International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime

  Organized crime is often both a product of and contributor to conflict in vulnerable states. The United Nations recognizes the grave threat it poses to mandate implementation, mission effectiveness, and the safety and security of United Nations personnel and facilities and host-State communities. The United Nations Police Division has been tasked with providing technical expertise and assistance to national police and law enforcement institutions in post-conflict settings to prevent, disrupt and dismantle organized criminal activities, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, firearms trafficking and exploitation of natural resources. The United Nations Police Division works closely with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC ), the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) , regional groupings such as the African Union (AU) , Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) , European Union (EU) and Member States to design effective and sustai...

  The deployment of organized criminal gangs by politicians to counter peaceful protests in Nairobi in June has once again raised the spectre of violence in Kenya ahead of the 2027 general elections, threatening peace, cohesion and integration in a country battling to retain its hold on democracy. On 25 June, organized criminals armed with whips and clubs, and backed by the police unleashed terror on a peaceful march commemorating one year since the historic GenZ uprising against punitive taxes, in which 60 people were killed. A week earlier, on 18 June, the same anarchists, some riding passenger motorcycles (known locally as boda boda), had confronted hundreds of people peacefully demanding the arrest and prosecution of a senior police officer suspected of involvement in the death of 31-year-old teacher and political blogger Alfred Ojwang in police custody. While the media has widely described them as ‘ hired goons ’, the attacks were in fact more organized and calculated: thes...