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Organized Crime and Its Control in Central Asia

NCJ Number
205953
Author(s)
Slawomir Redo
Date Published
2004
Length
228 pages
Annotation
Based on the author's personal experience in United Nations service in Central Asia, this book reviews the history, demographics, and culture of Central Asian countries, including criminal traditions and mentality, followed by a profile of contemporary forms of organized crime, corruption, and money laundering and the development and use of new tools for fighting organized crime in this region of the world.
Abstract
A historical overview of clan and tribe relations in Central Asian countries is important for understanding contemporary forms of organized crime and its control in Central Asia. According to 1998 estimates by the International Narcotics Control Board, approximately 65 percent of all illicitly produced opiates in Afghanistan, the world' major opium producer, are trafficked through the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. According to more recent United Nations estimates, in 2002 roughly 45-55 percent of drugs from Afghanistan went through Central Asia. These estimates suggest massive organized criminal activity that is rarely interdicted and the perpetrators almost never brought to justice. The review of various forms of crime in Central Asia focuses on organized crime, corruption, and money laundering. On the enforcement side, governance promoted by Western democracies is taking root in the process of state-building in Central Asia, but the historical legacies (e.g., post-Soviet conservative policing and endemic corruption) make adaptation of modern law enforcement policies and techniques a slow and challenging undertaking. This book proposes a framework within which organized crime in Central Asia can be countered, with proposals for legal and technical measures that may enhance the control of organized crime in Central Asia. Starting with the core mechanism of clan/tribal relationships that continue to regulate Central Asian life, more attention must be given to the fact that economic transition inevitably entails the erosion of the culture and activities of clans/tribes involved in organized crime. A focus on the cultivation of economic transitions involves the broadening of a group of traders who will enter into limited trade with strangers if the profit margin and risk are both acceptable. This will involve a willingness by outside investors to increase the transparency of transactions and submit to legal controls. The book concludes with 10 proposals by the World Bank designed to guide investments in Central Asia that will contribute to improved economic distribution among the populace and upgrade the legal infrastructure to provide protection from corruption and improve the enforcement efforts against organized crime activities. Chapter notes and a subject index