A/CONF. 187/5 32. Corruption, including the issue of extortion, is prostitution ranking highest among the means of recognized as a major problem capable of threatening exploitation. Smuggling and trafficking have become social, economic and political development and major sources of income for criminal organizations at the undermining democracy and morality. In a recent poll of national and international levels over 30,000 persons worldwide, levels of perceived corruption among politicians exceeded 75 per cent for all 35. Although there are many media reports on such problems and an increasing number of local case studies regions of the world. with South america and the far east recording levels of 90 per cent. Moreover, empirical in terms of its size, nature and development, remain research of the International Monetary Fund indicates that elusive. The lack of such an overview hampers the design, corrupt countries achieve aggregate investment levels of adoption and funding of effective national and almost 5 per cent less than ones not considered corrupt. international strategies. The Global Programme against With the growing globalization of markets, accompanied Trafficking in Human Beings is filling the void, providing by the internationalization of illegal activities, corruption for the collection and analysisofinformation on trafficking being accorded to the exchange of information and efforts routes and assessing best practice in criminal justice to standardize strategies for countering corruption inventory was made of the literature on trends in 33. As part of the Global Programme against Corruption trafficking in the Philippines. In addition, the globa initiative, three levels and types of corruption are being Programme on Trafficking in Human Beings is promoting assessed and countries are being assisted in detecting, the creation of coalitions among lawenforcement agencies, preventing and fighting corruption. The first type of immigration authorities, victim assistance groups and corruption is corruption in public administration, relating human rights organizations. The first coalition project will mainly to citizens' perceptions of and experiences with begin in the Czech Republic government offices, local licensing authorities, police, 36. While significant attention has been given by the international community to the above-mentioned issues corruption, which refers to experiences of medium-sized there are other issues that have priority for national and businesses and retailers, including perceptions of busines international law enforcement officials and policy makers people; corruption of this type distorts market processes The issues of urban crime, violence and security remain and relations and can foster monopolies and unfair high on the political agenda in countries. T and administrative centres of power represents the workshop on community involvement in crime prevention, third type of corruption. It is most destructive and can will deal with some of those issues in more detail create major disturbances in international economic and Computer crime has surfaced as a major concern and, as olitical relations. Within the framework of the Global such will be dealt with in the Tenth Congress workshop on ogramme against Corruption, countries are being crimes related to the computer network. Money-laundering hand and in setting priorities. In addition, countermeasures increased, as organized criminal groups have increased are being developed, including mechanisms to enhance the their efforts to make"legal "their illegal proceeds. The transparency and accountability of public procurement and United Nat is making efforts to counter, international commercial transactions. Moreover, training those developments through its Global Programme against is being provided to policy makers, judges, prosecutors, Money-Laundering and the United Nations Offshore law enforcement personnel and financial sector authorities. forum 34. The smuggling of migrants and traficking in human establishment, in the Office for Drug Control and Crime beings have increased throughout the world in recent years. Prevention, of a unit for the prevention of terrorism.The The smuggling of migrants disrupts established immigration policies of the countries of destination and unit will monitor and analyse trends in terrorism world wide, identify best practices in combating terrorism and often involves human rights abuses. The exploitative disseminate the lessons learned to States through technical nature of the treatment of trafficking victims often amounts to a modern form of indentured servitude. with forcedA/CONF.187/5 10 32. Corruption, including the issue of extortion, is recognized as a major problem capable of threatening social, economic and political development and undermining democracy and morality. In a recent poll of over 30,000 persons worldwide, levels of perceived corruption among politicians exceeded 75 per cent for all regions of the world, with South America and the Far East recording levels of 90 per cent.13 Moreover, empirical research of the International Monetary Fund indicates that corrupt countries achieve aggregate investment levels of almost 5 per cent less than ones not considered corrupt. With the growing globalization of markets, accompanied by the internationalization of illegal activities, corruption has gained an international dimension. Top priority is being accorded to the exchange of information and efforts to standardize strategies for countering corruption. 33. As part of the Global Programme against Corruption initiative, three levels and types of corruption are being assessed and countries are being assisted in detecting, preventing and fighting corruption. The first type of corruption is corruption in public administration, relating mainly to citizens’ perceptions of and experiences with government offices, local licensing authorities, police, customs and inspectors. The second type is business corruption, which refers to experiences of medium-sized businesses and retailers, including perceptions of business people; corruption of this type distorts market processes and relations and can foster monopolies and unfair competition. High-level corruption of financial, political and administrative centres of power represents the third type of corruption. It is most destructive and can create major disturbances in international economic and political relations. Within the framework of the Global Programme against Corruption, countries are being assisted in assessing the size and nature of the problems at hand and in setting priorities. In addition, countermeasures are being developed, including mechanisms to enhance the transparency and accountability of public procurement and international commercial transactions. Moreover, training is being provided to policy makers, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement personnel and financial sector authorities. The first projects were launched in Hungary and Lebanon. 34. The smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings have increased throughout the world in recent years. The smuggling of migrants disrupts established immigration policies of the countries of destination and often involves human rights abuses. The exploitative nature of the treatment of trafficking victims often amounts to a modern form of indentured servitude, with forced prostitution ranking highest among the means of exploitation. Smuggling and trafficking have become major sources of income for criminal organizations at the national and international levels. 35. Although there are many media reports on such problems and an increasing number of local case studies, an overall picture of the involvement of organized crime, in terms of its size, nature and development, remains elusive. The lack of such an overview hampers the design, adoption and funding of effective national and international strategies. The Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings is filling the void, providing for the collection and analysis of information on trafficking routes and assessing best practice in criminal justice responses to the problem. For example, a preliminary inventory was made of the literature on trends in trafficking in the Philippines. In addition, the Global Programme on Trafficking in Human Beings is promoting the creation of coalitions among law enforcement agencies, immigration authorities, victim assistance groups and human rights organizations. The first coalition project will begin in the Czech Republic. 36. While significant attention has been given by the international community to the above-mentioned issues, there are other issues that have priority for national and international law enforcement officials and policy makers. The issues of urban crime, violence and security remain high on the political agenda in many countries. The workshop on community involvement in crime prevention, to be held within the framework of the Tenth Congress, will deal with some of those issues in more detail. Computer crime has surfaced as a major concern and, as such, will be dealt with in the Tenth Congress workshop on crimes related to the computer network. Money-laundering and the exploitation of offshore banking centres have increased, as organized criminal groups have increased their efforts to make “legal” their illegal proceeds. The United Nations is making efforts to counter, those developments through its Global Programme against Money-Laundering and the United Nations Offshore Forum. 37. The recent upsurge of terrorist crime has led to the establishment, in the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, of a unit for the prevention of terrorism. The unit will monitor and analyse trends in terrorism world￾wide, identify best practices in combating terrorism and disseminate the lessons learned to States through technical