A United Nations agency said on Monday that an opportunity to improve the fight against cross-border organised crime has been lost.
Disagreement over funding prevented a deal on increasing the effectiveness of the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, which has so far been ratified by 172 nations.
In a statement issued in Vienna, the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime said member states appear wary of taking on new obligations in a period of austerity.
If the proposal had been adopted, countries would have been reviewed to see how they were meeting their obligations under the convention.
