January is not yet over and 2026 is already shaping up to be a remarkable year in geopolitics. The multilateral system is facing spiralling political and financial crises, and the UN in Vienna is no exception. Its Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been hit by major budget pressure while still absent an executive director since the departure of Ghada Waly in November. Nevertheless, the UNODC has an unrelenting agenda over the coming months, with major policy decisions, political declarations and ongoing processes to be agreed upon, financed and implemented.

A practical resource for individuals, families and communities affected by disappearances linked to organized crime, and for those supporting them.

This report considers particular case studies from the Russian–Finnish border in 2015 and, especially, the Belarusian borders with Poland and Lithuania in 2021, and Russia’s with Finland and Norway in 2023/24. In subtly different ways, these were all examples of attempts to use weaponized migration to bring pressure to bear on the target countries, in the hope of influencing their leaderships by generating division, disruption and costs, both practical and political. They certainly all proved problematic and, although there is scope for serious debate as to whether they were ultimately effective or counter-productive, the consensus appears to be that both Minsk and Moscow were left with the sense that, in the short term at least, weaponized migration remained a viable tool within their ‘hybrid war’ toolbox.

The Colombia–Oman resolution was an important step towards achieving a global consensus on the responsible management of minerals and metals.

The US military offensive on Christmas Day in Nigeria – described by President Donald Trump as ‘a powerful and ​deadly strike ‌against ISIS Terrorist Scum’ – may ultimately achieve the opposite of its intended effect.

If the objective of the US intervention in Venezuela was to reduce the threat posed by organized crime, major challenges still lie ahead.

In China’s luxury goods market, swim bladders from the totoaba fish are sold at prices that rival the cost of gold.

Organized crime is undermining democracy, human rights and public safety, the sovereignty of states, and even international peace and security, and the rule of law itself.

Over the past three years, the Central African Republic (CAR) has implemented a series of cryptocurrency initiatives that have unfolded amid extreme political instability, armed violence and shrinking civic space.

A year of escalating gang violence in the Western Cape has sustained the worrying upward trend of the past five years.

The Observatory of Illicit Economies in South Eastern Europe aims to enable civil society in the Western Balkans to identify, analyze and map criminal trends, and their impact on illicit flows, governance, development, inter-ethnic relations, security and the rule of law.

This inaugural issue tracks developments in the illicit economies of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, and examines how these trends intersect with governance, development and security dynamics across the Mekong region.

OLAF received a prestigious award from the Association for the Defence of Trademarks, Spain’s leading industrial property body, in recognition of its outstanding commitment to combating counterfeiting and defending intellectual and industrial property rights across Europe.

This report examines the intersection of climate change and organized crime in cities. The relationship between these issues is a critical area for policy and programming in governments and multilateral organizations.

This report considers particular case studies from the Russian–Finnish border in 2015 and, especially, the Belarusian borders with Poland and Lithuania in 2021, and Russia’s with Finland and Norway in 2023/24. In subtly different ways, these were all examples of attempts to use weaponized migration to bring pressure to bear on the target countries, in the hope of influencing their leaderships by generating division, disruption and costs, both practical and political. They certainly all proved problematic and, although there is scope for serious debate as to whether they were ultimately effective or counter-productive, the consensus appears to be that both Minsk and Moscow were left with the sense that, in the short term at least, weaponized migration remained a viable tool within their ‘hybrid war’ toolbox.

This virtual event convenes GI-TOC’s Latin America and Caribbean Observatories alongside leading experts and academics to examine the current configuration of illicit economies and organized crime in Venezuela—and what it means for the region and beyond.

OLAF has uncovered serious issues in a number of projects in Hungary funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. These projects aimed to promote tourism and serve the public by providing free access to facilities such as playgrounds, fitness equipment and canopy trails.

According to this study, the Mekong region –particularly Myanmar’s Shan State– is the epicentre of one of the largest and most sophisticated illicit drug economies in the world.

Highly organized cyber fraud in South East Asia is widely run from so-called scam compounds: purpose-built or modified buildings that meet the precise requirements of this criminal industry.

A major operation conducted in close cooperation between the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and French Customs has resulted in the identification and seizure of more than 10.7 million counterfeit toys sold online.

On 28 November, Andriy Yermak, head of the president’s office and arguably the second most powerful man in Ukraine, announced that he was resigning after searches at his apartment linked to Operation Midas, a sweeping investigation into corruption surrounding Ukraine’s nuclear energy agency, Energoatom.

Trends, developments and insights into the relationship between criminal economies and instability across wider West Africa and the Sahel.

Maritime piracy has become one of the most urgent security issues in the Gulf of Guinea, which is currently the second-most affected region worldwide. Cameroon’s coastline is at the centre of these dynamics, with attacks, shifting routes and an expanding set of criminal activities that both accompany and sustain piracy.

At the 11th UNCAC COSP, the GI-TOC will present its latest data and analysis on what the Index and other analysis tell us about these links at the global scale, and how this plays out across different illicit economies – such as migrant smuggling, maritime trafficking, and antiquities trafficking, as well as interconnections with conflict and insecurity.