Abstract
Since the mid-1980s, the need for a modern anti-money-laundering strategy has become widely accepted internationally. The negotiations of the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances can be seen as the starting point of this trend. Depriving criminal elements of the proceeds of their crimes has increasingly been seen as an important tool to combat drug trafficking and, more recently, all serious crimes. Progress in this area is becoming a critical element in fighting organized crime, corruption, and the financing of terrorism, and maintaining the integrity of financial markets.