Chair, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The following countries align themselves with this statement: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine.

I would like to thank you for your able chairmanship and the UNODC for all the preparations of this session. 

The theme of this session (addressing crimes that affect the environment, the smuggling of commercial goods, and the trafficking in and targeting of cultural property), does not just cover technical challenges. It strikes at the core of our societies. 

As we meet today, conflicts and violence are unfolding in many parts of the world. The EU and its Member States call for the full respect for the UN Charter and international law, including international humanitarian law, whether in relation to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, or the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, Sudan, or elsewhere. Those responsible must be held accountable. In this context, the EU welcomes the first step towards the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.

The EU remains firmly committed to tackling all crimes, as they pose a direct threat to the security of all States. That is why, in April of this year, the European Commission presented a new European Internal Security Strategy. 

This strategy lays out a clear and ambitious workplan of over 50 concrete measures to enhance the EU's resilience and collective ability to anticipate, detect, prevent and respond to all threats. New and old, offline and online.

A key message is that our security at home depends on deeper cooperation with our partners abroad. We are committed to strengthening partnerships with third countries, to sharing intelligence, contributing to global security and ensuring our collective safety.

This cooperation is needed to dismantle criminal networks, reinforce border management, and protect the most vulnerable. Powerful interlinked criminal networks across the globe are spreading in Europe, nurtured online and spilling violence in our societies.  They operate across borders and so must we. Across all levels and fields we must fight against illicit financial flows fed by organised crime, money laundering, corruption and tax evasion.

We must close the gaps exploited by traffickers and smugglers whether they deal in endangered species, counterfeit goods, or antiquities looted from conflict zones. These crimes not only endanger biodiversity and deprive communities of their cultural heritage, but also fund other forms of organised crime and even terrorism. In this context, we welcome the upcoming intergovernmental expert group on environmental crimes. 

Hardly any serious crime happens completely offline. Cyber-enabled crimes increasingly serve as tools for trafficking and environmental degradation. In this light, the upcoming signing of the new UN cybercrime convention in Hanoi will mark an important step forward in shaping a global legal framework to prevent and combat the misuse of technology by criminal actors, while safeguarding human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Let me also highlight another priority to the EU: the fight against the smuggling of migrants. This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the Protocol against the smuggling of migrants supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC).  More needs to be done by all States to fully implement this instrument. We cannot tolerate a situation that puts countless lives at risk and profits from human desperation. The EU calls for increased international cooperation to prevent smuggling, protect the human rights of victims, and to hold perpetrators accountable. At the same time, we need to ensure that migration is managed in a safe, orderly, and regular manner. I would like to invite all of you to a side-event that the EU will organise on this matter on 21 May, together with the UNODC, Morocco and Pakistan. 

Chair,

The EU remains a strong supporter of the rules-based international system, with the UN at its core. Our commitment to multilateralism runs deep, as does our belief that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underpins any effective action on crime prevention and criminal justice. We continue to call for further efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 5 on gender equality. We cannot effectively address crimes if we ignore their disproportionate impact on women and girls, or the need to empower women and girls as agents of change.

We thank the United Arab Emirates for hosting the next Crime Congress. We value the work that was done in the context of the CCPCJ thematic session on the follow up to the Kyoto Declaration. This has help to translate into actions what was agreed upon. We look forward to having a similar follow up process within the CCPCJ following the Abu Dhabi Crime Congress.

Finally, none of this would be possible without the Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). We greatly value the critical role played by the UNODC and continue to provide significant support to its work. However, in light of growing uncertainty on voluntary contributions and the ongoing liquidity crisis affecting the whole UN, there is a pressing need for more strategic prioritisation of projects and programmes, guided by even more impact, sustainability, and evidence. We believe that Member States have an essential role to play in supporting the UNODC. The EU calls on all actors to increase their support and consider more flexible and predictable funding mechanisms to enable UNODC to deliver its mandate effectively and without interruption.

We look forward to a successful session and hope that the seven draft resolutions, which have been tabled, will be adopted by consensus. 

Thank you.