The Convention entered into force on September 29, 2003; and its various Protocols on trafficking in persons, the smuggling of migrants, and the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms entered into force by the end of January 2004. At the time of the writing of this report, there were 100 parties to the Convention, 80 parties to the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, 69 parties to the Migrants Protocol, and 35 parties to the Firearms Protocol. Pursuant to article 32 of the Convention, a Conference of the Parties to the Convention was established to improve the capacity of the parties to combat transnational organized crime and to promote and review the implementation of the Convention and its Protocols. The promotion of their ratification has also been a top priority of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The current report focuses on the activities and future work of the UNODC in this area. In addition to focusing on the expeditious entry into force of the instruments, the UNODC has more recently been engaged in the promotion of the universal ratification of and full compliance with the instruments, as well as the prompt entry into force of the Firearms Protocol before the second session of the Conference of the Parties in October 2005. This session will embark on the substantive review process of the Convention's implementation, as well as of the Protocols that have entered into force by that time, notably the Firearms Protocol. 3 notes and appended status of ratifications as of March 8, 2005