UNCTAD will host the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), to launch the Alliance’s new report, entitled Mapping the Impact of Illicit Trade on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The report investigates illicit trade in 12 key sectors that participate significantly in international trade and maps these against the 17 United Nations SDGs. These sectors include agri-foods, alcohol, fisheries, forestry, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, precious metals and gemstones, pesticides, tobacco, and wildlife, as well as trafficking in persons and counterfeiting and piracy. Findings show that illicit trading activities significantly compromise achievement of the SDGs by crowding out legitimate economic activity, depriving governments of revenues for investment in vital public services, dislocating hundreds of thousands of legitimate jobs and causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and human lives.
Presentation of the report will be followed by a dialogue involving a wide range of stakeholders, including member States and representatives from IGOs, NGOs and the private sector. Delegates will be encouraged to share their own experiences as they relate to the issues raised by the report.