European Review of Organised Crime (EROC) (original) (raw)
Papers by European Review of Organised Crime (EROC)
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
Attempts to govern crime at the global level date back to late 19th century, and since the foundi... more Attempts to govern crime at the global level date back to late 19th century, and since the founding of the United Nations and other international organizations with mandates concerning responses to various forms of illicit cross-border conduct, global crime governance has been part and parcel of domestic politics and foreign policy. Throughout this time, crime governance has been deeply entwined with the uneven progresses of economic development, securitization and digitization, giving rise to patchy response mechanisms, often questioning the crime control capacity of the international community.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
In this research note, I focus on the activities of Chinese money laundering groups in North Amer... more In this research note, I focus on the activities of Chinese money laundering groups in North America. My central argument is that these groups are important players in a
triangular illicit trafficking network between China, the U.S. and Canada, as well as with Mexico and Central America. The first leg of the network is that methamphetamine and fentanyl precursor chemicals are trafficked from China to Mexico. The second leg is that
these chemicals are processed into illegal drugs and trafficked by Mexican drug trafficking organisations (DTOs) into the U.S. and Canada. The third leg is that Chinese money laundering groups launder the profits from this trade by offering U.S. dollars to Chinese citizens wanting to engage in capital flight. In addition, they send counterfeit goods from southern China to Mexico, with the sale of these goods releasing pesos for
the Mexican DTOs.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
Transnational crimes have plagued parts of Southeast Asia since the region's governments gained i... more Transnational crimes have plagued parts of Southeast Asia since the region's governments gained independence following World War II (only Thailand escaped colonization). Major illicit activities have grown and diversified over the past two decades, leading to charges of genocide in Myanmar by the United Nations Human Rights Council; an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of extrajudicial drug enforcement policies in the Philippines; and an explosion of methamphetamine trafficking out of Myanmar that reaches from north Asia to the Pacific and points in between. The Malaysian government and international investigators are still dealing with fallout from the multi-billion US dollar financial scam that began there in 2009 and is still being adjudicated. The region's governments-joined together through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-signed the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), its three protocols and the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). The member states have also signed related agreements among themselves-although not specifically against corruption-and meet regularly at ministerial and working levels to operationalize those blueprints for curbing international crime. They have not met with much success. After reviewing the academic literature and case studies of the major transnational crimes in the region, the author concludes that ASEAN's conceptual weaknesses-that is, the requirement of unanimity in decision making-and lack of institutions capable of checking autocratic leaders' desire for wealth and power have simply overpowered the best intentions of international agreements and regional cooperation. Legacies from the colonial era; the political/crime nexus in the region; outside forces, including the enabling role of foreign banks in Malaysia's recent international financial scam; and cultural idiosyncrasies have also contributed to the gaps between written goals and on-the-ground success. Related challenges are around the corner: meeting them will require increased trust among the region's law enforcement and intelligence agencies; and continued close cooperation with foreign counterparts. Above all, the region's leaders must commit politically and legally to counter these growing problems.
European Review of Organised Crime, 2021
In 1993, a transnational crime organization known as D-Company carried out mass-casualty terroris... more In 1993, a transnational crime organization known as D-Company carried out mass-casualty terrorist bombings in Mumbai, India. The reasons for this action have been attributed to religious grievances. However, little attention has been given to the role played by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence in supporting the bombings. Taking into account what has emerged in the public domain over the last 28 years regarding ISI links with D-Company and with international jihadist groups more generally, a re-assessment of the 1993 bombings is required. Hitherto regarded as an example of 'crime-terror convergence', it appears that D-Company might be more aptly considered an instrument of covert action.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
The decimation of elephants through illegal (and legal) hunting of ivory across East Africa not o... more The decimation of elephants through illegal (and legal) hunting of ivory across East Africa not only illustrates the precarious position of one of nature's most magnificent creatures but the role that transnational criminal organisations (TCOs) play in fomenting that process. The sharp rise in the illegal ivory trade in Tanzania, the country which hosts some of the world's largest elephant populations and concurrently experienced the most devastating decade of slaughter prior to 2014, offers an opportunity to conduct a focused study of Chinese TCOs and their role in the devastation. In particular, this research provides insights into the structure of these organisations, their modus operandi, their networks and associations along the 'global value chain' including the supply chain within Tanzania and onward to the retail consumers' market in China.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
Owing to various unforeseen circumstances, EROC has not been published since 2019 and we would li... more Owing to various unforeseen circumstances, EROC has not been published since 2019 and we would like to apologise to everyone interested in the Journal. The ECPR SGOC is committed to EROC as an open access journal; free to publish and free to read, that is independent of all publishers and which is managed by academics in their free time. The main aim of ECPR SGOC remains to contribute to the conversation on organised crime from a multidisciplinary and transnational perspective, engaging both
academics and practitioners.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2019
Until now, no systematic studies have been specifically developed on high-level corruption prosec... more Until now, no systematic studies have been specifically developed on high-level corruption prosecution and very few and reliable information are available on the amount of investigations against high-level political actors and subsequent indictments for political corruption crimes. We believe that shedding light specifically on the prosecution side could offer relevant information both for studying corruption more broadly, and for analysing the complex linkage between judicial system and political system. As an example, a pilot study focusing on the prosecution of cabinet ministers in Eastern and Southern Europe (Popova and Post 2018) has generated some hypotheses about those factors that could be associated with a higher probability of investigation for corruption charges. With this paper, we propose a pilot study mapping the prosecution of cabinet ministers (and deputy ministers) in Italy from 2006 to 2013, using primarily media sources. Our goal is to map out the entire corruption prosecution process, from the appearance of the first allegations to the opening of a formal investigation, to the filing of an indictment by the public prosecution, and finally to the court proceedings during a trial.
European Review of Organised Crime, 2019
The prevailing attitude of international legal institutions is that drug trafficking remains a do... more The prevailing attitude of international legal institutions is that drug trafficking remains a dominant organised crime, which presents a major security threat to all nations, including the US. While US assumptions and policies on organised crime and its control are embodied and codified by international laws which reflect the US war on drugs from the 1970s onwards, there is a dearth of interdisciplinary works which challenge the application of such policies in small island developing states (SIDS). The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the exportation of organised crime control policies from the US to Caribbean SIDS, in light of the dichotomy which exists between these countries in identifying security threats, and to generate evidence-informed soft policy implications. Through an analysis of empirical research data, combined with the examination of US backed policies and assumptions, it can be concluded that international policies adopted by Caribbean SIDS are inappropriate and not fit for purpose, given the local conditions of organised crime security threats in these countries. Moreover, the research shows that it is the illicit trafficking of firearms from the US to Caribbean SIDS which remains the most challenging issue faced by regional law enforcement officers.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2019
The In the past decades, the Australian 'ndrangheta has been object of media attention, academic ... more The In the past decades, the Australian 'ndrangheta has been object of media attention, academic inquiry and growing policing concern. In Australia, however, the phenomenon is not new. Next to contemporary manifestations of mafia clans and activities, there is an historical 'ndrangheta, with families and networks in specific areas of the country. Their activities peaked between the 1950s and the 1970s and their reputation still persists and populates mafia narratives. This article will analyse historical archives broadly related to a nebulous idea of the Italian mafia in Australia. These archival sources contain both institutional documents (from police forces, intelligence services and law enforcement agencies) and, to a lower extent, media sources ranging from 1940s to 1980s. The analysis will show how Australian authorities observed, approached and attempted to fight the mafia phenomenon-and specifically that of Calabrian origin-very early and with mixed results. This article will eventually argue that also thanks to the geography and history of Australia as a country-island, the 'ndrangheta phenomenon has developed and prospered until today.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2019
Compared to its Sicilian counterpart, the Corsican "Mafia" has historically attracted little atte... more Compared to its Sicilian counterpart, the Corsican "Mafia" has historically attracted little attention from scholars and decision-makers. Nevertheless, despite clear differences in the level of bureaucratization and of violence employed with respect to the Sicilian mob, in the latter half of the twentieth century criminal organizations from Corsica managed to create networks of power and business which penetrated and partly influenced the French economic and political system. Even if these events never clearly pointed to the existence of structural cooperation between them and (a part of) the French state, the economic activities pursued by the Corsican milieu laid the foundations for the development of a transnational network-built on family ties and customary allegiances-able to spread throughout the whole French Empire. In Africa in particular, these racketeers found a fertile ground for their activities. Building on these premises, this article aims to analyse to what extent Corsican criminal organizations shaped the evolving relations between France and its former African colonies. In the existing literature, the term FrançAfrique designates a form of neocolonial dominion based on personal ties and clientelar chains involving the Franco-African political and economic elite. With this article we show that this informal system of power created a hierarchical relation of dependence, where private/corporate and national interests are mixed and blurred, and actors such as Corsican gangsters are contemporarily criminal entrepreneurs, informal state agents, and gatekeepers, influencing perceptions and interests of both French and African decision-makers. In this sense, the Corsican milieu is a crucial case, yet largely underexplored, for exploring how practices and forms of control employed in informal/illegal domains can influence and redefine states' interactions and chains of authority in low-institutionalized contexts.
European Review of Organised Crime, 2019
Amidst turbulent economic growth, the recent history of Malta has been punctuated by major corrup... more Amidst turbulent economic growth, the recent history of Malta has been punctuated by major corruption scandals and indices of large-scale money laundering. These developments are usually attributed to changing fiscal policies seen as disembodied from the spaces and flows where they are embedded. By calling into question this abstraction, this article aims to explore the extent to which the condition of insularity of the Republic of Malta has contributed to the rooting of organised crime in the country. In particular, it focuses on the Libyan oil smuggling schemes pivoted in Malta with a view to discussing the idea that the specific territoriality of the maritime space is a crucial enabling factor of illicit economies. It will argue that islands such as Malta-when looked at in terms of nodes of the connective maritime space-challenge the political and economic assumptions upon which the modern idea of sovereignty is usually predicated. The article is based on the data collected from interviews with Libyan, Tunisian, Maltese and Italian experts in security and organised crime.
EROC, 2019
This special issue aims to explore organised crime and counter-crime responses through the lens o... more This special issue aims to explore organised crime and counter-crime responses through the lens of spatiality. We focus on islands-i.e., bounded spaces that are territorially discontinuous vis-à-vis mainland-but we reject geographic determinism and adopt John Agnew's definition of spatiality as "how space is represented as having effects" (1994: 55). Islands are commonly associated with the idea of laboratory and self-contained experimentation: this happens in very diverse disciplinary fields-ranging from biology to anthropology, and even archaeology. How their peculiar spatial features impact on social and political configurations and practices, however, is a less explored subject. Yet, there is no lack of insightful evidence: islands are historically used to pursue strategies of displacement, containment and seclusion and colonisation (e.g., penal colonies, detention camps, military facilities). Insular spaces are often built as zones of exception and extraterritoriality (Mountz, 2015: 641-642).
The networks and routes of organised crime cross international borders. Perforce, translations ar... more The networks and routes of organised crime cross international borders. Perforce, translations are required. Surprisingly, the contribution by translators working on written texts to crime prevention measures and prosecutions is often disregarded. If the topic is evoked at all, the focus is usually on interpreting—of the spoken rather than the written word—such as in police interviews of offenders or victims, and in courts. Nevertheless, significant volumes of written texts in this field are being translated in countries all over the world. Drawing from a global survey of legal translation practices (Scott 2016), this paper will suggest that it is very likely that security is severely inadequate, that there is considerable scope for miscarriages of justice, and that expertise is being underused and/or misused. Whilst legislation is generally translated inside institutions, many textual genres are translated by individuals who work through for-profit translation agencies. Such text types include, for example, Financial Intelligence Unit reports, human trafficking research, mafia surveillance transcripts, email exchanges, or asset-freezing applications in high risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions. There is also the question of 'dark' translation carried out for and by organised crime groups. This paper will contend that if cross-border cooperation is to be effective, serious consideration must be given to the role of individual translators working in the shadows in such " outstitutional " contexts.
A new front has emerged in the response to human trafficking and modern slavery. Focusing on the ... more A new front has emerged in the response to human trafficking and modern slavery. Focusing on the financial footprints of traffickers provides a new set of tools to disrupt human trafficking. This research note engages with the work being undertaken by financial institutions in this field-drawing on previous work to assess the methods and effectiveness of these initiatives. In particular, the paper reviews the ways in which this new front against human trafficking is evolving, the key factors that are facilitating financial institutions' engagement with human trafficking and the ways in which those in law enforcement and civil society who are already committed to the fight against human trafficking could benefit from, and further empower, the work of financial institutions.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
Attempts to govern crime at the global level date back to late 19th century, and since the foundi... more Attempts to govern crime at the global level date back to late 19th century, and since the founding of the United Nations and other international organizations with mandates concerning responses to various forms of illicit cross-border conduct, global crime governance has been part and parcel of domestic politics and foreign policy. Throughout this time, crime governance has been deeply entwined with the uneven progresses of economic development, securitization and digitization, giving rise to patchy response mechanisms, often questioning the crime control capacity of the international community.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
In this research note, I focus on the activities of Chinese money laundering groups in North Amer... more In this research note, I focus on the activities of Chinese money laundering groups in North America. My central argument is that these groups are important players in a
triangular illicit trafficking network between China, the U.S. and Canada, as well as with Mexico and Central America. The first leg of the network is that methamphetamine and fentanyl precursor chemicals are trafficked from China to Mexico. The second leg is that
these chemicals are processed into illegal drugs and trafficked by Mexican drug trafficking organisations (DTOs) into the U.S. and Canada. The third leg is that Chinese money laundering groups launder the profits from this trade by offering U.S. dollars to Chinese citizens wanting to engage in capital flight. In addition, they send counterfeit goods from southern China to Mexico, with the sale of these goods releasing pesos for
the Mexican DTOs.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
Transnational crimes have plagued parts of Southeast Asia since the region's governments gained i... more Transnational crimes have plagued parts of Southeast Asia since the region's governments gained independence following World War II (only Thailand escaped colonization). Major illicit activities have grown and diversified over the past two decades, leading to charges of genocide in Myanmar by the United Nations Human Rights Council; an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of extrajudicial drug enforcement policies in the Philippines; and an explosion of methamphetamine trafficking out of Myanmar that reaches from north Asia to the Pacific and points in between. The Malaysian government and international investigators are still dealing with fallout from the multi-billion US dollar financial scam that began there in 2009 and is still being adjudicated. The region's governments-joined together through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-signed the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), its three protocols and the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). The member states have also signed related agreements among themselves-although not specifically against corruption-and meet regularly at ministerial and working levels to operationalize those blueprints for curbing international crime. They have not met with much success. After reviewing the academic literature and case studies of the major transnational crimes in the region, the author concludes that ASEAN's conceptual weaknesses-that is, the requirement of unanimity in decision making-and lack of institutions capable of checking autocratic leaders' desire for wealth and power have simply overpowered the best intentions of international agreements and regional cooperation. Legacies from the colonial era; the political/crime nexus in the region; outside forces, including the enabling role of foreign banks in Malaysia's recent international financial scam; and cultural idiosyncrasies have also contributed to the gaps between written goals and on-the-ground success. Related challenges are around the corner: meeting them will require increased trust among the region's law enforcement and intelligence agencies; and continued close cooperation with foreign counterparts. Above all, the region's leaders must commit politically and legally to counter these growing problems.
European Review of Organised Crime, 2021
In 1993, a transnational crime organization known as D-Company carried out mass-casualty terroris... more In 1993, a transnational crime organization known as D-Company carried out mass-casualty terrorist bombings in Mumbai, India. The reasons for this action have been attributed to religious grievances. However, little attention has been given to the role played by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence in supporting the bombings. Taking into account what has emerged in the public domain over the last 28 years regarding ISI links with D-Company and with international jihadist groups more generally, a re-assessment of the 1993 bombings is required. Hitherto regarded as an example of 'crime-terror convergence', it appears that D-Company might be more aptly considered an instrument of covert action.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
The decimation of elephants through illegal (and legal) hunting of ivory across East Africa not o... more The decimation of elephants through illegal (and legal) hunting of ivory across East Africa not only illustrates the precarious position of one of nature's most magnificent creatures but the role that transnational criminal organisations (TCOs) play in fomenting that process. The sharp rise in the illegal ivory trade in Tanzania, the country which hosts some of the world's largest elephant populations and concurrently experienced the most devastating decade of slaughter prior to 2014, offers an opportunity to conduct a focused study of Chinese TCOs and their role in the devastation. In particular, this research provides insights into the structure of these organisations, their modus operandi, their networks and associations along the 'global value chain' including the supply chain within Tanzania and onward to the retail consumers' market in China.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2021
Owing to various unforeseen circumstances, EROC has not been published since 2019 and we would li... more Owing to various unforeseen circumstances, EROC has not been published since 2019 and we would like to apologise to everyone interested in the Journal. The ECPR SGOC is committed to EROC as an open access journal; free to publish and free to read, that is independent of all publishers and which is managed by academics in their free time. The main aim of ECPR SGOC remains to contribute to the conversation on organised crime from a multidisciplinary and transnational perspective, engaging both
academics and practitioners.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2019
Until now, no systematic studies have been specifically developed on high-level corruption prosec... more Until now, no systematic studies have been specifically developed on high-level corruption prosecution and very few and reliable information are available on the amount of investigations against high-level political actors and subsequent indictments for political corruption crimes. We believe that shedding light specifically on the prosecution side could offer relevant information both for studying corruption more broadly, and for analysing the complex linkage between judicial system and political system. As an example, a pilot study focusing on the prosecution of cabinet ministers in Eastern and Southern Europe (Popova and Post 2018) has generated some hypotheses about those factors that could be associated with a higher probability of investigation for corruption charges. With this paper, we propose a pilot study mapping the prosecution of cabinet ministers (and deputy ministers) in Italy from 2006 to 2013, using primarily media sources. Our goal is to map out the entire corruption prosecution process, from the appearance of the first allegations to the opening of a formal investigation, to the filing of an indictment by the public prosecution, and finally to the court proceedings during a trial.
European Review of Organised Crime, 2019
The prevailing attitude of international legal institutions is that drug trafficking remains a do... more The prevailing attitude of international legal institutions is that drug trafficking remains a dominant organised crime, which presents a major security threat to all nations, including the US. While US assumptions and policies on organised crime and its control are embodied and codified by international laws which reflect the US war on drugs from the 1970s onwards, there is a dearth of interdisciplinary works which challenge the application of such policies in small island developing states (SIDS). The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the exportation of organised crime control policies from the US to Caribbean SIDS, in light of the dichotomy which exists between these countries in identifying security threats, and to generate evidence-informed soft policy implications. Through an analysis of empirical research data, combined with the examination of US backed policies and assumptions, it can be concluded that international policies adopted by Caribbean SIDS are inappropriate and not fit for purpose, given the local conditions of organised crime security threats in these countries. Moreover, the research shows that it is the illicit trafficking of firearms from the US to Caribbean SIDS which remains the most challenging issue faced by regional law enforcement officers.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2019
The In the past decades, the Australian 'ndrangheta has been object of media attention, academic ... more The In the past decades, the Australian 'ndrangheta has been object of media attention, academic inquiry and growing policing concern. In Australia, however, the phenomenon is not new. Next to contemporary manifestations of mafia clans and activities, there is an historical 'ndrangheta, with families and networks in specific areas of the country. Their activities peaked between the 1950s and the 1970s and their reputation still persists and populates mafia narratives. This article will analyse historical archives broadly related to a nebulous idea of the Italian mafia in Australia. These archival sources contain both institutional documents (from police forces, intelligence services and law enforcement agencies) and, to a lower extent, media sources ranging from 1940s to 1980s. The analysis will show how Australian authorities observed, approached and attempted to fight the mafia phenomenon-and specifically that of Calabrian origin-very early and with mixed results. This article will eventually argue that also thanks to the geography and history of Australia as a country-island, the 'ndrangheta phenomenon has developed and prospered until today.
European Review of Organised Crime (EROC), 2019
Compared to its Sicilian counterpart, the Corsican "Mafia" has historically attracted little atte... more Compared to its Sicilian counterpart, the Corsican "Mafia" has historically attracted little attention from scholars and decision-makers. Nevertheless, despite clear differences in the level of bureaucratization and of violence employed with respect to the Sicilian mob, in the latter half of the twentieth century criminal organizations from Corsica managed to create networks of power and business which penetrated and partly influenced the French economic and political system. Even if these events never clearly pointed to the existence of structural cooperation between them and (a part of) the French state, the economic activities pursued by the Corsican milieu laid the foundations for the development of a transnational network-built on family ties and customary allegiances-able to spread throughout the whole French Empire. In Africa in particular, these racketeers found a fertile ground for their activities. Building on these premises, this article aims to analyse to what extent Corsican criminal organizations shaped the evolving relations between France and its former African colonies. In the existing literature, the term FrançAfrique designates a form of neocolonial dominion based on personal ties and clientelar chains involving the Franco-African political and economic elite. With this article we show that this informal system of power created a hierarchical relation of dependence, where private/corporate and national interests are mixed and blurred, and actors such as Corsican gangsters are contemporarily criminal entrepreneurs, informal state agents, and gatekeepers, influencing perceptions and interests of both French and African decision-makers. In this sense, the Corsican milieu is a crucial case, yet largely underexplored, for exploring how practices and forms of control employed in informal/illegal domains can influence and redefine states' interactions and chains of authority in low-institutionalized contexts.
European Review of Organised Crime, 2019
Amidst turbulent economic growth, the recent history of Malta has been punctuated by major corrup... more Amidst turbulent economic growth, the recent history of Malta has been punctuated by major corruption scandals and indices of large-scale money laundering. These developments are usually attributed to changing fiscal policies seen as disembodied from the spaces and flows where they are embedded. By calling into question this abstraction, this article aims to explore the extent to which the condition of insularity of the Republic of Malta has contributed to the rooting of organised crime in the country. In particular, it focuses on the Libyan oil smuggling schemes pivoted in Malta with a view to discussing the idea that the specific territoriality of the maritime space is a crucial enabling factor of illicit economies. It will argue that islands such as Malta-when looked at in terms of nodes of the connective maritime space-challenge the political and economic assumptions upon which the modern idea of sovereignty is usually predicated. The article is based on the data collected from interviews with Libyan, Tunisian, Maltese and Italian experts in security and organised crime.
EROC, 2019
This special issue aims to explore organised crime and counter-crime responses through the lens o... more This special issue aims to explore organised crime and counter-crime responses through the lens of spatiality. We focus on islands-i.e., bounded spaces that are territorially discontinuous vis-à-vis mainland-but we reject geographic determinism and adopt John Agnew's definition of spatiality as "how space is represented as having effects" (1994: 55). Islands are commonly associated with the idea of laboratory and self-contained experimentation: this happens in very diverse disciplinary fields-ranging from biology to anthropology, and even archaeology. How their peculiar spatial features impact on social and political configurations and practices, however, is a less explored subject. Yet, there is no lack of insightful evidence: islands are historically used to pursue strategies of displacement, containment and seclusion and colonisation (e.g., penal colonies, detention camps, military facilities). Insular spaces are often built as zones of exception and extraterritoriality (Mountz, 2015: 641-642).
The networks and routes of organised crime cross international borders. Perforce, translations ar... more The networks and routes of organised crime cross international borders. Perforce, translations are required. Surprisingly, the contribution by translators working on written texts to crime prevention measures and prosecutions is often disregarded. If the topic is evoked at all, the focus is usually on interpreting—of the spoken rather than the written word—such as in police interviews of offenders or victims, and in courts. Nevertheless, significant volumes of written texts in this field are being translated in countries all over the world. Drawing from a global survey of legal translation practices (Scott 2016), this paper will suggest that it is very likely that security is severely inadequate, that there is considerable scope for miscarriages of justice, and that expertise is being underused and/or misused. Whilst legislation is generally translated inside institutions, many textual genres are translated by individuals who work through for-profit translation agencies. Such text types include, for example, Financial Intelligence Unit reports, human trafficking research, mafia surveillance transcripts, email exchanges, or asset-freezing applications in high risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions. There is also the question of 'dark' translation carried out for and by organised crime groups. This paper will contend that if cross-border cooperation is to be effective, serious consideration must be given to the role of individual translators working in the shadows in such " outstitutional " contexts.
A new front has emerged in the response to human trafficking and modern slavery. Focusing on the ... more A new front has emerged in the response to human trafficking and modern slavery. Focusing on the financial footprints of traffickers provides a new set of tools to disrupt human trafficking. This research note engages with the work being undertaken by financial institutions in this field-drawing on previous work to assess the methods and effectiveness of these initiatives. In particular, the paper reviews the ways in which this new front against human trafficking is evolving, the key factors that are facilitating financial institutions' engagement with human trafficking and the ways in which those in law enforcement and civil society who are already committed to the fight against human trafficking could benefit from, and further empower, the work of financial institutions.