Global threats and organised crime - Our work and impact

We use a coordinated and cross-cutting approach to strengthen the long-term capacities of institutions involved in preventing and combating threats to vital interests and human security.

As a French development cooperation agency, we help countries prevent and manage crises and combat cross-cutting threats. We are committed to promoting security and peacekeeping, with a focus on the following key areas:

• Cybersecurity and violations of digital sovereignty: Improve cybersecurity and cyber resilience of institutions.
• Maritime and port security and safety: Help combat threats to free and responsible movement in maritime areas as well as attacks against maritime security systems.
• Organised crime: Combat trafficking in drugs, arms, dual-use goods and sensitive goods; financial crime; terrorism; violent extremism; and money laundering. We also provide support for integrated border management.
• Environmental crime and justice: Analyse the threats posed by organised environmental crime. We also combat deforestation and timber trafficking; arson; wildlife trafficking; illegal mining (including gold panning); illegal fishing; and soil, water, and sea pollution.
• Trafficking of cultural property: Protect cultural heritage and fight against the illegal trafficking of cultural property. Cultural property is increasingly targeted by criminal and terrorist groups, which destroy cultural and historical property and sites, resulting in the irreversible loss of humanity’s shared history and a loss of identity for local communities.
• Protection of critical infrastructure: Ensure the protection of transport and cyberinfrastructure
• Control of dual-use goods and arms: Ensure compliance with international treaties and support export controls

Our activities align with several international frameworks aimed at addressing the many threats to global stability, including:

• The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime - This stipulates that signatory states must grant each other the widest possible mutual legal assistance in investigations, prosecutions and legal proceedings relating to transnational offences.
• The European Internal Security Strategy - This supports Member States and strengthens the EU’s ability to keep its citizens safe.
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 - This promotes peaceful and inclusive societies with a view to achieving sustainable development, access to justice for all, and effective institutions at all levels, while providing a framework for collective action to combat organised crime.

When it comes to global threats, our priority is to combat all crises through inter-state cooperation and the sharing of technical expertise, using every tool at our disposal.

Our method is based on four key principles:

• Align with the European Union’s framework for action to reduce threats at regional level
• Promote regional organisations active in the areas in which we operate
• Implement Team Europe’s collective agenda by encouraging the participation of various European agencies
• Implement French global strategies by drawing on our public-sector expertise 

Our work therefore takes a variety of forms. For example, we establish specialised multidisciplinary teams, support investigations and police operations, and help strengthen the institutional capacities of criminal justice and civil society stakeholders.

We aim to strengthen the capacities of institutions to prevent and fight against transnational threats over the long term. This forms part of a strategy focused on strengthening the strategic, regulatory and legal frameworks of our partners and protecting their critical infrastructure through training, awareness-raising and capacity-building initiatives.