SAARC Police

Organized groups are involved in different kinds of criminal activities spanning several countries. They are generally involved in drug trafficking, financial fraud, gold smuggling, cyber pornography, arms and explosives smuggling, human trafficking, terrorism, kidnapping and extortion, hijacking, counterfeiting, contract killings and so on. Organized criminal networks originate and operate in order to obtain financial rewards through and from illicit activities. In its advanced form, organized crime is so thoroughly integrated into the economic, political and social institutions of legitimate society that it may no longer be recognizable as a criminal enterprise. Such integration represents the most serious potential for social harm that can be caused by racketeers. Organized crime is a complex phenomenon. It takes advantage of states undergoing reforms or change and they benefit from the (temporary) lack of state resources and skills to fight it. The growing global gaps in law enforcement are their opportunities. At a time when criminals have joined hands across countries, governments still operate along hierarchical lines and are further hindered by bureaucratic rivalry and competition, interagency antipathies, and reluctance to share information and coordinate operations. Understanding network structures and operations make it easier to identify vulnerabilities against which concerted attacks should be directed. Particularly important in this connection is identification of critical nodes. These attacks could be of two natures -- external (core attacks) and internal (using crossovers to feed misinformation into the network). To counter the criminal groups, there is need for carefully orchestrated and finely calibrated operation in a comprehensive and systematic fashion. For this, clear delineation of objectives and enhanced intelligence assessments are the prerequisites. Beside this, international collaboration is a must. The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) is one such body to facilitate international policing efforts. Interpol is the world’s largest international police organization, with 186 member countries including Nepal. Created in 1923, it facilitates cross-border police cooperation, and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime. Interpol aims at facilitating international police cooperation even where diplomatic relations do not exist between particular countries. Action is taken within the limits of existing laws in different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Interpol’s constitution, however, prohibits “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”. Article 2 mandates it to ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in different countries and in the spirit of the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’, and to establish and develop all institutions likely to contribute effectively to the prevention and suppression of ordinary crimes. Such cooperation through Interpol channels takes place at the pre-extradition stage, i.e., prior to the formal request for extradition, which only begins when the formal request for extradition is sent through diplomatic channels along with all necessary documents. This is not free from hiccups and can take a lot of time. The SAARC Conference on Cooperation in Police Matters is one forum where police officers of SAARC countries can discuss on matters of mutual cooperation. So far, seven conferences have been held – Colombo, July 1996; Male, September 1997; Kathmandu, August 2002; Islamabad, April 2004; Dhaka, May 2006; New Delhi, October 2007 and Islamabad, April 2008. A concept of regional policing came into discussion during the SAARC Conference on Police Cooperation Matters held in Kathmandu. Nepal Police proposed for a hybrid concept of South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Police or SAARCPOL. The vision of establishing SAARCPOL was to muster cooperation in fighting terrorism, and serious and organized crimes in the region. This concept was proposed to commensurate the need for quick and effective actions against the criminal networks in South Asia. Similar regional policing systems have been started in Europe as European Police (EUROPOL) and South East Asia Police (ASEANOPOL). This concept was welcomed by almost all member countries albeit some technical arrangements were suggested to be developed by the SAARC Secretariat. In the following year, this proposal was again raised by Nepali police delegate (headed by this writer) in Islamabad conference. Again, due to the lack of clear operational framework this was again set aside for the next meeting. Although the Police Conferences so far have deliberated on a number of important matters relating to networking arrangements among police authorities in the member states, revised concept paper on the establishment of SAARCPOL, prevention of organized crimes, combating corruption, drug abuse and trafficking and money laundering, and training requirements of police officers and networking among police authorities, nothing concrete has emerged so far. The growing complexity of the business of policing has warranted increased knowledge and information gathering and management, and police need a mechanism to better derive decisions and improve efficiency. Successful investigation of multinational organized crimes depends on the baseline groundwork of any organizations responsible for preventing and controlling these crimes and the international collaboration. We are aware that the SAARC has signed some Conventions of importance, for example, trafficking of women and children for prostitution; mutual assistance in criminal matters; narcotics drugs and combating terrorism. However, the implementation is nowhere to be seen. The mechanism of SAARCPOL can be of great help to implement these conventions. Like the Interpol, it can help the member countries in various aspects of policing such as identifying, establishing and maintaining contacts with experts in the field. It can also help in identifying major criminal threats with potential global impact and also serve as a platform to provide support to member countries in ongoing international investigations on a case-by-case basis. Finally, a broader view of today’s terrorist and criminal groups is needed, given that their methods and their motives are often shared. The ultimate test of this will be greatly effective in observing, detecting, and apprehending politically and economically motivated criminals that undermine the security of the country. Lone effort by states to counter the financial power of organized criminal networks cannot be expected to succeed if other countries do not take similar actions. If interlocking national controls are not created, there will be places that offer safe haven to money launderers or traffickers. Therefore, international cooperation and coordination are a must for successful fight against organized crime. Compared to Interpol, the effectiveness of SAARCPOL can be easily secured as the South Asian societies share many similar socio-political and economic backgrounds. If established, Nepal, because of its neutrality could be the center of SAARCPOL mechanism.