of criminal elements”, he said. “If we are really serious about crime, let us now introduce the universal fingerprinting of our population. This could be done at birth”.

The country experienced more than 600 homicides last year.

Ex. 4. Read, translate and review the text:

CONVENTION ON TRANSNATIONAL CRIME

The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) is developing a convention against transnational crime, which will harmonise the laws of countries around the world to boost the fight against organised criminals.

Its idea would be to stop unregulated countries being legal boltholes for offenders, boosting crime.

In particular, the convention would impose a duty on UN states to harmonise laws, such as participation in a criminal organisation, conspiracy and money laundering. It would also oblige governments to adequately provide for witness protection schemes, especially informants from criminal gangs.

And the convention would contain measures to address trafficking in women and children, smuggling migrants and the illicit manufacturing and trafficking in firearms.

Ex. 5. Read and review the text:

PROBING RUSSIAN ORGANISED CRIME

London

A new two-year project analysing the problems of organised crime in Russia and the Baltic States is under way, funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.

Dr Paddy Rawlinson is one of three researchers who will be surveying the potential effects of cross-border movement of Russian and Baltic criminal groups into the European Union.

Various case studies will be used to generate an understanding of how criminal organisations interact with legitimate economic and political structures and how the authorities respond.

EU policy responses to Russian crime groups will be evaluated, as will those from international law enforcement organisations, such as Europol and the UK's National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS).

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Ex. 6. Read and translate the text:

CORRUPTION CONFERENCE

Durban‚ South Africa

South Africa has hosted an international anti-corruption conference, staged by the Berlin-based political group Transparency International, which publishes an 85 country corruption perceptions index, ranging from the Cameroon (most corrupt), to Denmark (least).

James Wolfenson, president of the World Bank, said that his organisation had developed an action plan to fight corruption, without cutting aid.

Other initiatives at the conference, in Durban, included a scheme to tackle bribery at Nigeria's largest airport and a plan by 11 African countries to fight corruрtion in their own institutions. Botswana's president said that his country was planning to set up a database on corruption.

INTERPOL

Interpol has its origins in the decisions of an international congress which was held in 1914 to discuss possibilities for simplifying and accelerating the international search for wanted suspects, the improvement of methods of identification, the harmonization of extradition procedures and the centralization of information concerning international criminals - needs which are still valid and underpin the role of Interpol in the new millenium. There are 181 member countries throughout the world (1998), and activities are coordinated from an ultramodern General Secretariat in Lyon, France. One of Interpol's

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constitutional aims is to ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in the different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Intervention is forbidden, however, in political, religious, racial or military matters.

Today, the vast majority of the work of Interpol is carried out through the offices, the National Central Bureaux (NCBs), established in each member country to serve as the focal point for international cooperation.

The particular problem of language is overcome by Interpol by largely restricting communications to four languages - English, French, Spanish and Arabic. The prerequisite for cooperation of any kind is an adequate means of communication. With 181 member countries, Interpol has been faced with an enormous challenge to develop a system which will operate quickly and efficiently whichever of those countries should need to speak to each other. Today Interpol boasts an efficient, secure and reliable telecommunications system which links each of the NCBs by e-mail and gives automated access to a central database of information on international crime and criminals.

Interpol is a source of criminal information and intelligence. The

Interpol Criminal Information System (ICIS) is a powerful storage and retrieval system which incorporates several fields, one of which, for example, is dedicated to information relating to drug seizures.

One of the most important features of the role of Interpol as a source of information concerns its international notices, relating to persons who are wanted for extradition. The notices include all available identifying details, including photographs and fingerprints, together with all the relevant information giving rise to its issue.

Interpol also is a medium to establish a policy for international police cooperation. More than 500 conferences are organized every year. These provide members with the opportunity for their decision-makers to agree policy and set standards for international police cooperation.

As an organization Interpol has undergone dramatic changes during the last few years. Every effort is being made to take advantage of developments in terms of information technology, and structures are

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being created to ensure the delivery of a service that is focused upon the needs of its member countries. There remains, however, much to be done. It has yet to be decided, for example, how best Interpol should take advantage of the progress that has been made in the field of identification of persons such as DNA profiling and Automatic Fingerprint Identification Systems. It is not enough, for example, simply to equip the NCBs with modern telecommunications facilities when many countries lack the infrastructure to communicate efficiently internally.

EUROPOL: The European Police Office

The establishment of Europol was agreed in the Maastricht Treaty on European Union of 7 February 1992 in order to improve cooperation between Member States in the areas of drug trafficking, terrorism and other serious forms of international organized crime.

At present, Europol's mandate is to fight against:

illicit drug trafficking

illicit trafficking in radioactive and nuclear substances

crimes involving clandestine immigration networks

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illicit vehicle trafficking

trafficking in human beings

illegal money-laundering activities in connection with these forms of crime.

As stated in the Europol Convention and subject to an anticipated Council of Ministers decision, Europol's mandate is to be extended to include terrorism and other forms of serious international organized crime. Europol supports Member States by:

facilitating the exchange of data (personal and non-personal), in accordance with national law, between Europol liaison officers seconded to Europol by the Member States as representatives of the different national law enforcement agencies;

providing operational analyses in support of Member States' operations, general strategic reports and crime analyses on the basis of information and intelligence supplied by Member States, generated by Europol or gathered from other sources;

providing expertise and technical support for investigations and ongoing operations carried out by law enforcement agencies of the Member States under the supervision and legal responsibility of the Member States concerned.

There are currently (1999) about 180 staff members within Europol

from all Member States. Of these, 41 are Europol liaison officers belonging to and acting as representatives of a variety of law enforcement agencies (police, customs, gendarmerie, immigration services, etc.) from all Member States. It is estimated that, by the year 2003, the Europol staff level will be approximately 350, including the Europol liaison officers and security staff.

The Europol liaison officers, together with the Europol officers, analysts and other experts, guarantee an effective, fast and reliable multilingual and multidisciplinary service 24 hours a day.

The Europol Convention states that Europol shall establish and maintain a computerized system to allow the input, access and analysis of data.

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