unodc

The potency of cannabis has increased by as much as four times in parts of the world over the last 24 years.
Unsplash/Wesley Gibbs

COVID pandemic fuelling major increase in drug use worldwide: UN report

24 June 2021
Law and Crime Prevention

Around 275 million people used drugs worldwide in the last year of unprecedented upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, up by 22 per cent from 2010. That’s among the key findings of the latest annual report released on Thursday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which also provides an overview of global drug markets, as well as their impact on people’s health and livelihoods.

Forensic police investigation in developing countries is a key part of tackling organized crime.
UN Photo/Martine Perret

Greater cooperation urged worldwide as criminals seek to profit from COVID-19

12 October 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

With criminal networks looking to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical for governments to work together in line with a landmark UN treaty to combat human trafficking, gun smuggling and other cross-border crimes, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday. 

Farmer Nurul Haque stands near his 13-year-old daughter in Bangladesh, saying he may have to pull her from school and marry her off to an older man because he has few financial options left.
UNICEF/UN0159775/Nybo

Report reveals linkages between human trafficking and forced marriage

7 October 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

Across the world, girls as young as 12 are being forced or tricked into marrying men who exploit them for sex and domestic work, in what the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has called an “under-reported, global form of human trafficking”. 

The UN Resident Coordinator in Thailand, Gita Sabharwal (centre background) joins a patrol on the Mekong River.
© UNODC

Fighting drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle: a UN Resident Coordinator blog

20 September 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

Drug trafficking has long been a problem in the Golden Triangle, the region where Thailand’s Chiang Rai province meets Myanmar and Laos. In this blog, Gita Sabharwal, UN Resident Coordinator in Thailand, and Jeremy Douglas, who represents the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, explain how the United Nations and the Thai government are working together to tackle the issue.

Rescued orphan elephants at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya.
UNEP/Natalia Mroz

Wildlife crime putting environment and health at risk: UN report

10 July 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

The COVID-19 pandemic shows how wildlife crime is a threat not only to the environment but to human health, according to a new UN report issued on Friday.

Poppy field.
UNODC

COVID-19’s far reaching impact on global drug abuse

25 June 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

More than 35 million people around the world now suffer from drug addiction, according to the latest annual report on the scourge, from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released on Thursday, which also analyzes the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global drug markets.

Two girls apply make-up at Kandapara, a brothel in the city of Tangail, Bangladesh. A man offered them to find them jobs, but instead sold them to Kandapara. (2009)
© UNICEF/UNI91025/Noorani

COVID-19 crisis putting human trafficking victims at risk of further exploitation, experts warn

6 May 2020
Law and Crime Prevention

Lockdowns, travel restrictions, resource cutbacks and other measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus are putting victims of human trafficking at risk of further exploitation, while organized crime networks could further profit from the pandemic, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (r) addresses the UN Security Council on 25 September 2019, as the UN Secretary-General António Guterres (l) looks on.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Security Council debates closer links between multilateral organizations in Europe and Asia

25 September 2019
Peace and Security

Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the move to increase cooperation between the UN and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Wednesday.

A sign outside a hospital in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, urges patients not to bribe doctors or other staff for any services. The UNICEF-supported hospital offers its services for free.
UNICEF/Pirozzi

Corruption undermines democracy and contributes to instability, warns senior UN anti-crime official

28 August 2019
SDGs

Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability, Mirella Dummar-Frahi, Civil Society Team Leader at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned at the UN Civil Society Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Two girls apply make-up at Kandapara, a brothel in the city of Tangail, Bangladesh. A man offered them to find them jobs, but instead sold them to Kandapara. (2009)
© UNICEF/UNI91025/Noorani

Human trafficking cases hit a 13-year record high, new UN report shows

29 January 2019
Law and Crime Prevention

The latest Global Report On Trafficking In Persons, released on Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at UN headquarters in New York, shows a record-high number of cases detected during 2016, but also the largest recorded conviction rate of traffickers.