Xavier Cousquer, co-director of EL PAcCTO: “We build too many walls and not enough bridges”

The first reflex of human beings is to protect themselves. For centuries, humans have built walls thinking it was the best way to ensure their security. When Isaac Newton said the famous phrase, which is the title of this article, at the turn of the 18th century, borders were the fundamental building block for emerging nation-states and a way for governments to establish their power and their domination in their territory. It is commonly acknowledged that at that time, the people gave up their freedom for the protection provided to them by the State. However, in a world which was not yet globalised, what prompted one of the main figures of the Enlightenment to say this phrase? What resonance does it have today?

Since then, the world has opened up and become interconnected and globalised to an extent that few thinkers from past centuries would have been able to imagine, and it was an extremely rapid process. For all States and governments around the world, knowing how to adapt to the changes in certain realities is a tremendous challenge. Changing traditions and the various forms of conservatism that exist to a greater or lesser degree all over the world and, especially, mentalities is a difficult task.

In any case, the reality of this beginning of the 21st century shows that the walls do not protect us any more. High, strong, supposedly impassable, it is illusory today to think that borders are hermetic. They are perhaps for honest citizens who are affected by these barriers, but they are a chimera for the organised crime groups which, for a long time, have learned to break through obstacles, even the most sophisticated ones. The development of new technologies which allow money to be transferred several times around the world in a second and the significant increase in the movement of people and goods today make borders an entirely relative concept. And we continue to look at the walls while they are cracking?

Building walls with the objective of protection is still, of course, this natural reflex for humans. This is not, however, the case for bridges. This reality undoubtedly explains why for several years organised transnational crime has been on the rise and why we are struggling, with no hope of closing the gap. Organised groups take advantage of our shortcomings and our inability to build these bridges, while they built theirs a long time ago.

About twenty years ago, European Union countries, in the context of the process to create a common space, but also because they took this reality into account, decided to largely eliminate their borders. In return, they identified the absolute necessity to build new collaboration mechanisms in order to address the challenges of an open space, in particular concerning organised crime. By creating permanent structures for police and judicial cooperation – EUROPOL and EUROJUST – implementing new working methods, such as the European arrest warrant, they have built bridges and are gradually adapting the Justice system to the realities of the 21st century. Is this model perfect? No, much still needs to be achieved. Can it serve as a reference for other parts of the world? In the EL PAcCTO Programme, we strongly believe it can.

Latin America is today faced with a particularly complex reality: organised crime is thriving there and the belief perhaps remains that walls, national responses and isolationism are the best ways to address it. This is not the case. Quite the contrary, we need more dialogue, contacts and exchanges of information, more systematically and especially more rapidly, if we want to make up for the backlog. We need these bridges, between actors in the fight against crime, between institutions, between countries, which are sorely lacking today. There is no alternative and no more effective method to fight against organised transnational crime has been identified. Cooperation is the only way.

It is for this reason that the EL PAcCTO programme exists, because we know that together we are stronger and can change this reality. We need to stop watching, powerless, our walls which are cracking and lead us to failure. As of now, we need to start building together the bridges which are essential for ensuring a safer and more stable future for our fellow citizens and future generations.  

EL PAcCTO is a programme funded by the European Commission and implemented by FIIAPP and Expertise France, with the support of IILA and Camões. Covering the criminal chain as a whole, its main goal is the fight against transnational organized crime and the strengthening of the institutions responsible for ensuring citizen security in 18 Latin American countries.

More about EL PAcCTO on www.elpaccto.eu