Preamble
We, the Interior and Security Ministers of the G7 and the Vice President of the EU Commission and the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, met on 2 to 4 October 2024 in Mirabella Eclano, Italy. Under the chairmanship of Italy, we discussed the complex challenges to the security of our nations and renewed our commitment to fighting threats to our societies and democratic values.
Recognizing our common challenges, we are ever more determined to tackle them together, whilst also upholding the rule of law and safeguarding the freedoms of our citizens.
We build on the commitments of the previous G7 Interior and Security Ministers’ Meetings, including the Mito Communique, in which we set our common agenda to address the current and emerging challenges based on our shared values.
We support the ongoing efforts and intensification of cooperation of the G7 Roma-Lyon Group (RLG) to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism and counter organized crime under Italy’s presidency in 2024.
We welcome the G7 Coalition to Prevent and Counter the Smuggling of Migrants launched by the G7 Apulia Summit held in Borgo Egnazia, emphasizing the importance of taking a global approach to delivering effective and sustainable measures to tackling these complex crimes, leveraging synergies with other initiatives aimed at fostering international cooperation such as the Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling launched by the EU, including its call to action.
As tasked by our Leaders at the Apulia G7 Leaders’ Communique, we adopt the annexed Action Plan, which is aimed at preventing, countering, and dismantling organized criminal networks that profit from the smuggling of migrants, the trafficking in persons and other related crimes, as well as to disrupt the business models of organized criminal enterprises.
Threats resulting from international crisis scenarios Middle East and Terrorism
We reiterate and support the Apulia G7 Leaders’ Communique that unequivocally condemned the horrific terrorist attacks against Israel committed and carried out by Hamas and others on October 7, 2023, and call for the immediate release of all remaining hostages without pre-conditions. We remain deeply concerned for the humanitarian situation in Gaza and, recalling the UN Security Council Resolution 2735, we urge an immediate ceasefire and a sustained increase in humanitarian assistance.
We condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all their forms, both online and offline. We are determined to protect our societies’ freedom and security, while upholding the rule of law and respecting human rights. We will continue to counter the financing of terrorism, the use of the Internet and emerging technologies for terrorist purposes, including the spread of terrorists’ violent ideologies and violent extremist propaganda, as well as through other means such as traditional media, while promoting respect for human rights such as freedom of expression.
We are fully aware that globally, the threat posed by violent extremism and terrorism has notably increased following the terrorist attack by Hamas and other terrorist groups on Israel. The conflict has triggered reactions, including increased polarization and radicalization to violence.
We are determined to adopt any lawful measures at both national and international levels to address the escalation of the current Middle East crisis and its impact on our communities. We are committed to providing our citizens with the highest level of security acting decisively and jointly by sharing our best resources.
We recognize value in investing in preventative efforts to support more socially cohesive and resilient societies. We intend to direct our actions towards both international and domestic dimensions to prevent the conditions that could drive violent extremist behaviors and strive to provide, as much as possible, for a holistic and proactive response, including partnering with and supporting civil society and communities. In particular, we aim to address the drivers of violent extremism, including violent extremist ideologies before they can lead to attacks. We also recognize the value of other preventive tools against terrorism, such as administrative and judicial measures. We aim to identify best practices in this area and make use of these measures, as appropriate, in order to prevent attacks on our territories.
We reiterate our commitment to fight the dissemination of terrorist and violent extremist content online as well as the use of new technology for terrorist purpose, while promoting respect for human rights, including freedom of expression. We call on digital industry to step up efforts to address the rise in terrorist and violent extremist content online. We also stress the need to increase dialogue and cooperation between governments, civil society organizations, and the digital industry. We reaffirm our cooperation with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) and reiterate the importance of expanding its membership to include a broader range of tech companies, including smaller platforms. We also call on the GIFCT and its member companies to renew their commitments to prioritize addressing terrorist and violent extremist content online. We also reiterate our support to the Christchurch Call commitments.
A further potential threat we all face is that of individuals who have served their sentences for terrorist crimes and have now been released from prison, but retain the intent to conduct attacks, or inmates who are serving sentences for other type of crimes and have radicalized to violent extremism during detention. Prisons represent a key area where potential processes of radicalization to violent extremism should be closely monitored. We intend to strengthen our cooperation on this issue, within the scope of our respective domestic laws, to support activities related to terrorist disengagement, rehabilitation, and reintegration into the community.
We will aim to renew our efforts to take advantage of the potential offered by international political cooperation fora, such as Global Coalition against Daesh and the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF), which both includes all G7 members, and its inspired institutions (Hedayah - Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, GCERF - Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, and the IIJ - International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law).
In this context, we welcome the G7 Roma-Lyon Group continues to assess the terrorist threats arising from crisis scenarios and discuss possible concrete actions to achieve a more systematic exchange of information on new trends, modus operandi and movement of known and suspected terrorists.
Threats resulting from international crisis scenarios Ukraine
We, the G7 Interior and Security Ministers, reiterate our Leaders’ unwavering commitment to stand with Ukraine as it defends its freedom, sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders against Russia’s aggression, for as long as it takes. We once again condemn, in the strongest possible terms, Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine. The security implications of Russia’s aggression for G7 members continue to be significant.
The full-scale invasion has caused a humanitarian crisis and generated large numbers of displaced people from Ukraine, internally, across the region, and to the G7 countries, creating opportunities for criminal networks to exploit the situation. We commit to identifying and tackling these criminal threats by working at all levels.
It is a priority to protect displaced Ukrainians, ensure the safety of hosting communities outside Ukraine and to address the risk of exploitation and trafficking of Ukrainians fleeing war by devising concrete strategies and effective actions, including through the continued efforts taken by the G7 Roma-Lyon Group.
We will continue to provide strong support to Ukraine in every area of our competence, including the respect of the rule of law, accountability for war crimes committed by members Russia’s forces and other government officials, the fight against organized crime and corruption, the fight against the trafficking in persons, and in firearms and other small arms and light weapons, as well as in the implementation of sanctions, and strengthening Ukraine’s resilience and border management through capacity building
We condemn all types of crimes committed in the context of Russia’s war. There must be no impunity for war crimes and other atrocities, including Russia’s unlawful killings, sexual violence, and torture. In this context, we reiterate our commitment to holding those responsible to account according to international law, including by supporting the efforts of the Ukrainian authorities and international bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) at Eurojust. We strongly condemn the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian civilians, including children, to Russia and elsewhere, and will continue to follow the progress of the ICC investigations in this regard with the utmost attention, and call for the immediate and safe return of all children, including those facing heightened risk of trafficking in persons. We reiterate the need for close cooperation between international and national authorities, supported by Europol and Eurojust, to ensure those responsible for international crimes can be held accountable.
We expect G7 Roma-Lyon Group to support Ukraine building up robust capacity to monitor the stocks and the acquisition and possession of firearms and SALW, investigate and prosecute their illegal possession and trafficking, and support international cooperation and assistance in this area, making full use of INTERPOL’s communication channels, databases and analytical capabilities.
Pending Russia’s withdrawal of its forces and the negotiation of a peace that is just, comprehensive and sustainable, in accordance with international law, including the UN charter, it is imperative to proactively address current and post-conflict recovery and reconstruction challenges in Ukraine. We will continue to provide comprehensive assistance to support the country's recovery and reconstruction efforts, in both the short and long term. We will remain committed to sharing experiences and defining common investigative models to support Ukrainian authorities to reinforce their justice system and rule of law, tackle corruption and financial crimes, in line with international standards.
We commend the ongoing efforts by the G7 Roma-Lyon Group to intensify the support to Ukraine in the fields of prevention and countering terrorism and organized crimes, including the production of the Compendium on Support to Ukraine. The Compendium is a valuable resource and tool to enhance cooperation, collaboration and coordination among G7 members and to illustrate how capacity building efforts by G7 countries are instrumental in supporting Ukraine. We also welcome the priorities set in the 2024 Declaration of the G7 Ambassadors’ Support Group for Ukraine.
Countering foreign interference: hybrid threats including foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI)
Hybrid threats, including foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), continue to be a growing security challenge to democratic societies. They aim to sow division in our societies, often support violent extremist activities and are fueled by malicious foreign players or their proxies. Information manipulation operations are being widely used by a range of domestic and foreign actors to create tensions and advance their strategic goals. As billions of people around the world are called to cast their ballots in 2024, the protection of fair elections free from any foreign interference and manipulation is a central focus of the G7 Agenda.
With the rapid evolution of emerging technologies, we are more concerned than ever about foreign interference in our democratic life and processes, and how attempted interference and manipulation campaigns, related malicious cyber activities, and transnational repression collectively undermine sovereignty and democratic values.
Foreign states, or non-state actors acting on their behalf, aim at misleading and deceiving our citizens, destabilizing our governments and democratic institutions, disrupting our critical infrastructure and undermining our shared values. They increasingly adopt hybrid tactics to threaten our rules-based international system, also by exploiting emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence. Another growing threat to our democratic values and rule of law is transnational repression and information suppression.
We join our colleagues and counterparts among the G7 in our commitment to protecting our information environment and democratic values against any attempt of foreign interference and manipulation. In this regard, we affirm our continuing support for the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) to strengthen the G7 coordination in identifying and responding to foreign threats against democracies, including by developing a collective response framework to counter foreign threats to democracies. We will strengthen our coordinated effort to prevent, detect, disrupt and respond to threats addressing the impact of hybrid threats at the earliest stage possible. Together we will work to strengthen public resilience to and awareness of FIMI.
We strongly condemn the widespread use of information manipulation and interference by the Russian Government and other foreign actors. We commit to championing free and independent media; we promote pluralism and freedom of expression. We will also address the potential risks of the malicious use of new technologies, in particular Artificial Intelligence. We therefore call upon tech companies, in particular social media platforms, to intensify their efforts to prevent and counter FIMI campaigns spreading on their platforms, and to reduce the potential abuse of AI for this purpose.
Security in the cyberspace and virtual assets Security perspectives in the cyberspace and new frontiers of investigation into the Virtual assets
Many social, political, and economic activities now occur through the use of information and communication technologies, offering significant opportunities for future innovations in every field. However, the rapid development of this realm also poses risks. These threats target individuals, government entities, businesses and public infrastructures, and these threats are posed by criminal organizations, terrorists and hostile state entities.
We are aware that by now the big transnational criminal organizations, as well as the main national organized crime groups rely to different extents on online illicit activities and on cybercrime, in view of the enormous potential that the internet offers in terms of making and multiplying illicit profits. In this scenario, cybercrime has long since exceeded warning levels, representing today one of the main threats to the security of our citizens but also to the structures and economic systems of our countries.
We welcome the adoption by the special ad hoc committee of a United Nations convention against cybercrime and acknowledge the importance of this Convention. This Convention will enhance the existing frameworks provided by the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (commonly referred to as the Palermo Convention) and the Budapest Convention. To counter the rise in ransomware attacks by malicious cyber actors, including state aligned groups and cybercriminals, we continue to make best use of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative and will coordinate our efforts across the G7 to reduce ransom payments. We will also consider further coordinated actions to impose costs on malicious actors.
Following the 2023 G7 Interior and Security Ministers’ Declaration on Enhancing Cooperation in the Fight against Transnational Organized Fraud and the communique signed by all G7 at the Global Fraud Summit, we also reaffirm our commitment to tackling transnational organized fraud including cyber-enabled fraud, a rising global threat. We will strengthen our understanding of the threat picture to enable stronger law enforcement collaboration to dismantle these criminal networks.
We will remain vigilant, encouraging the contribution of Internet Service Providers to prevent “lawless zones” online, where vulnerable individuals, especially minors, may be at risk of entering.
We are committed to adopting a comprehensive approach and security strategies with the aim of planning, coordinating, and implementing appropriate measures to prevent and respond to malicious online activities. We will continue to share within the G7 Roma-Lyon Group best practices for identifying malicious online activities as well as criminal perpetrators’ actions. We will continue to strengthen the technological tools available to our law enforcement and national security authorities through existing organizations and agencies - such as INTERPOL and Europol - and mechanisms, such as the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Crime Threats, as well as in the area of exchange of information, and in accordance with the existing legal framework respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
We seek the cooperation of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and operators of social media platforms in implementing voluntary initiatives to timely detect and report illicit conduct in their systems, even in the absence of mandates from public security authorities.
Terrorist organizations are also leveraging social media platforms to radicalize individuals and reach as many supporters as possible to encourage and facilitate the commission of violent actions. In this context, young individuals, including minors, are especially at risk. Terrorists and individuals radicalized to violence also use private and encrypted online communication channels, which makes the investigation work of competent services difficult. Through these channels, they can broaden their networks and share propaganda or even manuals facilitating terrorist attacks. Apart from sharing such elements, terrorist organizations use social media to run crowdfunding campaigns, requesting financial contributions to their cause. In these campaigns, the organizations and their facilitators and supporters are increasingly using online payment platforms and especially virtual assets at the expense of more traditional means of payment.
Given the significant development of the cyber dimension in law enforcement activities, we are committed to coordinate the G7 action assessing risks, identifying threats and vulnerabilities and developing appropriate regulatory, organizational countermeasures, including training and capacity building, for use by the investigative bodies.
We also intend to increase our focus on transnational financial investigations aimed at detecting illicit financial flow and money laundering as well as confiscating proceeds of crime and funds intended to finance terrorism, including virtual assets, thus preventing and combating entry into legal economies by criminal organizations and terrorists, as well as deterring the financing of criminal activities. Applying the “follow the money” approach, which includes conducting systematic parallel financial investigations to investigate the networks of organized crime and terrorist groups, is a key lever for dismantling such transnational organized criminal groups.
In this regard, we aim to call for enhanced international law enforcement cooperation by third countries where proceed of crime transit or are destined, and/or where perpetrators operate, in order to confiscate said funds and apprehend perpetrators. Together we plan to collectively call on those countries to cooperate in accord with international obligations, including the Palermo Convention (the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime), the UN Convention Against Corruption, and in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards.
We welcome the decision of the G7 Roma-Lyon Group to set up the “Cryptocurrency Prosecutors and Agents Network” from G7 countries, allowing exchange on investigations into the use of cryptocurrency and other forms of digital assets in criminal enterprises.
We will continue working together to maintain tightly-controlled lawful access to communications content that is vital to the investigation and prosecution of serious crimes including terrorism and child abuse. And we will work in partnership with technology companies to do this, protecting the safety of our citizens.
Illicit synthetic drugs From Methamphetamines to Fentanyl and beyond: a constantly evolving threat
Acknowledging the new threats posed by illicit synthetic drugs, we remain united in fighting against all types of illicit drugs, including plant-based drugs such as cocaine, and the organized crime groups responsible for their proliferation.
We welcome the Apulia G7 Leaders’ Communique on Synthetic Drug Threats and reaffirm our joint commitment to countering the illicit production, distribution, and sale of illicit synthetic drugs and to support evidence-based public responses to reduce drug use and its consequences.
We, the G7 Interior and Security Ministers express our deepest concern about the increasing threat faced by our communities from the availability of illicit synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, nitazenes and captagon, which are becoming increasingly widespread. This rapidly evolving phenomenon is fueled by organized crime groups who attempt to maximize the illicit profit by contaminating the illegal drug supply with extremely dangerous synthetic substances.
This illicit synthetic drug challenge is complex. Organized crime’s use of low-cost chemicals and precursors diverted from legal activities makes it extremely difficult to control these substances in a timely manner. We thus call on all nations to actively investigate – and where appropriate prosecute – chemical companies and employees who are knowingly supplying criminal organizations with chemical substances that can be used to manufacture illicit drugs.
We plan to strengthen the systematic exchange of information on existing and/or planned policies, strategies and national plans to counter illicit synthetic drugs. We will facilitate the rapid exchange, among law enforcement agencies, of data on emerging synthetic drugs that have appeared on the market, methods of production, and the criminal networks involved. We intend to take swift action to implement the decisions of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs to control synthetic drugs and their precursors and to make best use of and fully leverage the capabilities of INTERPOL. In particular, we are united in using, strengthening, and expanding early warning systems, like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Early Warning Advisory, to exchange information on the emergence of new substances on the market and share methodologies.
We welcome the first meeting of experts from chemical analysis laboratories of the G7 countries that will take place in Rome on October 15th and 16th, 2024, aimed at sharing best practices in identifying and tracking illicitly manufactured fentanyl, other synthetic drugs and other new psychoactive substances. In responding to the spread of illicit synthetic drugs, we recognize the need to improve the level of preparedness of law enforcement agencies, including with targeted in-depth training.
We will extend our cooperation to source and transit countries of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals. We will also “follow the money” to work with countries where the illicit proceeds of drug trafficking are directed in order to detect, seize and confiscate them.
We plan to continue to coordinate our positions in international and multilateral cooperation fora addressing the issue of illicit synthetic drugs. We also intend to learn from the recommendations of the Global Coalition to Address the Synthetic Drug Threats, as appropriate.
Addressing illicit drugs, whether synthetic or plant-based, requires a global and coordinated response from the many players along the supply chain to prevent and disrupt their flow, and effectively combat the criminal organizations behind them. This is why we strongly support "public-private" partnerships, including in ports, where public actors, in particular internal security forces and customs agencies, work in conjunction with private actors such as port operators and major shipping companies. These partnerships could be supported through "ports alliances", following the example of the European Port Alliance, inaugurated on 24 January 2024 in Antwerp.
Artificial Intelligence Exploring benefits, limits and risk
We recognize the importance of advancing the Hiroshima AI Process outcomes, and welcome support from the countries and organizations beyond the G7, as demonstrated by its Friends Group.
We recognize that AI technology is developing at a rapid pace, making it critical to continue to take proactive steps to mitigate risks which may emerge. We affirm our determination to make every effort to fully understand its possible uses and to provide our countries with the regulatory and technological tools that allow to fully embrace the opportunities it offers as well as mitigate the risks it involves.
We intend to assure our citizens the highest level of security, against both AI-exacerbated harms and wider threats, as well as use of AI in pursuit of our shared security goals. This can be done through cooperation among our countries in developing and adopting convergent policies on AI, developing global environments leading to innovation and digital security, exploring appropriate common rules and standards for a responsible and ethical use of AI in the security and intelligence sectors, and ensuring the essential respect for citizens’ rights and freedoms. We will invest in AI literacy programs for our citizens to enhance their resilience against malicious misuse of AI.
We will work to prevent the use of AI tools in illegal activities, including through greater education about the methods in which AI can be used by criminals.
While protecting civil liberties, privacy and personal data we are determined to take advantage of the opportunities that AI can offer in the field of law enforcement, particularly with reference to counter-terrorism and serious crime, victim support, online fraud detection and the fight against money laundering and financial crimes, in a manner that complies with applicable national and international law.
In this regard, we are committed to developing advanced tools to monitor, detect, and stop in time suspicious conduct or illegal conduct, including where that is supported or generated by AI.
Likewise, we are determined to encourage civil society organizations and state-led initiatives to harness the opportunities of AI to help prevent radicalisation to violence.
We intend to remain vigilant to hostile actors’ use of AI to undermine the integrity of democratic processes or individuals’ ability to freely form opinions.
We recognize that the technological development of police capabilities should not undermine traditional investigative activities, in which the human factor and investigative insight are fundamental. Ours should be a “technologically supported law enforcement” rather than a “technologically driven law enforcement,” as the automated process must generally be human interpretable, logically reconstructable and in support of, not in place of, human decision making.
In support of our efforts, we should collaborate with private stakeholders who develop and operate AI-based services and we call upon these organizations to put in place ethical and transparent policies as well as the sharing of data and procedures in order to understand AI threats and vulnerabilities. We call on private stakeholders to invest in educating society and policy makers on opportunities and risks of AI based services and products. In partnership with them, we want to develop common strategies to counter malicious uses, harness the opportunities of AI and implement control mechanisms. We are committed to promoting educational and awareness programs to create a culture of cybersecurity and ethics in the use of AI, providing the skills needed to protect data and recognize suspicious behavior.
We encourage the G7 Roma-Lyon Group, in coordination with the G7 Justice Venice Group, to proactively progress the discussion aimed at achieving a common understanding of opportunities and challenges AI presents to security authorities and to report on possible best practices to be jointly adopted in utilizing such technology for law enforcement purposes while both protecting civil liberties and countering the use of AI tools in criminal endeavors.
Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
Collectively we reaffirm our steadfast commitment to continuing to work together to prevent and combat all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse, and to keeping children safe online and in our communities around the world. Our work together continues to be underpinned by the 2021 G7 Action Plan to Combat Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
While strides continue to be made in strengthening our response, we remain concerned about the growing nature of this horrific crime, both in scale and complexity worldwide. This includes the steep rise in AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and the risks posed by the implementation of privacy enhancing features without robust child safety measures. While there has been certain progress through voluntary action to date, we urgently call on tech companies to keep children safe online on their platforms alongside legal requirements in each of our jurisdictions. We continue to support the strengthening of a suite of measures including legislation to set clearer legal expectations of the tech sector to keep children safe online, and to provide clear routes for them to report child sexual exploitation and abuse to law enforcement, in full compliance of fundamental rights.
As an international community we need to continue to work more closely across government, law enforcement, and with industry, civil society and wider partners, drawing in the expertise and perspective of victims and survivors. We collectively commit to continuing to utilise global platforms and events to come together to share best practice and evidence, discuss these challenges and identify technical and other solutions to ensure we redouble our efforts and use all available levers to safeguard children, pursue offenders and bring them to justice, and ensure appropriate support and care is in place for victims and survivors around the world.
Irregular Migration Preventing and Countering migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons: a common security challenge
Migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons, while being different phenomena, often pose serious and life-threatening dangers to the most vulnerable, offend the dignity of individuals on the move and expose them to violence and exploitation. These unacceptable behaviors may undermine human rights and the sovereign right of States to control their borders, including for reasons of security and protection, as well as their prerogative to govern migration within their jurisdiction, in accordance with their obligations under international law and consistent with international commitments.
Through the three-pronged framework, set out at the Apulia G7 Leaders’ Summit, we, Ministers of the Interior of the G7 Countries, will reinforce our joint efforts to prevent, counter and dismantle the organized criminal networks profiting from migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons, to address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement and to offer safe and regular pathways for migration. Collectively, as part of a comprehensive approach to addressing these challenges, we also commit to working together to combat all forms of abuse and exploitation of migrants and displaced persons.
Recalling our Apulia G7 Leaders’ Communique, we reaffirm our commitment to protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their migratory status and, in this regard, we also recall the right of everyone to seek asylum from persecution, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the obligations of states parties related to international protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
Taking into consideration the launch of the G7 Coalition to Prevent and Counter the Smuggling of Migrants, and as mandated by the G7 Leaders, we have adopted the attached Action Plan (Annex A), working through existing partnerships and mechanisms, including with UNODC and other relevant United Nations bodies, such as the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the EU’s Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling launched by the EU, including its call to action, and relevant EU Agencies and bodies such as Europol, Eurojust and Frontex, as well as the Financial Action Task Force, INTERPOL and through G7 frameworks such as the Roma-Lyon Group and the Venice Justice Group.
We commit to adopting a whole-of-route, whole-of-government approach, while considering the social aspects of migration, working not only across our G7 partners, but also with countries of origin and transit of migratory flows, and other strategic partners and international and civil society organizations. In doing so, we will build on the expertise and networks of the G7 Roma-Lyon Group.
Together, we recognize the importance of transnational cooperation to support countries of origin to reduce the smuggling of migrants and the trafficking of persons, to secure their borders and to increase the search and rescue capabilities at sea of countries with sea borders. We commit to addressing the root causes of irregular migration, including through promotion of safe, lawful and orderly alternatives and pathways. Further, we commit to promote economic development initiatives in source countries, integration and stabilisation opportunities where displaced migrants reside, and appropriate lawful pathways. We also need address the risk of exploitation and trafficking and support the development of protection capacities in transit countries along migratory routes and in countries of destination, routes in compliance with human rights obligations.
We will work to foster integrated border management and achieve more effective interception, investigation, disruption, prosecution and anti-corruption activities, to discourage, dismantle smuggling and trafficking networks throughout migration routes, with the aim of bringing perpetrators to justice and seizing their assets. In this regard, we recall the primary role of UNTOC and its protocols and encourage our partners to ensure their effective implementation.
In line with the “follow the money” approach, we acknowledge that it is crucial we prevent the “business model” for criminal individuals and networks from obtaining and accumulating illicit assets. Financial investigations for the identification, detection, tracing and subsequent seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of crime – also in the form of cryptocurrencies - are of key importance. Legislative and judicial action should prioritize focusing on High Level Targets to maximize its impact in disrupting the activities of organized criminal networks. Anti-money laundering initiatives and investigations on the connections between migrant smuggling, trafficking in persons and transnational financial crimes will be reinforced among our national authorities.
We will commit to countering the digital dimension of migrant smuggling as well as its connection to trafficking in persons, focusing on the use of the internet and social media by criminal organizations to promote, manage and facilitate transnational migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons also in cooperation with relevant international and EU bodies and agencies, such as the UNODC, Europol and Eurojust. In this sense, it is important to seek active cooperation from internet service providers and social media companies, as well as work towards a more and more common and coordinated approach among law enforcement authorities to improve cooperation with these stakeholders, both on preventive (deletion of content at source, the dereferencing of websites and the development of a counter-narrative), and on legal (increasing transparency on social networks, developing moderation practices and making platforms more accountable) aspects.
We acknowledge that effective return policies enforced in a manner consistent with international law and in full respect of human rights are an essential tool in combating migrant smuggling and irregular migration, as they represent a deterrent for migrants. In particular, we will work to strengthen border management and visa policies and processes, also with a view to limit the activities of migrant smuggling and human trafficking networks. We will also work collectively to support the safe and dignified return of persons not eligible to remain, as well as to support sustainable reintegration efforts in countries of origin. We will leverage our collective diplomatic efforts in encouraging countries to readmit their nationals, in line with their international commitments and through fair processes.
We plan to identify individuals who profit from irregular cross-border movements, including those originating from regions characterized by persistent instability. We intend to intensify collaboration amongst relevant authorities on exchanges of data and information, including biographic and biometric data, to more effectively identify and detect at border and immigration controls, high-risk travelers associated with organized crime or terrorism, as well as to identify and duly assist smuggled migrants and victims of human trafficking and other related crimes. For this purpose, we plan to draw upon our national level databases, as well as INTERPOL’s databases and communication channels, to share appropriate data, including but not limited to API (Advance Passenger Information) data, PNR (Passenger Name Record) data, and, more generally, data on lost or stolen documents or any travel bans imposed at the national level.
In this sense, we resolve in making full use of the opportunities offered by existing frameworks and initiatives such as the Global Compact for Migration, the Niamey Process, the Khartoum Process, the Bali Process and more recently the “Rome Process”, whose scope is fighting human traffickers and smugglers as well as supporting economic development and, other means of action: the NDICI – Global Europe.
Crimes that affect the environment
We are fully aware that crimes that impact health and the environment call for an urgent collective response. These crimes are multifaceted, complex and frequently associated with other forms of organised crime, such as drug trafficking and trafficking in persons, as the work on polycrime done this year by the network of experts on crimes affecting the environment of the Roma-Lyon group has shown.
These new forms of crime not only have devastating effects on biodiversity and global ecosystems, but also have considerable consequences for international security and stability, while hampering climate action, the development of local communities, the rule of law and the achievement of sustainable development goals. The issues are immense, given that environmental crimes are the third largest illicit activity in the world, behind drug trafficking and counterfeiting. With a view to effectively combating criminal groups that take advantage of the common good that is the environment, we believe it is also necessary to reaffirm our willingness to continue our international and cross-border cooperation to prevent and combat crimes that affect the environment. We therefore encourage the Roma-Lyon group to continue its work through the network of experts on crimes affecting the environment, setting up for almost two years.