Law and Crime Prevention

Wreckage of suicide car bomb in Mogadishu. (file)
UN Photo/Stuart Price

New global hub to study factors driving radicalization and violent extremism

7 December 2020
Global

A new UN office in Doha will advance research into the factors that drive violent extremism and terrorism, the Organization’s counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov said on Monday during the soft launch held online. 

A sign reads 'stop hurting us' as protesters take to the streets in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, over the disputed presidential election.
Kseniya Halubovich

Belarus: End ongoing human rights violations, UN rights chief urges

4 December 2020
Europe

The human rights situation in Belarus continues to deteriorate, particularly with respect to peaceful assembly, the UN rights chief said on Friday, urging the government to put an end to ongoing violations and “take steps towards a genuine, respectful and inclusive national dialogue”. 

Only in exceptional circumstances and with incontrovertible evidence of intentional murder does international law permit the death penalty. (file)
© UNICEF/Josh Estey

UN experts call for clemency for Lisa Montgomery, as US reschedules planned execution 

3 December 2020
Americas

UN independent human rights experts expressed serious concern on Thursday, after the United States Government rescheduled the execution of Lisa Montgomery for 12 January, just days before new President Joe Biden, an opponent of the death penalty, is due to be sworn in. 

An industrial hemp field in Pitomača, Croatia.
Unsplash/David Gabrić

UN commission reclassifies cannabis, yet still considered harmful

2 December 2020
Global

In reviewing a series of World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on cannabis and its derivatives, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) zeroed-in on the decision to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside specific deadly, addictive opioids, including heroin, recognized as having little to no therapeutic purposes.

A Yazidi Kurd from Sinjar who was abducted by the ISIL terrorist group, pictured in Mamilyan Camp for internally displaced persons in Akre, Iraq.
Giles Clarke/Getty Images Reportage

UN Committee urges end to impunity for enforced disappearances in Iraq

27 November 2020

A pattern of enforced disappearance – and impunity for such acts - persists in Iraq, according to a report published on Friday by the UN Committee charged with monitoring how well the country upholds its international obligations in dealing with the issue.

Landmines are cleared in Lebanon.
MAG Lebanon

Alert over growing use of cluster munitions, despite stockpile reductions

25 November 2020

Lethal cluster munitions are still being used in old and new conflicts around the world, from Syria to Libya, to Nagorno-Karabakh, a UN-backed civil society report said on Wednesday.

A 12-year-old former child soldier was reunited with an uncle with support from a UNICEF-supported Transit and Orientation Center in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
© UNICEF/Vincent Tremeau

DR Congo: War crimes conviction ‘an important victory’ for justice – UN envoy 

24 November 2020
Africa

Two senior UN officials welcomed on Tuesday the war crimes conviction and life sentencing of an armed combatant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

The COVID-19 pandemic is being exploited by criminals and violent extremists to build their support and undermine trust in governments.
Unsplash/Markus Spiske

Extortion, bio-warfare and terrorism: Extremists are exploiting the pandemic, says UN report

18 November 2020
Global

Criminals and violent extremists are exploiting the pandemic to build their support networks, undermine trust in government and even weaponize the virus, according to a research report published on Wednesday by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). 

Refugee children show their support for a UN refugee agency anti-trafficking campaign at Wad Sharife camp in east Sudan.
© UNHCR/Osama Idriss

First Person: Fighting human trafficking in Malawi

15 November 2020
Africa

Maxwell Matewere, a Malawian crime prevention expert with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has been active in the anti-human trafficking field for more than two decades. Today, he trains officials throughout Malawi to prevent and combat this crime: this year alone, despite COVID-19 restrictions, his work has led to the rescue of around three hundred human trafficking victims and 31 arrests.  

A visual search for landmines takes place in Mehaires, Western Sahara.
UN Photo/Martine Perret

Landmine toll still high amid concerns over COVID-19 impact on clearance efforts

12 November 2020

Thousands of people continue to be killed and injured every year by landmines and explosive weapons in conflicts around the world, while the COVID-19 pandemic has forced mine-clearance efforts to be scaled back, a  UN-backed civil society report on the issue said on Thursday.