GI-TOC Report: Social Re-Use of Confiscated Assets Should Be Promoted

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The social re-use of assets acquired through criminal activity has the potential to increase societal resistance to organized crime and enhance trust between civil society and the governments of the Western Balkan countries, said an April 10 report issued by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).

The report, titled “The re-use of confiscated assets for social purposes,” further maintained that the practice of making the former property of criminals available to the communities “also sends the message that crime does not pay.” “The assets confiscated should be more readily used to provide restitution and support to the victims of crime, as is the case in Serbia, where the Center for the Protection of Human Trafficking Victims was allowed to use a seized building as a safe house,” the report states.

The GI-TOC’s recommendations include actively promoting the social re-use of confiscated assets so that civil society may become acquainted with how to apply for access to said property and funds.

At the very least, the Initiative said, a list of confiscated assets should be made publically available, detailing the location and state of each resource, as well as the contact information for the government agency in charge of managing it. The report underlined the symbolic and psychological significance of employing seized property for the good of society, stating that this should be “publically highlighted.”

The GI-TOC report is part of a series titled “The Resilient Balkans,” which deals with various topics of interest shared by civil society organizations combating organized crime. Published with the financial aid of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the series was co-created by the Observatory for Illicit Economies in South-Eastern Europe and the GI-TOC’s Resilience Fund, and draws on data, information and analyses compiled and shared by civil society actors in the Western Balkans.