Download This PaperCOPLA: A Transnational Criminal Court for Latin America & the Caribbean
53 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2018 Last revised: 20 Apr 2020
Date Written: January 22, 2018
Abstract
States in the Latin American and Caribbean regions have long called for the creation of an independent, international court to prosecute members of transnational organized crime gangs. These organizations not only profit from the illicit traffic in drugs, people and cultural property, but are able to corrupt and undermine the domestic legal systems and judiciaries of the affected states. This paper examines the current proposal for the creation of the "Latin American and Caribbean Criminal Court Against Transnational Organized Crime" (COPLA). It reviews the rationale for creating such a court, examines the main pillars of the current proposal, and suggests the potential for it to play a normative and regulatory role in the transnational criminal law ecosystem.
Keywords: transnational criminal law, transnational organized crime, international law, international courts, latin america, caribbean, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, cultural property
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