The UNTOC and International Cooperation

The UNTOC is often touted by States as a key mechanism for such cooperation, but this article explores how failures in implementation have undermined that claim. The most significant failure is the dearth of information on compliance and the weakness of the UNTOC review mechanism. But there are others, the article suggests, including the reliance on bilateral and regional networks for cooperation because of inherent limitations in these networks and associated practices. In order to advance the development of this international system of cooperation of which the UNTOC is a part, the article then goes back to basics, discussing the formulation of a framework of essential conditions for international cooperation. Armed with these conditions, it identifies several possible targeted interventions and then highlights two of these interventions at either end of a spectrum running from informal to formal measures. It concludes that renovation of the system as a whole is necessary in order to invigorate cooperation through the UNTOC.