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Topic A: Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering as Funding for Terrorism

Money laundering is a formidable crime that affects the economy as a whole, impeding the social, economic, political, and cultural development of societies worldwide. Over the last decades, globalization has been accompanied by the growth of cross-border and national underground economies fueled by illegal businesses.  Criminal activities such as drug trafficking have generated immense profits that boost demand for money laundering. One immediate consequence of the widespread occurrence of these criminal activities is the availability of financing for terrorist activities.

Indeed, drug trafficking has provided funding for insurgency and those who use terrorist violence in various regions throughout the world, including in transit regions. Militant/terrorist groups that use laundered drug money as one of their sources of funding range from leftist guerrilla movements to rightwing extremists and from secular nationalist groups to Islamist organizations such as Hezbollah.

Although the link between terrorism and other related crimes, such as drug trafficking and money laundering, is evident and has been recognized by the United Nations Security Council, a more thorough understanding is needed in order to develop solid strategies to prevent and disrupt these crimes. The ability to prevent and detect money-laundering, for example, would be a highly effective means of identifying criminals and terrorists and the underlying activity from which money is derived.

It is important to understand that illicit drug traders, money launderers and terrorists are not some mysterious entity. Rather they are usually groups and networks that operate in ways that can be understood, identified, tracked and ultimately disrupted. Better transparency and financial integrity in national financial systems, enhanced oversight, and stronger cross border cooperation are necessary to achieve this. Terrorism and its financing are affecting both national and international economies. It is therefore critically important to have in place strong antimony laundering/combating the financing of terrorism frameworks.

The committee will focus on ways to crack down terror financing networks, exploring the link between drug trafficking and money laundering mafias and terrorist groups. The aim will be to integrate international efforts to build up more effective and efficient networks in order to defeat the illegitimate networks that perpetuate widespread destruction throughout the world.

Topic B: Global Initiative to Combat Cybercrime

In the globalised world of today, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are omnipresent and have created new opportunities for active development of economy, politics, country, society and social consciousness. The economies and defense of innumerable countries depend increasingly on normal operation of global computer networks. However, the enhancement of technologies has also led to the introduction of a new menace to society: cybercrime.  

Cybercrime refers to any illegal behaviorcommitted through a computer system or network. The term includes a wide variety of crime, from fraud, identity theft, hacking, data espionage, child pornography and internet vandalism, to extremely drastic offenses such as cyber terrorism, cyber warfare and cyber laundering.

The financial damage caused by cybercrime is colossal. By some estimates, revenues from cybercrime exceeded USD 100 billion in 2007, outstripping the revenue from illegal trade in drugs. Given the increasing military and economic dependence of the global community on ICTs, enhancing cyber security and protecting critical information infrastructures are essential to each nation’s security and economic well-being.

Finding response strategies and solutions to the exponentially growing threat of cybercrime is a major challenge for both developed and developing countries. Attacks on critical infrastructure, including telecommunications networks, may result in significant real-world damage, implicating cyber-terrorism and national security issues.

The need for international cooperation in cyber security is evident, due to the ‘borderless’ nature of cyberspace itself. Offenders can be located in one country and commit a crime using a computer in another country. This enables malicious individuals and groups to exploit “loopholes of jurisdiction”, making investigation and law enforcement difficult. The legal, technical and institutional challenges posed by the issue of cyber security are far-reaching and global, and can only be addressed through a comprehensive strategy that takes into account the role of different stakeholders and existing initiatives, within a framework of international cooperation.

The purpose of this committee would be: to consider the threat cybercrime poses to the global community; to promote the development of comprehensive frameworks to combat cybercrime and promote cyber security, and; to assist law enforcement authorities to respond to the challenges raised by advances in technology.

Dealing with emerging risks like cyber crime will require vision, pragmatism and the collaboration of the members of this committee. Delegates should focus on the transnational issues related to cybercrime, the steps member states can take, and the enforcements of international regulations which can prevent such crime.