Drug Policy, UN Reform, UN-TOC Watch

Review of the 64th Commission on Narcotic Drugs

...This year’s session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) was a low-key affair that focused on a growing consensus around health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but avoided difficult di...

Posted on 04 May 2021

Author(s): Summer Walker, Ian Tennant

ESA-Obs, SA-Obs

Lifting the veil on extortion in Cape Town

...Extortion is not likely to be uppermost in the minds of those South Africans, or the tens of thousands of international tourists, businesspersons and migrants who regularly flock to Cape Town to enjoy...

Posted on 30 Apr 2021

Author(s): Peter Gastrow

Crime & Conflict, Crime Terror Nexus, ESA-Obs, SA-Obs

East and Southern Africa Risk Bulletin #17

Civil Society Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa

...Risk Bulletin Download PDF Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa Issue 17 March–April 2021 Summary highlights The evolution of the illicit economy in northern Mozambique. T...

Posted on 28 Apr 2021

Drug Policy, WEA-Obs

West Africa’s Cocaine Corridor: Building a subregional response

West Africa's Cocaine Corridor

...Record-breaking cocaine seizures between 2019 and January 2021 in West Africa have drawn international attention to cocaine trafficking in the region. These incidents also position Guinea-Bissau, and ...

Posted on 28 Apr 2021

Author(s): Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo

Extortion in Central America, Latinoamérica y el Caribe, North America Strategic Platform on Organized Crime, CAM-Obs

Extortion and forced displacement in Central America

Extortion and forced displacement in Central America

...A new surge in migration at the United States southern border has put policy with its southern neighbours high on the political agenda once again. In March 2021 alone, about 170 000 migrants were appr...

Posted on 27 Apr 2021

Author(s): Summer Walker, Guillermo Vazquez del Mercado Almada

EUR-Obs

Brutal murder shocks Iceland, prompts government to focus on organized crime

...Icelandic authorities are stepping up efforts to fight organized crime following a murder that has been linked to criminal gangs. The changing criminal dynamics in Iceland have now placed the country ...

Posted on 26 Apr 2021

Author(s): Sveinn Helgason

Crime & Conflict, Protecting Politics, NAS-Obs, WEA-Obs

Déby’s death will fuel instability and criminal opportunity in the Sahel

...Chad, long considered a ‘pillar of stability’ in the Sahel, is at risk as a jostle for power takes place in the country following the death of the country’s long-standing leader, Idriss Déby. T...

Posted on 23 Apr 2021

Author(s): Alexandre Bish