The production and distribution of counterfeit goods has become a multibillion dollar industry, generating approximately $250 billion a year and representing over 10% of world trade. Counterfeiting is considered a crime globally, and it is recognized as a felony requiring incarceration in most developed and developing countries, as it is intellectual property theft. What most people don’t know is that the counterfeit good business goes far beyond fake designer handbags sold in Chinatown, and is in fact, closely linked to organized crime and terrorist groups. UNODC investigations and law enforcement agencies across the globe have uncovered that a variety of criminal networks and organizations are banking on the illicit production and trade of these items. The Mafia, the Camorra, the Triads, Al Qaeda and even the Taliban, are just a few of the criminal enterprises that are known to have important involvement in the manufacturing and sale of imitation products. The proceeds that these groups obtain from counterfeit trade have been known to support drug, arms, and human trafficking, extortion and prostitution, amongst many others, as well as cycling into money laundering, corruption and fraud.

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The UNODC has done extensive research and work towards debunking the counterfeit industry that is so greatly supporting numerous other crimes. As a matter of fact, the UNODC launched a million dollar campaign in 2014, called Counterfeit: Don’t buy into organized crime, focused on convincing the public against counterfeit retail. Nonetheless, it is evident that there is still a lot of work to be done in order to terminate these criminal operations.

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As a committee, the goal is to uncover and demolish the intricate and strategic connection between the counterfeit industry and the criminal practices of organized crime and terrorist groups, to attack the proceeds that the counterfeits generate, which are being directed towards additional illicit practices. Furthermore, the committee must focus on generating ideas and solutions for governments, NGO’s and law enforcement agencies to foster and employ in the battle against counterfeit goods funding terrorism and organized crime.