Transnational organized crime is considered a major threat to human security, affecting the social, economic, political and cultural development of societies worldwide. It is a multi-faceted phenomenon and has manifested itself in different activities, among others, drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings, trafficking in firearms, smuggling of migrants, illicit production and trade of falsified medicines, cybercrime, money laundering, among others.
The incredible profits to be made from the cocaine trade make it by far the potent of organised criminal flows, around which criminal economies have developed and are fiercely protected. Along the cocaine route, from the production countries in the Andes: Bolivia, Columbia and Peru; via those countries through which it transits on its way to Europe: states in Central America, the Caribbean, West, Southern and North Africa, the drug trade is exacerbating organised crime and criminal groups, resulting in extreme violence, instability and the chronic weakening of state institutions.
Since 2009, the European Union has committed almost €30 million over 36 countries along the cocaine route from the Andes to Europe through its flagship “Cocaine Route Programme”. This Programme is intended to provide an integrated response to the challenges presented by international criminal networks and illicit trafficking from the Andes to Europe, by enhancing the capacity for international cooperation of law enforcement and judicial services of the involved countries and regional organisations.
