COMBATING ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFICKING: TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL COOPERATION
Keywords:
narcotic drugs, illicit trafficking, drug trafficking, international legal cooperation, transnational crime, UN conventions, mutual legal assistance, extradition, electronic evidenceAbstract
The article analyses the concept, essence, and distinctive features of international legal cooperation among states in combating the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs. It examines the legal foundations, principles, institutional mechanisms, and forms of such cooperation. The role of the United Nations conventions adopted in 1961, 1971, and 1988 in shaping international legal cooperation in this field is analysed, and these instruments are assessed as an interconnected global legal mechanism. The article also explores mechanisms of cooperation such as mutual legal assistance, extradition, information exchange, controlled delivery, and the identification and confiscation of criminal assets, using formal-legal, comparative-legal, systemic, logical, and historical-legal methods. It substantiates that the expanding use of digital technologies, the darknet, crypto-assets, and electronic evidence in the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs creates a need to further improve existing mechanisms of international cooperation. In conclusion, the author puts forward scholarly and practical proposals for the development of international legal cooperation as a comprehensive functional institution.
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