Backin October 2013, rescuers came across a grisly scene in the Sahara desert close to the border between Niger and Algeria.

Spread out across a 12-mile radius were the bodies of 92 people; most of them women and children. All of them had died of thirst as they sought to escape the punishing sun.

The migrant group had been travelling in two trucks, but the first one broke down and the second left for repairs. The migrants were stranded. After waiting five days, the group struck out to look for water. Only 21 people survived when they managed to reach towns on the Algerian side of the border.

Read: 92 migrants found dead in Sahara

These migrant deaths illustrate a terrible fact about our world. Crime is leeching the life force out of vulnerable and fragile countries, and by doing so, undermining our global efforts to lift billions out of poverty.

Below the Sahara, the territories are infested with criminals who prey on migrants seeking to move to Europe — women, children and men, whose desire to go to another country is so fierce they are prepared to cross a vast desert with some of the highest daily temperatures on record.

But this story is not unique to North Africa. Across the world, in the biggest migration since the Second World War, people are in motion. These individuals are undertaking perilous journeys. And they are dying in large numbers.

Many reasons exist for this tragedy. Some people are desperately trying to take families away from brutal conflict and insecurity, others are driven by economic necessity. Migrants then fall into the hands of criminal networks and are cruelly exploited.

Crime is leeching the life force out of fragile countries.

Rampant corruption fuels these and other crimes, but it also diverts funds from the public sector preventing children receiving invaluable education, and much needed healthcare. It is estimated that public money amounting to between $20 billion to $40bn leaves developing countries in the form of corruption.

Opportunistic links between criminals and terrorists, although not new, are also being formed to traffic drugs and other illicit goods.

Forest crime represents up to 30pc of the global timber trade. The trade in illegal timber from Southeast Asia to the European Union and other parts of Asia was worth an estimated $3.5bn in 2010. Unregulated trade in charcoal also results in lost revenue of around $1.9bn from African countries.

Wildlife crime exacts a huge cost from humans and is worth as much as $2.5bn in East Asia and the Pacific alone. The destruction of wildlife, causing many species to teeter on the edge of extinction, damages tourism. Trafficking in resources is an ongoing theft from developing nations.

Transnational organised crime is worth an estimated $870bn annually and comes in many forms. Its violence destroys communities. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime counted 437,000 homicides globally in 2012. Many of these deaths occur in developing nations where the loss of an income earner can have an irreparable impact on a family’s future.

Views on crime are thankfully changing. The links between crime and development are recognised in ways they were not before. Countries also accept that development can be protected by the rule of law, fundamental human rights, strong, but fair, criminal justice systems and zero tolerance of corruption.

But to turn back the criminal tide more needs to be done. If the rule of law is to wrestle development out of crime’s clutches, law enforcement must focus on anti-money laundering activities. Greater cooperation also needs to take place to ensure that information on crime is shared and that joint operations across borders take place.

The international community is currently facing tremendous challenges in the areas of conflict, security and peace. It is also seeking to agree on the new development agenda that will transform the lives of billions.

In all this welcome action, I see a tremendous opportunity to promote criminal justice reform and to strengthen the rule of law, particularly in the areas of fairness, dignity and equality. It is a chance for the world to take the rule of law, and its cousins crime prevention and criminal justice, out from the wings where they have been waiting and place them in the vanguard of the UN’s work.

If this is done, sustainable development will receive the protection it needs from crime’s ravages. The 13th Crime Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice took place from April 12-19 April in Doha. Crime causes misery and death. It cannot be allowed to hamper our plans for sustainable development. Along with UNODC, I am committed to using the 13th Crime Congress as the first step not just to improve criminal justice responses, but towards a better quality of life for everyone.

The writer is executive director, UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2015

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