Holy See calls for international cooperation to combat transnational crime

Vatican News

The Holy See has called for stronger international cooperation to combat transnational organised crime, stressing the need to protect human dignity, uphold the rule of law and safeguard children and other vulnerable people.

Speaking on Wednesday,14 October, in Washington, D.C., at the Fifth Meeting of National Authorities on Transnational Organised Crime, Archbishop Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Organisation of American States (OAS), outlined three priorities for addressing the threat: placing the human person at the centre of security strategies, strengthening international cooperation and investing in prevention and protection.

Human dignity at the centre of security

Archbishop Cruz Serrano welcomed the meeting as an opportunity to strengthen cooperation across the hemisphere in responding to one of the principal challenges to security and the integral development of peoples.

Referring to Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas, he recalled the Pope’s warning about the growing presence of non-state actors, including criminal networks, which use violence as a continuing source of power and profit, with serious consequences for generations of young people and children.

Transnational organised crime, he said, is not merely a threat to State security, but also a serious violation of human dignity and an attack on the common good.

Behind crime statistics are human lives affected by trafficking and exploitation, young people drawn into drug-trafficking networks, families displaced by violence and communities deprived of the conditions necessary to live in peace.

The first priority, he explained, is to ensure that the human person remains at the centre of every security strategy. While the fight against crime is both legitimate and necessary, it must be conducted within the framework of the rule of law and with full respect for fundamental rights.

The use of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, must likewise remain at the service of justice, subject to appropriate human oversight and safeguards.

International cooperation and illicit financial flows

The second priority is effective and solidarity-based international cooperation.

Criminal organisations exploit national borders, differences between legal systems and new technologies to extend their activities. For this reason, Archbishop Cruz Serrano stressed the need to strengthen judicial, police and financial cooperation.

Particular attention, he said, must be given to combating illicit financial flows, which enable criminal organisations to sustain their activities and expand their influence through corruption and the weakening of institutions.

Protecting minors in the digital environment

The third priority concerns prevention and the protection of the most vulnerable, especially children and young people.

Archbishop Cruz Serrano warned that digital technology has created new opportunities for criminal organisations to exploit minors through cyberbullying, grooming, coercion, blackmail, and the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material.

He called for appropriate measures to protect minors in the digital environment and stressed the importance of equipping young people to recognise attempts at manipulation and defend their dignity, in line with the teaching of Pope Leo XIV.

Building lasting partnerships

Concluding his address, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer expressed the hope that the meeting would strengthen cooperation and partnerships among States and the various actors in society, promoting comprehensive and lasting responses to prevent and combat transnational organised crime.

Such efforts, he said, must not only strengthen security and the rule of law, but also protect the dignity of every human person and contribute to the construction of more just, supportive and peaceful societies.