The illicit trade of cigarettes has become a multi-billion dollar business today and has taken centre stage in the global debate in the last few years. There are various ways in describing the illicit cigarette trade: contraband, counterfeit, illicit whites, and diverted cigarettes. This organized crime enables corruption, undermines good governance, deprives governments of tax revenue, threatens national security, and facilitates other transnational organized crimes such as money laundering and/or human trafficking. International efforts and cooperation between organizations such as INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization, the European Anti-Fraud Office, governments, businesses, and non-governmental organizations have seen tangible results.

How does the tobacco industry address this crime, and where does the illicit cigarette trade intersect with human trafficking? This discussion will examine supply chain management and promising practices to identify risk, as well as current multi-stakeholder approaches and partnerships at the global, transnational, and national levels.

This webinar is the 5th webinar in the 2018 RESPECT webinar series, “The Human Trafficking – Organized Crime Nexus: Intersections, Vulnerabilities, and Analysis for the Private Sector.” This webinar series explores how human trafficking can intersect with other forms of organized crime and provide promising practices, strategies, and responses to alleviate further vulnerabilities for the private sector.

Panelists:

• Phil Charlton, Anti-Illicit Trade Operations Manager – Western Europe, Corporate Development, Japan Tobacco International
• Cathy Haenlein, Senior Research Fellow, National Security and Resilience, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
• Kristin Reif, Director, Illicit Trade Prevention, Philip Morris International

Moderator: Dr. Louise Shelley, Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair; Director, Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) and University Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government George Mason University 

Date: Thursday, May 17, 2018 at 10:00 am – 12:00 pm EST/ 4:00 – 6:00 pm CEST

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This webinar is co-hosted by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Babson College’s Initiative on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in cooperation with the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center of Excellence in Criminal Network Analysis (CINA).