhere, and there are no geographical borders, especially in cybercrime and cybercrime

• Objective and Method: The goal of organized crime is to carry out illegal acts, as the motive for its actions is to achieve profit and secrecy at work . It is clear that organized crime gangs are motivated by huge financial incentives towards preserving their profession, and as a result, organized crime gangs achieve success in increasing profits, and for this they may resort to bribing some employees and politicians or killing those who stand in the way of carrying out their operations, and under Under this veil, criminal organizations have developed a well-organized international smuggling network of gangs that centralize decision-making, and have developed secure centers of command and control and the distribution of roles in an integrated manner    Within the scope of organized crime, violence is not just an act that is practiced individually or randomly, but rather it is practiced by criminal organizations in a carefully planned and deliberate manner. They belong to it, but they obstruct its activities and threaten its survival. For example, the drug gangs in Mexico, and the " Cusa" organization " Nestra " and the Chinese black society gangs, were classified among the most dangerous organized crime gangs in the world in terms of relying on very sophisticated methods of using violence and force of arms, as well as on the grounds that they act with a great deal of audacity and disregard for life and law, and the criminal activities practiced by the same smuggling gangs in Mexico's activities are considerably more extensive and ruthless than those of the United States of America, and often with more violence [10]. 

A report issued by an interagency working group of the United States of America, in December 2000, revealed the degree of violence shown by Mexican organizations where "drug-related violence is very severe, ranging from the killing of the Archbishop of Guadalajara in 1993 by crossfire." Between two rival gangs to smuggle drugs and kill police officers, to the vengeful human massacres committed by organized crime groups. In 2001, organized criminal gangs committed a massacre in a small village in the state of Sinaloa , infamous for being the birthplace of drug trafficking, in which 12 men and boys were killed. It involved (200) drug gangs, and witnessed more than (150) murders in a short period of time about three months.

And due to the availability of modern communication technologies such as the mobile phone and the Internet, and advanced, fast and easy-to-use computers, the control over the criminal operations management of organized crime can be somewhere far from the crime scene itself, and from outside the borders of the state itself. The development of modern means of communication encouraged criminal organizations to expand and diversify their criminal activities, especially with the advent of the Internet, as organized crime gangs found in the Internet a safe haven, with the capabilities it offers in communication, concealment and transgression of borders. Due to the weakness of security in it, to start from these bases that cross borders in communication between crime networks around the world to coordinate their work and promote their activities in new markets of the world that they did not dream of reaching.

Drug and sex gangs have employed the Internet to deliver their poisons to their victims, and to launder the money resulting from their actions and to present them in a legitimate guise, taking advantage of the weaknesses in the network, and with the help of high-level experts who were brought in by coercion or intimidation, or both [11]. 

Finally, it is important to point out that organized crime gangs use direct and indirect methods to provide immunity for their members, as direct methods range from direct monthly and annual funds to security and police interests, and sometimes protection is achieved by paying bribes to public officials in a form Regular and following a carefully studied system, and in some other cases financial extortion groups from members of organized gangs provide valuable subsidies for the political campaigns of these employees, and even heads of parties, associations and heads of state who can be relied upon to facilitate crime activities, and the process of obtaining electoral votes is an inconvenient way Organized crime syndicates directly depend on it to ensure immunity for its members. Accordingly, and based on the characteristics that we have previously explained, it is possible to define transnational organized crime. As follows : (It is a criminal project based on the agreement between three or more persons to carry out illegal acts with the intent of obtaining profit more than once and is characterized by stability, continuity and structure in the structure of its group and is accompanied by its planning, organization and secrecy that damage its establishment and initiation . His actions, which may not be devoid of violence and coercion, and which transcend the borders of a single state, with their executive actions or effects . and its damages )

The Second Requirement: Distinguishing Organized Crime From Other Similar Crimes:

Organized crime is still evolving day after day, and when studying it, the research may confuse organized crime with some similar crimes, which makes it necessary to distinguish between this crime and similar phenomena and crimes.

Section I: 

Terrorism and Organized Crime: Some may think that terrorism is a type of organized crime and put terrorist acts in the category of organized crime. This vision does not agree with the legal nature of the phenomenon of terrorism, despite the existence of features and evidence of a relationship between the two. From the study of terrorism from the legal point of view, we see that it is manifested by two elements, namely [12]:

• Element : represented by violence, the use of force or the threat thereof, and this prejudices the right to life or the safety of individuals The rights and interests protected by law

• Element : It is represented by the purpose of the perpetrator of violence and the purposes he intends to achieve by spreading terror among people, based on ideological , ideological or economic goals

Hence, we see the distinctive difference between the two crimes. Organized crime stems from one principle and one goal represented in making profit and illegal gain, while the motive and engine of terrorist crime is political or or Ideological , ideological , or economic. Also, the crime of terrorism can occur from a single person, unlike organized crime, which occurs from an organized project. Terrorist groups often publicly promote their actions to include volunteers, unlike organized groups that It tends to be secretive and lures its members with money. However, some emphasize the existence of links between the two crimes based on the common features represented in:

• Undertaking each of the two crimes, the forgiveness that has no limits, to achieve an illegitimate end

• It is not possible to limit the effects of the two crimes , as the victims of the two crimes are not specific people , which makes the effects of the two crimes unlimited

• The characteristic of organization and continuity, which is one of the characteristics of the two crimes

• perpetrators of the two crimes used modern methods ( science and technology )

• Deviating from the authority of the state and challenging it, and this is a priority with the existence of links and relations between terrorism and organized crime through the exchange of criminal experiences, human elements, and material capabilities, and from evidence that terrorist groups may obtain their weapons from organized gangs. Several cases have also appeared in which criminal organizations used terrorist groups, and this is what happened in Latin American countries when drug traffickers took advantage of terrorist groups to recruit them against governments, police and army

Despite the existence of such practical links, organized crime differs greatly from terrorism , as each of them constitutes a phenomenon and an entity independent of each other, which makes it unacceptable to confuse them .deception or coercion in order to perform involuntary hard labor, forced labour, security of debt or servitude International Crime : It is defined as : (an illegal act in international law by a person of y A will legally considered , and related in a specific way to the relationship between two or more countries, and it has a penalty expected for it ) . And that opinions differed regarding the criminalization of international crime and defining its content, but this disagreement cannot depart from three Pictures are [13]:

The international crime results in damage to the interests of more than one country.

•  International crime is serious criminal acts that have an impact on international peace and security.

• Considering the international crime as a crime that violates the well-established international legal rules.

• The essence of international crime is its impact on more than one country, and it is one of its pillars. However, organized crime has its origins It started under the one state and then took It transcends the borders of one country to become a transnational organized crime. International crime differs from organized crime in that international crime can occur from a country by itself or from an individual on behalf of his country or in its name or at its request, such as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Organized crime is the realization of illegal profit. As for international crimes, the goal is to achieve political gains for the perpetrator of the international crime

International crime also differs from organized crime in its criminalization. Criminalization of organized crime may be by mere criminal participation, even if no effect , consequence , or damage results . Some think that organized crime is part of international crime and one of its branches, but the development in the concept of this crime makes it an independent legal entity , and that the development in the concept of international crime has become well-established through international agreements that define the features of international crimes. that affect global peace and security with specific crimes by themselves, which are: [14]

• war crimes

• crimes against humanity

• Crimes of extermination of the human race

• Aggression and environmental crimes

• terrorism

• racism

These crimes have become punishable under the law of the International Criminal Court if one of the parties to the crime is a signatory member of the Rome Statute establishing For the International Criminal Court , the a Organized crime does not require the prosecution of its perpetrators before the International Criminal Court.

The second Topic

Pictures the crime The organization and the relationship of money laundering crime to it

The activities of organized crime are not limited to one or more types of crime, but they are ramified and distributed to crimes that are often not linked to each other directly. The areas of organized crime are multiple, including economic crimes, crimes of multinational companies, and international fraud, to the areas of prostitution, gambling, trafficking in children, women, and human organs, international smuggling of weapons and radioactive materials, counterfeiting money, stealing and forging art paintings, smuggling antiquities, stealing and smuggling cars, and trafficking in waste. nuclear and chemical. 

The First Requirement

some forms of organized crime From the foregoing comes the difference in estimates, because there are activities on which the efforts of the security men in the world focus and international organizations are also concerned with, such as drugs, and the activities of international smuggling of arms and cars, while there are other activities such as prostitution, smuggling of children and women, and gambling that no one pays attention to, and other activities are covered by influence. The one who protects her from the law. Through this requirement, we will address some of the forms and forms of activities within the scope of organized crime, with a focus on the most important of them:

Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

Drug trafficking is considered one of the most important and oldest forms of organized crime in modern societies. Experts estimated the number of drug addicts to be about (320) million people around the world, most of whom are young people. Addiction costs more than (500) million dollars annually, and addicts consume Annually more than (3) thousand tons of opium, (417) tons of cocaine powder, (38) thousand tons of marijuana and ( 1900) tons of hashish . Some estimates have suggested that the volume of the global trade in drugs amounted to (500) billion dollars, which has become more than what is represented by the global trade in oil annually. The most important factors undermining the economic entity of states.  Hence, the drug problem is rightly considered a societal problem that requires concerted efforts in the fields of combating supply and reducing demand to confront it. It transcends the individual to the family to the community.

Referring to the deteriorating situation of the drug problem, Mr. REKendall , Secretary General of the International Criminal Police, said in 1994 before the United Nations Narcotics Committee: “The drug problem is a difficult issue, and even difficult to deal with. In order to face these negative and dangerous effects of the global drug trade , many of conferences and agreements at all levels, especially during the last three decades of the twentieth century, etc The problem still exists , and it has even been consulted more than before and new narcotic substances have appeared that are stronger and more destructive - so the counter trend was in developing, improving and discovering new mechanisms to confront the problem, whether through governments, NGOs or other segments of civil society on both sides of supply and demand. At the same time, to stave off this danger that surrounds us from every direction.

Illicit Trafficking in Arms

The arms trade has become popular due to conflicts in the world, whether between one country and another or within the country itself as a result of the ruling dictatorships and racist, nationalist and sectarian policies, starting from Afghanistan to Macedonia, Bosnia and Serbia to Rwanda .. and other African countries to Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq and others. The risks of access to nuclear weapons and fissile materials cannot be ruled out, due to the loss of political stability, as in 1995 the German police seized (350) grams of nuclear material suitable for making weapons. . The arms mafia is reaping huge profits from exported and imported arms deals Thus, it has imaginary amounts of money, and the western countries and the former eastern bloc countries, as well as the countries of the former Soviet Union, sponsored the arms trade, by allowing and disregarding arms deals for the purpose of selling them in areas of tension in the world, to benefit their arms companies [15].

Trafficking in Persons

The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Prohibit and Punish Persons Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children (one of the three “ Palermo Protocols ”) defines human trafficking Article Three: (a) "Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or advantages to obtain the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services , slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Subparagraph (a) of this Article shall be considered in cases where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used. (c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons”, even if it does not involve the use of any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this Article . (d) “Child” means any person under the age of eighteen. 

Many countries misunderstand this definition by ignoring internal human trafficking, or classifying any unusual migration as human trafficking. The Human Trafficking Victims Protection Law deals with “severe forms of human trafficking,” which are defined as: 

• Trafficking in human beings for sexual purposes, where coercion into commercial sex takes place by force, deception and coercion, or in the event that the person who was forced to do such acts did not reach the age of eighteen

• (b) the recruitment, harboring, transportation, supply or provision of a person for labor or services by force, deception or coercion in order to perform involuntary hard labor, forced labour, security of debt or servitude [16]

These definitions do not require that the person who is being trafficked be transferred from one place to another, they apply in general to the recruitment, harboring, transportation or provision of persons in order to carry out the aforementioned goals. Diseases and growth impediments often leave a lasting impact and are rejected by their families and communities. Victims of human trafficking often miss important opportunities for social, moral and spiritual development. Exploitation of victims is sometimes rampant , as children are trafficked to work in certain jobs. Then they are exploited for other things.

As a result of the growing phenomenon of child sex tourism Government organizations, the tourism industry and governments are beginning to confront this issue This was achieved by holding the World Conference on Combating Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Stockholm in 1996 and in Yokohama in 2001. With the aim of bringing international attention to this topic . The World Tourism Organization formed a working committee to combat commercial sexual exploitation, and announced a global discipline system for tourism in 1999, and there was a global increase in the prosecution of child sexual tourism crimes, and thirty-two countries have adopted laws outside the scope of national legislation that allow the prosecution of their citizens For crimes committed abroad, regardless of whether the person's act is considered a crime in the country in which it occurred.

Several countries have taken commendable steps to combat child sex tourism. For example, the French Ministry of Education, together with representatives of the tourism industry, have developed guidelines on child sex tourism to be taught in the curricula of tourism schools. Last year, the United States strengthened its ability to combat child sex tourism by approving the reintroduction of the Human Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Protection Act. Together, these two laws can support awareness by developing and distributing information on child sex tourism and raising penalties to up to thirty In the first eight months of Operation Predator (an initiative introduced in 2003 to combat child exploitation, child pornography, and child sex tourism offences), the US authorities arrested twenty-five A US citizen for crimes related to child sex tourism. More generally, the international community is becoming increasingly aware of the terrifying child sex tourism, and has begun to take important initial steps.

In light of the foregoing, it can be said that human trafficking constitutes a violation of human rights, as it in essence violates the comprehensive human right to life, liberty, and freedom from slavery in all its forms, just as child trafficking underestimates the child’s basic need to grow in a safe environment, and it is his right Freedom from abuse and sexual exploitation

The second requirement: the crimes of laundering or money laundering and the relationship of organized crime to it

Money laundering or money laundering is the way that criminals adopt to try to ensure that crime will benefit them in the end, and what makes money laundering necessary for them, whether they are drug dealers, members of organized crime gangs, terrorists, or traffickers. Weapons, or perpetrators of extortion, is the need to hide the original source of their money resulting from criminal acts in order to prevent the discovery of this source and avoid prosecution when using that money.

Money Laundering or Laundering Crimes

It has been known by the Law Society of England  Wells defined money laundering in 1997 as: “the process of changing dirty money, that is, the proceeds of crime and their real ownership, so that these proceeds appear as if they were derived from a legitimate source.” Some defined it as: "any act committed that creates a false justification for the source of funds resulting directly or indirectly from an illegal activity, or contributes to the recruitment, concealment or transfer of such illegal proceeds."

It is worth noting that the issue of money laundering threatens the global economy, especially the economies of the developing world, including the Arab economies, because it considers the recycling of funds resulting from illegal actions in legitimate fields and investment channels to hide the true source of these funds and to appear as if they were generated from a legitimate source. Examples of these Illegal acts (money resulting from the drug trade - slavery - prostitution - weapons) and in view of the multiple risks of money laundering crimes, contemporary legislation is now moving forward towards criminalizing this type of act, and the international community is urging countries to adopt this trend and encourages Conclusion of treaties and agreements that criminalize money laundering, combat this phenomenon and put an end to its negative effects [17].

Among the agreements that adopted this approach, we mention the United Nations Convention against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, known as the Vienna Convention issued on January 20, 1988, whose third article expressly provides for the criminalization of some acts that are considered as money laundering resulting from the drug trade, as well as The agreement reflects the desire of countries to use the freezing and confiscation of assets as a means to combat drug trafficking and money laundering resulting from it. The text of the agreement regarding legal aid indicates recognition of the importance of international cooperation between countries in combating drug trafficking at the international level.

The second section: the relationship between the crime of money laundering and the crime organization

The money laundering activity comes as the third largest industry on the international level after currency trading and oil sales . It is estimated that the volume of laundry operations amounts to about $300 billion annually . Naturally, it is not possible to enter such a huge amount of money into banking activity at the international level without asking about its source. Hence the importance of money laundering operations for organized crime. Organized crime cannot continue without money laundering. Despite the high estimates of dirty money at the international level, seizures of such money are very limited , due to the high efficiency enjoyed by criminal organizations in concealment operations.

The process of internationalizing financial activity at the international level resulted in the creation of new ways to transfer the profits of organized crime at the international level. With the increase in the volume of international trade, the reliance on technologically advanced means of communication has increased, and to the same degree the reliance of organized crime gangs on these means has also increased . Many crime organizations currently rely on wire transfers to transfer funds between different banks around the world. For example, drug cartels in North America are highly organized and behave like multinational corporations. It is not possible to dispose of all the money that is generated through organized crime gangs in direct distribution of profits among the participants in those gangs. Also, the use of credit cards and checks to pay the values of huge transactions may lead to drawing the attention of the legal authorities, and therefore the fastest method of disposing of these funds is the use of international wire transfers, although this may involve the use of the services of official banks in this process. With the huge number of transfers that take place daily, it is easy to hide these transfers. These transfers are easier and less risky compared to the physical transfer of money which is usually successful , but it is slow and carries with it unacceptable risks.

And when the profits of organized crime come out and are laundered, they return in most cases to the country of origin in order to be used to pay various costs such as wages, bribes, commissions, and other costs, or they may be used to invest in legal activities. , or in the purchase of real estate or in the financial markets . In comparison, the process of seizing and confiscating dirty money upon exit is relatively easier than seizing or recording it on the return trip, because the transfers to the interior are in this case legal, and therefore it is difficult to provide legal evidence to justify the seizure and confiscation in this case. 

Drug trafficking is an activity that generates billions of dollars in income mainly cash . Drug money is essential for those gangs . Without this money, international gangs cannot finance manufacturing, transportation, smuggling, distribution, killing and intimidation operations, which are the basic operations of this illegal trade . Therefore, money laundering organizations are established to ensure the continued flow of funds for these illegal activities. The drug trade is one of the largest forms of trade at the international level . The globalization of the drug trade resulted in the need to expand and raise the level of laundering operations for the illegal profits of the trade. Laundry operations have also attracted great attention over the past years due to their importance to drug smuggling operations . Since smuggling operations to countries usually take place from abroad It is seen to stop money laundering operations as one of the effective ways to stop the drug trade between countries by stopping those transfers and confiscating the assets of the dealers [18].

Conclusion

After completing this research, we can put some conclusions and suggestions as follows:

Determining the nature of organized crime differs according to the country's definition of it and the definition of its content

• Organized crime is still evolving day after day, and when studying it, the research may confuse organized crime with some similar crimes, which makes it necessary to distinguish between this crime and similar phenomena and crimes

• Organized crime is characterized by a number of characteristics that distinguish it from other types of crimes. The scientist "Crispy" identified some of the characteristics of organized crime, considering its size, the chain of orders and instructions that are similar to the arrangement and gradation of military and security organizations, as well as complex planning, resorting to force or threatening to use it, in addition to To the existence of a central command at the top and the enjoyment of a degree of maintenance towards the procedures of arrest and raids at the levels of its senior leadership

• The activities of organized crime are not limited to one or more types of crime, but they are ramified and distributed to crimes that are often not linked to each other directly. The areas of organized crime are multiple, including economic crimes, crimes of multinational companies, and international fraud, to the areas of prostitution, gambling, trafficking in children, women, and human organs, international smuggling of weapons and radioactive materials, counterfeiting money, stealing and forging art paintings, smuggling antiquities, stealing and smuggling cars, and trafficking in waste. nuclear and chemical

• The importance of money laundering operations for organized crime comes from laundering the huge volume of money , as organized crime cannot transfer this huge amount of money generated from it to banking activity at the international level without asking about its source. Organized crime cannot continue without money laundering

• When the profits of organized crime come out and are laundered, they often return to the country of origin to be used to pay various costs such as wages, bribes, commissions, and other costs, or they may be used to invest in legal activities. , or in the purchase of real estate or in the financial markets . Therefore, we note the close link between money laundering and organized crime, in addition to the fact that it is considered one of the forms of organized crime

Proposals

• Countries must agree to adopt a unified definition of organized crime that includes all types of organized international crime and its associated internal operations

• There must be high-level international cooperation with facilities in all fields in order to combat organized crime and money laundering operations, because it is the biggest weapon of international and domestic criminal organizations, and without it, these organizations lose funding, which leads to their weakening and dismantling

• Urging countries to put in place serious legislation to combat organized crime and money laundering crimes to limit the influence of criminal organizations and prevent corruption in their governmental and private institutions

• Without a serious desire by the international community and the major developed countries to combat transnational organized crime, it cannot be curtailed, reduced and ended

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