Webinar: online guests Zvekić and Adal - The 2021 report on The Global Organized Crime Index - Taking the measure of crime

On Tuesday 14 June 2022 we will be welcoming Ugljesa Zvekić and Laura Adal.

During this online guest lecture Zvekić and Adal will reflect on the 2021 report on The Global Organized Crime Index - Taking the measure of crime.

The Global Organized Crime Index is the result of a two-year endeavour to evaluate levels of crime and resilience in all 193 UN member states.

Zvekić is ambassador and Senior Advisor at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Adal is head of the Western Asia Programme of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

This is the link to this event: https://bit.ly/3lAcpLu

The first Global Organized Crime Index

The results of the first edition of the Global Organized Crime Index, paint a worrying picture of the reach, scale and impact of organized crime in 2020.

Perhaps the most stark finding of the Index is that the majority of people worldwide live in countries with high levels of organized crime.

The Index also shines a light on the ubiquity of some of the most insidious forms of exploitation that are perpetrated by criminal actors the world over, including individuals and networks operating from within the state apparatus.

The Index illustrates the widespread shortcomings in global levels of resilience to organized crime, from weaknesses in criminal justice systems to rampant corruption and violent crackdowns on the freedom of the press and civil society.

The Netherlands in the Global Organized Crime Index

Ugljesa Zvekić

Ugljesa Zvekić is Ambassador and Senior Advisor of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

He was born in 1950 in Belgrade and has a law degree and a PhD in Sociology. He was a Fulbright scholar (1973-75) and then worked in the Institute for Criminological and Sociological Research in Belgrade from 1976 to 1984 when he joined the United Nations Crime and Drugs Programme.

Until 1999 he was a Deputy Director of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) based in Italy. From 1999 to 2004 he headed the anti-crime programme of the United Nations regional office for Southern Africa, based in Pretoria, South Africa. Until his retirement from the United Nations in September 2009, he was in charge of the Strategic Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, Austria.

Mr. Zvekić has published extensively on crime and development, and on reform of the criminal justice system from the perspective of human rights and international standards. He has taught in many academic institutions worldwide.

His vast experience in multilateral work within the United Nations Secretariat will be of assistance in the multilateral diplomacy at the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva.

Please find his full biography here

Laura Adal

Laura Adal is a Senior Analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. While she provides research for a number of Global Initiative projects - analysing a diverse range of organized crime flows across the world - her current focus relates to organized crime in the Middle East, and the organized crime-conflict nexus.

Adel also leads the development of the Organized Crime Index, assessing the scope and scale of organized crime and countries’ capacity to respond.

Prior to joining the Global Initiative, Laura worked with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Terrorism Prevention Branch, where she engaged in research related to terrorism and violent extremism and provided legal counter-terrorism technical assistance to Member States. Laura previously worked with STATT, a boutique global consulting firm, where she concentrated on human rights and prison reform, as well as migration flows. Laura holds a J.D. from South Texas College of Law, and a B.A. in International Studies from the University of St. Thomas.

Please find her full biography here