Peace Operations and Organised Crime

Abstract

This report presents the four main themes that emerged from a seminar organized by the International Peace Academy (now the International Peace Institute) and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in Geneva on 29/30 November 2007. First, it addresses the question of the conceptual relationship between organised crime and peace operations, outlining a framework for functional analysis focusing on the complex environments in which international interventions take place and the functions that organised crime and peace operations play in those environments. Second, it looks at the causal relationship between peace operations and organised crime. Third, it turns to the strategic conclusions flowing from this analysis, investigating a number of trade-offs involved when peace operations confront organised crime. Last, it presents some of the most salient operational considerations and lessons learnt from the Seminar and the discussion papers prepared for it.

Keywords: peacekeeping, peace operations, organized crime, trafficking, human trafficking, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, West Africa