Transnational crime

The international community is confronted with an increasing level of transnational crime in which criminal conduct in one country has an impact in another or even several others.

Nonetheless, in situations in which a government is unable (or unwilling) to cooperate in the arrest or prosecution of a criminal, the offended state has few options for recourse.

[3] Furthermore, often state actors are part of transnational criminal dynamics in conflict zones and benefit from the smuggling of illicit goods.

[4] Given the limits on the exercise of extraterritorial enforcement jurisdiction, states have developed mechanisms to cooperate in transnational criminal matters.

It is an ancient mechanism, dating back to at least the thirteenth century BCE, when an Egyptian Pharaoh negotiated an extradition treaty with a Hittite King.