Newsbriefing – Week of 11 February

The World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested the reclassification of cannabis as Schedule 1 of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. At least half of the 53 members of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs will have to ratify the proposed amendments, for the proposition to be accepted. However, many of these countries prohibit the use…

Newsbriefing – Week of 4 February

In 2018, the port of Rotterdam reached a peak in cocaine seizure with 19 tonnes. Of these, 4 tonnes were secured in December only. Most of the loads seized come from South America. On Tuesday, the UN Security Council discussed the pressing issue of transnational maritime crime. At this occasion the UNODC director highlighted the…

Newsbriefing – Week of 28 January

On January 28, a workshop on Trafficking in Persons was held in Abuja, Nigeria. At this occasion, the Labour Migration Expert of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) discussed Alliance 8.7, a global network established in partnership with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) with the aim of reducing child labour…

Newsbriefing – Week of 21 January

Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) claimed responsibility for the car bomb attack which killed over 20 members of the Santander National Police Academy. Colombian president Ivan Duque promised to bring the perpetrators, deemed as terrorists, to justice. On January 23, the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó declared himself as interim president of Venezuela,…

Newsbriefing – Week of 14 January

The authorities of Trinidad and Tobago are considering the legalisation of cannabis. In late December, the government announced that the drug will be decriminalised in May or June 2019. To this, some groups of the society responded that only legal cultivation could prevent the violence linked to organised crime. In Colombia, criminal groups are taking…

Newsbriefing – Week of 7 January

The main findings of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 were discussed by the Executive Director of the UNODC and the Member States in Vienna on January 7, 2019. On January 7, the UN Secretary General met with the Guatemalan Foreign Minister at the UN headquarters in NY and he firmly rejected Guatemala’s…

Newsbriefing – Week of 10 December

In Guatemala, an investigation shows the links between an influential pastor and a high-profile drug-trafficker to support the construction of a church. The concerned pastor and church denied the accusations. A legal expert suggests that Kenya include the Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) in the country’s criminal law. In other countries, the UWO has had some…

Newsbriefing – Week of 3 December

After numerous seizures during the month of November, the Venezuelan authorities reported an increase in drug flows coming from Colombia through the country’s coastal state of Anzoátegui. It seems that the region is also the centre of an air-trafficking network, sending drugs to the Caribbean, Honduras and Mexico. The dismantling of ​a network of ketamine…

Newsbriefing – Week of 26 November

Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, son of the Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” Guzmán, is reportedly in Medellín, Colombia under the protection of a criminal gang. He is allegedly controlling two laboratories in the city and coordinating the shipment of around 400 kg of cocaine per week to Mexico from the Colombian port of Buenaventura, highlighting the…