FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM 66 Chapter 4 The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 - The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, 2000 and the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, 2000 A. Introduction The globalization of legitimate economic activities has been closely matched by the corresponding globalization of organized crime. The same developments in areas such as transportation and communication technologies, which have created enormous opportunities for human communication and economic development have also created significant new opportunities for organized crime, which has not been reluctant to exploit them 142. As a result, criminal groups across the world can communicate and coordinate their activities, often in new ways, which elude the efforts of law enforcement agencies to intercept and control them. Increase in flow of commodities and information have created new opportunities for theft, diversion, smuggling and other crimes, and have provided both incentives and opportunities to treat human beings as commodities, generating enormous profits from the smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons. Transnational organized crime poses a major challenge for legislators, prosecutors and law enforcement officials, who are facing an increase in the range of offences committed and volume of cases reported. The existing infrastructure of international cooperation is no longer adequate to respond to these challenges. The high cost and complexity of conducting multi-national investigations and prosecution exacerbates this situation.143 142 Jean Paul Laborde, The United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto, in UNESCAP Resource Guide on Using Legal Instruments to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children, Bangkok, 2003, p2. 143 Ibid.