UN-TOC Watch

UN 77th General Assembly: Third Committee Meets on Crime

...el week, committees got to work, and on 3 October the Third Committee on Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Issues convened its meeting on crime issues. Spanning topics from gender-based violence to cybercrime, the meeting helps demonstrate priority areas for governments as well as indicate where New York missions are focused at the moment. Some of the focus came from the meeting framing crime, inform...

Posted on 13 Oct 2022

Author(s): Summer Walker

UN Cyberwatch

UN treaty on criminal use of ICTs: Delegates conclude initial positions

...ting. A number of countries made statements against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including Japan, South Korea in addition to a number of Western states. Costa Rica drew attention to the crippling cyberattack it suffered across its public services, both to highlight the extent of risks and to explain how other states stepped in to help. During the meeting, most time and attention were given to in...

Posted on 29 Sep 2022

Author(s): Summer Walker

UN Cyberwatch, UN-TOC Watch

Data overload: UN negotiations on criminal use of ICT take off

Data overload

...In early 2022, governments at the United Nations began negotiations to draft a global instrument to address cybercrime – or to ‘counter the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for criminal purposes’ – to use the official title of the process. The process, initiated by Russia and re...

Posted on 22 Aug 2022

Author(s): Summer Walker

APA-Obs

Modern slavery in the Mekong’s casinos

... South East Asia’s popular casino hubs, the sharp drop in visitor numbers, especially gamblers from China and Thailand, has fostered an alarming new organized crime phenomenon – modern slavery in cyber-fraud schemes. In numerous sites across Cambodia, it is estimated that tens of thousands of people, primarily from the Mekong region, but also India and Ukraine, are reportedly being held against t...

Posted on 25 Jul 2022

Author(s): Lindsey Kennedy, Nathan Paul Southern

Crime & Conflict, Drug Policy, Global Organized Crime Index, Gold Watch, WEA-Obs

West Africa Risk Bulletin #4

Observatory of illicit economies in West Africa

...s, abductions operate primarily as a war instrument, wielded for purposes of intimidation, punishment and recruitment, with profit often featuring only as a secondary motivation. Read more A surge in cybercrime in Oyo State, Nigeria, has triggered a spike in arrests and the involvement of anticrime group Amotekun, but alternative responses are needed. In February 2022, a commander of Western Nigeria Se...

Posted on 30 Jun 2022

Assassination Witness, UN-TOC Watch

Priority protection needed for whistle-blowers

...major corruption and organized crime cases. In a number of countries worldwide, the treatment given to those who expose criminal activity and malfeasance is often retaliation, including surveillance, cyberattacks, strategic lawsuits against public participation, arbitrary arrests, death threats and, in extreme cases, murder. Protect their voices This environment is symptomatic of what the GI-TOC ...

Posted on 02 Jun 2022

Author(s): Ana Paula Oliveira

UN-TOC Watch

CCPCJ makes some progress despite underlying challenges

...ed over restrictions on civil society access to UN crime discussions. Meanwhile, member states made tentative steps towards a new legal instrument on wildlife trafficking, and there was much focus on cybercrime and online child sexual abuse.  From 16-20 May, member states and non-governmental organizations met in Vienna for the 31st session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justi...

Posted on 27 May 2022

Author(s): Ian Tennant