tagged w/ UNODC
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Global mafias are using corrupt nations in west Africa to run their syndicates and the area is now a ''hole in the wall'' in the international fight against organised crime, says the former head of Britain's top police unit.
William Hughes, the former director-general of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, made the comment in an address to an organised crime conference in Melbourne yesterday, in which he called for more international co-operation in tackling transnational crime.
''Organised crime is already starting to be - and will in future become - the most serious issue for democracies and governments, and their ability to control their states,'' he said.
Instead of relying on domestic law enforcement to tackle a global problem, countries needed to include organised crime in their national security strategies.
In 2008 the then prime minister, Kevin Rudd, released a national security strategy and included organised crime as one of its concerns. But critics have claimed there has since been little action to support the rhetoric.
Of some nations in Africa - though Mr Wright chose not to name any - he said: ''Their infrastructure is broken, corruption is rife, it's endemic in many of them, and what we're seeing is enclaves of organised criminals - Colombians and Venezuelans, Russians and Asians - getting in and exploiting the government and law enforcement''.Global mafias are using corrupt nations in west Africa to run their syndicates and the... more
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Every year, millions of tourists visit India, and the Commonwealth Games currently taking place in New Delhi have added thousands more to that number.
While tourism can be a boon, a darker picture of the industry emerges as the sexual exploitation of women and children, and trafficking in persons, increasingly come to the fore.
Indian hoteliers and tour operators are therefore joining forces to enforce zero tolerance of such practices.The Ministry of Tourism, UNODC, the Pacific Asia Travel Association and Save the Children have jointly developed and adopted a Code of Conduct "to protect the dignity, safety and right to freedom from exploitation of all tourists and local residents involved in or impacted by tourism".
Studies have shown an increase in sex tourism in countries hosting major sporting events and there have been reports that hundreds of children have been kidnapped from all around India for the purpose of serving as sex workers during the Games.Every year, millions of tourists visit India, and the Commonwealth Games currently... more
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The Middle East leads the world in amphetamine seizures but governments in the region have been slow to admit there is a drug abuse problem, hindering efforts to fight it.
All intoxicants, including alcohol, are forbidden by Islam, yet "immense volumes" of illegal amphetamines are being seized in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, according to Matthew Nice, a drugs expert with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The World Drug Report 2010, published by the UNODC, shows Saudi authorities confiscated 12.8 metric tons of amphetamine in 2008. A total of 24.3 metric tons of amphetamine were seized worldwide that year, with 15.3 metric tons seized in the wider Middle East.
"I can't emphasize enough the size of this," said Nice, whose specialist area is amphetamine-type-stimulants. "Fifteen metric tons is absolutely huge, it's absolutely phenomenal.
"We're really struggling because the information base is so limited. It's definitely just the tip of the iceberg," he told CNN. Experts working in the region say abuse of all kinds of drugs is a growing problem.The Middle East leads the world in amphetamine seizures but governments in the region... more
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A report released today by UNODC shows how organized crime has globalized and turned into one of the world’s foremost economic and armed powers.
The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment, released at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, looks at major trafficking flows of drugs (cocaine and heroin), firearms, counterfeit products, stolen natural resources and people (for sex and forced labour), as well as smuggled migrants. It also covers maritime piracy and cybercrime.
“Today, the criminal market spans the planet: illicit goods are sourced from one continent, trafficked across another and marketed in a third,” said UNDOC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. “Transnational crime has become a threat to peace and development, even to the sovereignty of nations,” warned the head of UNODC. “Criminals use weapons and violence, but also money and bribes to buy elections, politicians and power - even the military,” said Mr. Costa. The threat to governance and stability is analysed in a chapter on regions under stress.A report released today by UNODC shows how organized crime has globalized and turned... more
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UNEP/GRID-Arendal - Publications - Last Stand of the Gorilla
Gorillas, the largest of the great apes, are under renewed threat across the Congo Basin from Nigeria to the Albertine Rift: poaching for bushmeat, loss of habitat due to agricultural expansion, degradation of habitat from logging, mining and charcoal production are amongst these threats, in addition to natural epidemics such as ebola and the new risk of diseases passed from humans to gorillas.
Alarmingly, parts of the region are experiencing intensifed exploitation and logging of its forest, in some cases even within protected areas. In the DRC, many of these activities are controlled by militias illegally extracting natural resources such as gold, tin and coltan as well as producing charcoal for local communities, urban areas, camps for people displaced by fghting and sometimes even to communities across the border. These militias are located, motivated, armed and fnanced directly by this illegal extraction of minerals, timber and charcoal.
A network of intermediaries including multinational companies or their subsidiaries, neighboring countries and corrupt offcials, are involved in the transportation and procurement of resources which stem from areas controlled by militia, or for which no legal exploitation permission exists.
Recommendations
1. Strengthen MONUC by expanding its mandate to secure full control of border crossings, by any means necessary, with regard to the export of illegally exploited natural resources, that are fnancing the confict, in full collaboration with and assisting the national customs authority to intervene and halt trans-national environmental crime, in close coordination with appropriate national and international bodies.
2. Enhance support for close coordination and trans-boundary collaboration among parks in DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, including coordination with MONUC, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force and relevant law enforcement agencies.
3. Mobilize resources for trans-boundary collaboration and coordination, including all aspects of transnational environmental crime and investigation from source to end-user outside the region – including investigations of complicit companies in recipient countries, especially but not limited to the EU, USA, People’s Republlic of China and the rest of Asia – in order to monitor the origin and halt the purchase of illegally exploited and smuggled minerals and timber from the Congo Basin.
4. Mobilize funding for judicial training and cross-boundary training of judicial staff in national and transnational environmental crime in gorilla range states to assist in bringing successful prosecutions.
5. Strengthen long term training programmes in law enforcement for park rangers and wildlife managers across the region including those working outside of parks, for example in community reserves, with particular reference to anti-poaching, monitoring, scene of crime investigation and intelligence gathering.
6. Promote the essential role that local, national and international law enforcement and anti-corruption plays in ensuring the success of rainforest protection and climate mitigation efforts under REDD+ and source specifc fnance for these measures through UNEP, UNODC, LATF and INTERPOL.
7. Establish a fund for supporting trans-boundary investigation and collaboration on trans-national environmental crime.
8. Strengthen the collaboration of UNEP, UN offce for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO), CITES, World Customs Organization (WCO) and INTERPOL on trans-national environmental crime – including illegal trade in valuable natural resources such as minerals, wood products and wildlife – by, for example, secondment of experienced offcers to help investigate cases and bring about prosecutions.
9. Support the need for strengthened funding for gorilla research and survey data. The report, compiling some of the most recent data and information from a variety of sources, clearly highlights the lack of accurate survey data in parts of the regions within the 10 gorilla range states.
VIDEO: Satinder Bindra interviews Christian Nelleman
http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/gorilla/UNEP/GRID-Arendal - Publications - Last Stand of the Gorilla
Gorillas, the largest... more
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UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa has called for concerted efforts to “break the vicious circle between insecurity and underdevelopment”. Addressing the Security Council today during a debate on global threats against international peace and security, Mr. Costa said, “Instability attracts crime, and crime deepens instability. In a chain reaction, humanitarian crises follow, development is stalled, and peacekeepers are deployed”.
To illustrate the problem, UNODC issued the report Crime and Instability: Case Studies of Transnational Threats. The report focuses in particular on the impact of flows of drugs (cocaine and heroin), piracy around the Horn of Africa and minerals smuggling in Central Africa.
To reduce vulnerability to transnational threats, Mr. Costa underlined the need for development and security. “But we can not just throw money or troops at this problem, we also need law enforcement”.
He underlined the need for States to make more effective use of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which was adopted a decade ago. Parties to the treaty, also known as the Palermo Convention, will meet this October in Vienna to review implementation.UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa has called for concerted efforts to... more
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Readers of reports on the Pune bombing of the German Bakery will have noted that the venue was an alleged source of illicit drugs for foreigners. This is nothing new for India: the country has long been at the crossroads of drugs supply between the sources in South East and South West Asia and foreign adventurers – once know as ‘hippies’, now called ‘backpackers’. It seems, however, that India’s crime problem with drugs may be taking on a new, more sinister dimension.
Crime statistics in India, such as they are, do not tell the whole story concerning governance, crime and violence. There is evidence that India’s crime problem is seriously under-reported, and worse, that this under-reporting occurs in part due to a loss of faith in policing in India.Readers of reports on the Pune bombing of the German Bakery will have noted that the... more
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The UNODC Container Control Programme continues to show positive results as two drug seizures were reported in Panama, one of the latest ports to join the programme.
In the first case, a container destined for New Jersey, United States, purportedly carrying coffee was found, on 3 February, to be carrying 24 kg of cocaine and 2 kg of heroin (with a US street value of US$ 2.9 million and US$ 0.26 million respectively) stashed in a sports bag. The container was tracked and identified with information from the police and drug prosecution officials of Panama.
In the second seizure, made following a verbal tip to a police officer, officials confiscated eight bags containing 177 kg of cocaine (with a Spanish street value of US$ 15.6 million) from a container at the port of Manzanillo. The container originated in Venezuela and was destined for Bandar Abbas, Iran, via Barcelona, Spain. It is assumed that the drugs were to be offloaded in Barcelona.The UNODC Container Control Programme continues to show positive results as two drug... more
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Reports are just coming in over the wires that the website of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has been hacked.
A dummy page , (http://www.unodc.net/Jobs.html) has been uploaded, which has a message everyone with an interest in drugs policy should read, and then act upon..Reports are just coming in over the wires that the website of the United Nations... more
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