Regional Cooperation in Combating Transnational Organized Crime: Task Force on Organized Crime in the Baltic Sea Region

The radical political changes and economic transformation in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in the early nineties have resulted in the dramatic surge of the level of criminality not only in this region, but also in the neighboring states. This phenomenon, in turn, raised serious concerns regarding the protection of both personal safety and economic interests against the new forms of criminal activity, most of which have been organized and based on ad hoc or permanent structures. The real danger of "proliferation" of organized crime across the borders has prompted a discussion on the most effective methods of fight against this kind of activity in all its various manifestations, as well as has demonstrated a necessity of close international cooperation as the only viable option states have to solve this problem. Understandably, the discussion was not limited to the post-communist countries but was extended to all states of the Baltic region. One forum for such an exchange of views was the Baltic Sea Conference on Combating International Crime which was held in Helsinki in May 1996... [more]