Statement by the Group of 77 and China during the eigth session of the Ad hoc Committee on Transnational Organized Crime, Vienna 21 February - 3 March 2000 delivered by H.E. Ambassador Fructuoso Pittaluga-Fonseca, Permanent Representative of Uruguay

Mr. President,

On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, we wish to express some views of the countries that compose our Group in relation to the way in which the negotiation process of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three Protocols has been evolving.

As stated during the 7th session of the Ad Hoc Committee, the members of the Group of 77 and China would like to call on the understanding for the necessary time that our delegations need to carefully study the contents of the documents considered as basis for consensus which are of a complex nature and therefore we will not take any decision that we consider hasty.

We would like to express our concern that the documents, which are used as the basis for our negotiation, in all official languages, are not submitted on time, as has happened this morning. We are also concerned that in some cases articles from the former text have been modified by drafters of the working groups. The Group would like to state that working groups are responsible for proposing the language, but their work must be approved by the plenary. For example, we can mention again the text of Article 2, which is still submitted as in document A/AC.254/L.140, even though we had strongly recommended the use of the text of this article as given in document A/AC.254/4/Rev.6. The members of our Group would like to see their statements reflected in the reports of the articles submitted for negotiation.

For instance to avoid any possible ambiguity as to the application of the Convention, the words "transnational" and "organised criminal group" should be expressed clearly with regards to the scope of this instrument and whenever necessary, to explain the type of organised criminal activity which the Convention seeks to address.

Finally, our Group would like to point out that once the Ad Hoc Committee has accepted the work plan, two meetings of the informal consultations should not be held simultaneously.

We recall that informal consultations are an exchange of views only.

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