Greater co-operation needed to crack down on transnational crime

Over the last few decades crime has become more transnational and sophisticated, prompting countries to assess how they can work together more effectively in combating global criminal activities, ranging from terrorism to human trafficking and money-laundering.

“The ball-game is now totally different” to what it was in the 1980s, says Satyajit Boolell, Director of Public Prosecutions in Mauritius. “It has now become imperative for members of the Commonwealth to sit down together and discuss how best to tackle the issue of exchanging mutual legal assistance for the purpose of fighting transnational crime.”

At the Commonwealth Secretariat’s headquarters in London last week, policy-makers and senior representatives from 22 countries from all regions of the Commonwealth discussed the revision of the Scheme Relating to Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters within the Commonwealth, the ‘Harare Scheme’.

The ‘Harare Scheme’ provides a voluntary framework for states in rendering mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. This means that, under the provisions of the Scheme, a Commonwealth state is able to provide assistance in the investigation and prosecution of crime by another Commonwealth state upon a formal request. The assistance presently includes, among other things, the identification and location of persons, obtaining evidence, examining witnesses, tracing, seizing and confiscating the proceeds of crime, or preserving computer data.

Since its adoption in 1986, the Scheme has provided “a constructive and pragmatic approach to mutual co-operation in combating transnational criminal activity among member states with shared legal traditions and systems”, explains Akbar Khan, Director of Legal and Constitutional Affairs at the Secretariat.

“However, the contemporary upsurge and increased sophistication of transnational criminal activity now requires a much more focused approach with a greater degree of co-ordination among the Commonwealth membership in order to effectively tackle these multifaceted threats and challenges to our societies.”

Consequently, when Commonwealth law ministers met in 2008 they mandated the Secretariat to comprehensively review the Scheme and ensure it remains a useful guide for states in rendering mutual assistance. In response, the Secretariat held this working group meeting of senior officials and practitioners from Commonwealth states to consider provisions on new and important areas in which assistance could be rendered.

The updated and revised draft of the Scheme will first be submitted for the consideration of senior officials of law ministries at their meeting in October 2010, with the finalised draft to be presented to Commonwealth law ministers in 2011.

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