Eight locals take a micro course on transnational organized crime

Eight locals will undertake a micro-course on Transnational Organized Crime (TNOC), which will be recognized at Australian university level.

This week, Pa Enua community leaders, along with members of government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), participated in a three-day workshop, facilitated by the Australian National University’s Pacific Security College, to help the Cook Islands build local capacity.

All twenty attendees received a certificate of participation at the Arepua Community Center in Takuvaine on Wednesday, presented by the Australian High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Phoebe Smith. The certificate was a recognition of their participation in the course and does not count as a formal qualification.

Of the twenty attendees, eight will go on to complete a micro-credential course on transnational organized crime, which will result in the award of a micro-credential from the Australia National University, recognized for university credit.

Danielle Watson, Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology and facilitator of this week’s workshop, explained that this course focused on the security, governance and development challenges that transnational organized crime poses to the Pacific Islands region entails.

It introduced participants to a range of conceptual lenses through which to analyze the diverse actors, intersecting trends and complex multi-domain dynamics of transnational organized crime in the Cook Islands.

Watson said: “Participants engaged in informed discussions on the strengths and weaknesses of the current TNOC security architecture in the Cook Islands; the role of non-state actors such as churches and communities on the front lines of combating transnational crime; the relationship between law enforcement and national security in the Cook Islands; and the role of local partners in preventing and responding to cross-border crime.”

“We also explored the ways in which transnational crime intersects with current and emerging threats and the link between transnational crime, globalization, development and geopolitical struggle.”

According to Watson, the primary goal of the workshop had been achieved. It aimed to provide a context in which key local stakeholders can engage in informed and targeted discussions on transnational organized crime at international, regional and national levels, with the aim of charting a course for the development of the Cook Islands TNOC Strategy.

Some of the key points that emerged were:

• the need for the establishment of a TNOC working group or review committee to identify key stakeholders, determine existing TNOC documents (legislation, policy, SOP bylaws) and develop a document sharing platform,
• the need for a considered expansion of CLAG (Combined Law Agency Group) membership and greater flexibility in existing agencies with decision-making powers,
• the need for guidelines and provisions on stakeholder involvement,
• the need for more context- and audience-relevant platforms to increase awareness of TNOC, and
• the need for both more and shared TNOC capacity building training.

Participants highlighted the need to deliver similar workshops on the Outer Islands, as well as more frequently in Rarotonga.

The lack of resources and security in the Pa Enua to address transnational crimes were the main factors that prompted community leaders from the outer islands to participate in the workshop.