Event Details
Where
UNODC Vienna and online
Posted on 07 Oct 2022
From 17 to 21 October 2022, civil society organizations and UN member states will gather in Vienna – and in virtual events – for the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). This year’s session is the first time parties to the convention will meet since they launched the UNTOC Implementation Review Mechanism in 2020.
For more information on the Review Mechanism, visit https://untochub.globalinitiative.net/.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) will participate in a wide range of events during the week, including those listed below.
Event: New ways of measuring organized crime and corruption
Date: Monday 17 October | Time: 14:00–14:45 (CEST/Vienna)
Measuring the prevalence and impacts of organized crime and corruption is a complex and sensitive task. This event will introduce the International Anti-corruption Academy’s Global Programme on Measuring Corruption and the GI-TOC’s Global Organized Crime Index to discuss the value of measuring tools and their relevance for practitioners and policymakers.
Event: Mapping illicit hubs in West Africa
Date: Tuesday 18 October | Time: 09:00–09:45
The event will present the findings of the illicit hub mapping initiative, a flagship project of the GI-TOC’s Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa. The initiative maps the key hubs of illicit economies in 18 countries in West Africa, the Sahel and central Africa, and evaluates the impact of these illicit economies on regional conflict and instability.
Event: Enhancing coordination between the UNTOC and the UNCAC: the why and the how
Date: Wednesday 19 October | Time: 09:00–09:45
The UNTOC and the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) have a shared history and similar provisions, conferences and implementation review mechanisms. However, their meetings and processes rarely interact with each other. In this session, speakers from civil society organizations engaged in the processes will outline why enhanced coordination is essential and provide recommendations for practical ways in which it could be improved, including in areas such as international cooperation, money laundering, obstruction of justice, asset recovery, and protection of witnesses and whistle-blowers.
Event: The importance of civil society engagement in the implementation of the UNTOC – and how to do it
Date: Wednesday 19 October | Time: 13:00–13:45
The launch of the UNTOC Review Mechanism is a major step forward for the advancement of inter-state cooperation to prevent and counter transnational organized crime, but it also provides new opportunities for enhancing state–civil society cooperation on these issues. In this event, government and civil society speakers will discuss the value of civil society engagement in the UNTOC’s implementation. Panellists will present tools to facilitate and promote this engagement, including those developed by the GI-TOC.
Event: Addressing the increasing links between arms trafficking and other forms of organized crime
Date: Thursday 20 October | Time: 09:00–09:45
Using a criminal-markets approach, this event will reflect on experiences at the national, regional and multilateral levels to better assess the links between illicit arms trafficking and other forms of organized crime, and to raise awareness of how industry stakeholders and civil society members can address these issues.
Event: Is Africa using the UN’s convention against organised crime?
Date: Friday 21 October | Time: 13:00–13:45
Drawing on the ENACT Africa Organized Crime Index and research into countries’ implementation of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), this event assesses UNTOC’s impact on criminal markets and state resilience to organised crime across Africa. The analysis contributes to the official UNTOC Implementation Review Mechanism that was launched in October 2020.
To promote participation in the UNTOC Review Mechanism, the GI-TOC has created a new resource for civil society, the UNTOC Hub. This webpage gives regularly updated information on the status of country reviews, and provides civil society stakeholders with letter templates, questionnaires and other resources. We hope this initiative will support civil society’s engagement in the review of the leading international legal instrument to combat transnational organized crime.
