Global Initiative

Arrest of journalist Samira Sabou ‘illegal’ – RSF

...abou faces up to three years in prison due to recent changes made to Nigerien law. In 2019, Niger passed a law that allows ‘suppression of freedom’ – this according to Sabou’s lawyer. The new cyber-crime law provides for offenders to be sentenced to between six months and three years for online defamation. It is a change in the statute, however, that would appear to contravene article 67 of Nig...

Posted on 18 Jun 2020

CovidCrimeWatch

#CovidCrimeWatch – n°12

...ng counterfeit goods into Mexico. This had knock-on effects on a crucial source of income for gangs, namely extortion fees. Another criminal activity that would experience a considerable surge was cybercrime. A combination of factors, including a shift to remote working, the use of unsecure networks, and an increasingly vulnerable population due to economic uncertainty, created the perfect storm for...

Posted on 12 Jun 2020

Author(s): Lyes Tagziria

CovidCrimeWatch, UN-TOC Watch

Covid-19 and crime: A response develops at the UN

Covid-19 and crime

... During the pandemic, the dynamics of illicit markets have been evident, as we have analyzed in other publications of our COVID Crime Watch series. cybercrime activities have expanded as lives move deeper online; criminal groups have enforced quarantine patrol and delivered groceries to communities affected by lockdown measures; and, in one theory, th...

Posted on 03 Jun 2020

Author(s): Summer Walker

CovidCrimeWatch

#CovidCrimeWatch – n°11

...ports on a suspected case of COVID-19 in a hospital in Niamey. The state intended to try the journalist on charges of ‘dissemination of data likely to disturb public order’, under the country’s cybercrime legislation. On 26 March, Kaka Touda was found guilty of publishing false news and was served with a three-month suspended sentence. In Myanmar, a journalist has been handed a two-year prison...

Posted on 03 Jun 2020

Author(s): Lyes Tagziria

CovidCrimeWatch

Fighting corruption during the coronavirus

... sales of medicine and medical supplies, fraud linked to legitimate trade in medicines and so on. Shoddily built hospitals, defective personal protective equipment or ventilators, mis‑invoicing, cyber fraud, online drug sales – the list could be endless. We urgently need short-, mid- and long-term analysis on the ways that opportunists are likely to exploit this crisis – including building org...

Posted on 03 Jun 2020

Author(s): Heather Marquette

CovidCrimeWatch

Pandemic and punishment

...f the health crisis by creating new crimes or increasing old ones. While some crimes (such as traffic offences, burglaries and even some forms of organized crime) have dropped, others (such as fraud, cybercrime and assault) have been on the rise during the pandemic. Countries have responded to COVID-19-related crime both by creating pandemic-specific laws and regulations and by applying existing pro...

Posted on 03 Jun 2020

Author(s): Laura Adal

CovidCrimeWatch, Latinoamérica y el Caribe

#CovidCrimeWatch – n°10

... interactions between organized crime and the COVID-19 pandemic from Asia to Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East. We explored the resilience of the drug trade in East and Southeast Asia, cyberattacks in the United Kingdom, the growing black market for cigarettes in Argentina, counterfeit medicine in a number of African countries, and looting of artefacts in North Africa and the Middle East...

Posted on 27 May 2020

Author(s): Lyes Tagziria