The Balkans: Safer Even Than the West?

UN report on crime in the Balkans calls into question traditional notions

The notion that the Balkans are a crime-ridden region is strongly exaggerated. So claims the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in a special report released yesterday. The report says that as regards conventional crime, which affects people most directly, the Balkans are actually safer even than West Europe. The report, titled "Crime and Its Impact on the Balkans and Affected Countries”, claims that the real problem in the region is not crime in general but organized crime and corruption.

RiskMonitor sees this report as an unprecedented act whereby an international agency dares to dispel a widespread notion: that the Balkans are a crime-ridden jungle, which is also a very common self-perception of the Balkans themselves. The Foundation thinks that the greatest strength of the report lies not in the accuracy of the particular theses, as they are based on dramatically incorrect statistical data, but in the overall message regarding “how to look upon the Balkans”.

Read a related article from the Capital weekly (in Bulgarian).