UN Cyberwatch

The present and future of the UN cybercrime convention

Whose treaty is it anyway?

...The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime (Hanoi convention) is a widely signed new legal instrument that was agreed by consensus at a time of geopolitical fragmentation. The potential benefits...

Posted on 18 Sep 2026

Author(s): Ian Tennant, Helena Yixin Huang

AR-Obs, HT-Obs

Sexual and gender-based violence as a tool of criminal governance in Haiti

...Women and girls are on the front line of Haiti’s security crisis. Across gang-controlled areas, the threat of rape, sexual exploitation and abuse by armed groups has become an everyday reality, maki...

Posted on 18 Sep 2026

Author(s): Dorly Castaneda, María Antonia Cote

Global Initiative

Vietnamese smuggling and trafficking operations to Europe

Brokered Journeys

...In July 2025, eight people received a combined sentence of nearly 80 years in prison following investigations into cannabis farms across the UK, where Vietnamese migrants were exploited to run cultiva...

Posted on 17 Sep 2026

Author(s): Sasa Djordjevic, Giulia D’Amico, Peter Smith

APA-Obs

Chinese-origin scam syndicates and their reach into South Asia

Criminal Convergence?

...Global awareness of the increase in industrial-based cyber scam operations in mainland South East Asia, which use trafficked individuals and forced criminality to target the global population with sop...

Posted on 16 Sep 2026

Author(s): Jason G Tower, Radha Barooah

HT-Obs

From Port-au-Prince to the periphery, The ruralization of Haitian gang violence

...On 23 August, after weeks of planning, armed men attacked the rural community of Kenscoff, outside the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The assault left at least 47 people dead and culminated in one...

Posted on 04 Sep 2026

APA-Obs

Divided lands, How cyber scams reshape communities, economies and ecosystems in Cambodia

Divided lands

...Over the past two decades, Cambodia has become a central node in the global online scam economy. Initially embedded in casino developments along national borders, this industry has spread widely and i...

Posted on 31 Aug 2026

Author(s): Gabriel Fauveaud, Ronan Kemp