#United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

[xylosemagazine]

A 2022 corruption study revealed the pervasive issue of bribery in Ghana's public sector, bringing to light alarming data.

[nelsonmandeladay]

Join the campaign!

This Nelson Mandela International Day, join the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in sharing why Prisoners Matter and in calling for the universal practical application of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners – the Nelson Mandela Rules.

[terrorismvictimsday]

6 Years After UNSC Resolution 2349: Examining the Implementation of Screening, Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Strategies for Persons Associated w/ Boko Haram/JAS, ISWAP & Other Terrorist Groups (2023 Counter-Terrorism Week Side-Event)

The United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Executive Committee Directorate (CTED), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are organizing the side event: Six Years After UNSCR 2349: Examining the Implementation of Screening, Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Strategies for Persons Associated with Boko Haram/JAS, ISWAP and Other Terrorist Groups. Watch the panel Discussion!

[womensjudgesday]

Bring together female judges to learn from each other's lived experiences and provide a source of solidarity.

The Global Judicial Integrity Network of the UNODC brings together female judges to learn from each other's lived experiences and provide a source of solidarity. Find out more about the Networks' work.

[she-is-ovarit]

A Glance at Women's Oppression

Oppression may be measured by assessing socio-structural conditions. Males oppress female human beings on the axis of sex, and this pattern has been recognized across several disciplines of scientific research.

Violence Against Women

One in three women globally experience physical or sexual violence.

More than 1 in 4 women (26%) aged 15 years and older have suffered violence at the hands of their partners at least once since the age of 15.

The vast majority of substantial research on violence against women in the United States is now 20+ years old :)

As high as 64 - 84% of cases of sexual violence go unreported, so these estimates are low.

A male perpetrator was reported in 98% of cases of violence against both men and women.

58% of all women murdered in 2017 were killed by an intimate partner or a family member (source. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2018).

80% of women are victims or survivors of corrosive violence - aka "acid attacks". 60% of these attacks go unreported, most instigators of acid attacks are male, and there has been a 90% increase in these attacks in the last 10 years, with the UK being the country with the highest rate of acid attacks.

Worldwide 1 in 5 girls are married off usually to men twice their age or more.

Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by a male intimate partner.

200 million women have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting.

71% of all human trafficking involves women and girls – mainly for sexual exploitation (source. UNODC, 2016).

The killing of women accused of sorcery/witchcraft is reported as a significant phenomenon in countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Many women are killed specifically in "honor killings" - to defend the honor of a man.

200 million girls experience female genital mutilation.

National studies indicate indicate that as many as 4 million women are battered each year, but only about 48 percent of these cases are reported to the police.

Violence against women meets the requirements of widely accepted definitions of hate crimes, but crimes motivated by hatred of women are not included in most antibias crime legislation.

Medical Misogyny

The disregard of pain and illness by medical professionals

This doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of this, but: women are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed and discharged than men in the middle of having a heart attack. 70% of the people who experience chronic pain are female, but 80% of chronic pain studies have been conducted on males or male mice. Women also wait longer for a diagnosis and pain management than men.

Lack of research: the vast majority of scientific understanding and research on human beings conducted globally has been on males.

Period poverty and death due to misogynistic period shame (and I hope that this is obvious, but I am on Tumblr so I will emphasize that 100% of these deaths, illnesses, and disabilities are happening to female human beings.

Reproductive exploitation, discrimination, and control

Women across many countries have little to no access to abortions and other reproductive care, and are forced to carry their rapist's child.

Women are imprisoned for having abortions, and even people associated with helping them in any way to obtain an abortion experience legal consequences. Being impregnated through rape doesn't change this. In multiple states, rapists can sue their victims for parental custody. Women who are victims of stalkers and had children with them also are forced into allowing them visitation in the vast majority of cases.

Women also experience the brunt of forced sterilization and uniquely endure mortality rates from childbirth complications, in which often the infant's life is prioritized over the mother. Doctors may also refuse women and girls birth control, or subsequently deny women's requests to be sterilized.

Being forced to co-parent with their rapist.

Even if rape is proven, men can sue their victims for custody and may use children as a point of control over their victims and contact with their victims continuing psychological terror and causing trauma to children.

Over 3 million women experience pregnancies as a result of rape.

Men who donate sperm privately and through sperm banks experience no regulations and enforcement of how often they donate, resulting in some men producing thousands of offspring and others deceiving women on whose sperm they were impregnated with. Mothers of these children endure severe psychological trauma from this rape by deception in addition to themselves and their children navigating the psychological effects of avoiding potential incestuous relationships with the donor's other children.

Job Discrimination

In 38 countries, women can be fired for being pregnant.

From January 2017 through December 2019, 2.7 million workers age 20 and older were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years; women accounted for 45 percent of those displaced.

While on leave, substantially fewer women than men

receive full pay (32 percent versus 55 percent), and more

receive no pay (41 percent versus 25 percent).

Women continue to experience occupational segregation in nontraditional jobs. In 2013, women composed 7.3 percent of all Craft Workers, while the participation rate for women in the Office and Clerical Worker category was considerably higher at 75.6 percent.

Despite the gains in employment made by women in the last 50 years, the annual median earnings of women working full time in 2013 was $39,157, compared with men at $50,033.

In 86 countries, women face some form of job restriction and 95 countries do not guarantee equal pay for equal work. 59 nations have no laws on the books addressing sexual harassment in the workplace, and 18 nations around the world allow husbands to legally prevent their wives from working.

Influence and resources:

Less than 15% of landholders worldwide are women, despite most women in the global south working in agriculture (source. Food and Agriculture Organization, 2015; World Bank, 2019).

Women make up just 25% of parliamentarians worldwide (source. Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2019).

Between 1990 and 2019 women made up 2% of mediators, 5% of witnesses and signatories, and 8% of negotiators in major peace processes worldwide (source. Council of Foreign Relations, 2019).

Only 1% of aid supporting gender equality went to women’s rights organisations in 2016-2017, despite governments around the world committing an extra $1bn to gender equality initiatives globally (sources. Guardian, 2019, OECD, 2019).

130 million girls are denied the right to an education.

According to the largest study on the portrayal, participation and representation of women in the news media spanning 20 years and 114 countries, only 24 per cent of the persons heard, read about or seen in newspaper, television and radio news are women.

A glass ceiling also exists for women news reporters in newspaper bylines and newscast reports, with 37 per cent of stories reported by women as of 2015, showing no change over the course of a decade.

An analysis of popular films across 11 countries found, for example, that 31 per cent of all speaking characters were women and that only 23 per cent featured a female protagonist—a number that closely mirrored the percentage of women filmmakers (21 per cent)

[transgenderer]

That characteristic has made ephedrine-containing medications tightly controlled in North America and Europe. Even in Afghanistan, which has no such restrictions, it is difficult for drug producers to obtain enough of the chemical for the large-scale production of crystal meth. For them, the ephedra plant has been a game-changer, providing a cheap, local, and naturally abundant source of ephedrine. In turn, Afghanistan’s cities — and even its impoverished rural areas — are seeing a flood of crystal meth use and addiction.

Early on, this development garnered little sustained attention, either from law enforcement or international drug experts. But in a 2019 report on Afghanistan’s crystal meth industry, a team led by David Mansfield, an independent consultant and former fellow at the London School of Economics who has studied Afghanistan’s narco-economy for more than 20 years, outlined the far-ranging effects of ephedra’s new role. “The conditions are right for this industry to become deep-rooted,” Mansfield said in a recent interview.

Exploiting the plant’s natural abundance in certain areas of the country and the absence of central government control, ephedra is harvested and shipped by truck to open-air markets that are now dedicated to supplying the surging demand, according to the LSE report. Although the effects of ephedra harvesting in Afghanistan are still difficult to gauge, Mansfield suggested that in terms of scale and value “it is quite possible for the ephedra and meth industry to equal that of the opium and heroin economy.” The opium and heroin trade in Afghanistan is worth as much as $6.6 billion per year, according to a 2018 report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

presumably this is far from the only source of meth but pretty interesting

[mariacallous]

As digital scamming explodes in Southeast Asia, including so called “pig butchering” investment scams, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a comprehensive report this week with a dire warning about the rapid growth of this criminal ecosystem. Many digital scams have traditionally relied on social engineering, or tricking victims into giving away their money willingly, rather than leaning on malware or other highly technical methods. But researchers have increasingly sounded the alarm that scammers are incorporating generative AI content and deepfakes to expand the scale and effectiveness of their operations. And the UN report offers the clearest evidence yet that these high tech tools are turning an already urgent situation into a crisis.

In addition to buying written scripts to use with potential victims or relying on templates for malicious websites, attackers have increasingly been leaning on generative AI platforms to create communication content in multiple languages and deepfake generators that can create photos or even video of nonexistent people to show victims and enhance verisimilitude. Scammers have also been expanding their use of tools that can drain a victim’s cryptocurrency wallets, have been manipulating transaction records to trick targets into sending cryptocurrency to the wrong places, and are compromising smart contracts to steal cryptocurrency. And in some cases, they’ve been purchasing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet systems to help power their efforts.

“Agile criminal networks are integrating these new technologies faster than anticipated, driven by new online marketplaces and service providers which have supercharged the illicit service economy,” John Wojcik, a UNODC regional analyst, tells WIRED. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit more sophisticated and profitable methods.”

For years, China-linked criminals have trafficked people into gigantic compounds in Southeast Asia, where they are often forced to run scams, held against their will, and beaten if they refuse instructions. Around 200,000 people, from at least 60 countries, have been trafficked to compounds largely in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos over the last five years. However, as WIRED reporting has shown, these operations are spreading globally—with scamming infrastructure emerging in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and West Africa.

Most prominently, these organized crime operations have run pig butchering scams, where they build intimate relationships with victims before introducing an “investment opportunity” and asking for money. Criminal organizations may have conned people out of around $75 billion through pig butchering scams. Aside from pig butchering, according to the UN report, criminals across Southeast Asia are also running job scams, law enforcement impersonation, asset recovery scams, virtual kidnappings, sextortion, loan scams, business email compromise, and other illicit schemes. Criminal networks in the region earned up to $37 billion last year, UN officials estimate. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of this revenue is allowing scammers to expand their operations and diversify, incorporating new infrastructure and technology into their systems in the hope of making them more efficient and brutally effective.

For example, scammers are often constrained by their language skills and ability to keep up conversations with potentially hundreds of victims at a time in numerous languages and dialects. However, generative AI developments within the last two years—including the launch of writing tools such as ChatGPT—are making it easier for criminals to break down language barriers and create the content needed for scamming.

The UN’s report says AI can be used for automating phishing attacks that ensnare victims, the creation of fake identities and online profiles, and the crafting of personalized scripts to trick victims while messaging them in different languages. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit sophisticated and profitable methods,” the report says.

Stephanie Baroud, a criminal intelligence analyst in Interpol’s human trafficking unit, says the impact of AI needs to be considered as part of a pig butchering scammer’s tactics going forward. Baroud, who spoke with WIRED in an interview before the publication of the UN report, says the criminal’s recruitment ads that lure people into being trafficked to scamming compounds used to be “very generic” and full of grammatical errors. However, AI is now making them appear more polished and compelling, Baroud says. “It is really making it easier to create a very realistic job offer,” she says. “Unfortunately, this will make it much more difficult to identify which is the real and which is the fake ads.”

Perhaps the biggest AI paradigm shift in such digital attacks comes from deepfakes. Scammers are increasingly using machine-learning systems to allow for real-time face-swapping. This technology, which has also been used by romance scammers in West Africa, allows criminals to change their appearance on calls with their victims, making them realistically appear to be a different person. The technology is allowing “one-click” face swaps and high-resolution video feeds, the UN’s report states. Such services are a game changer for scammers, because they allow attackers to “prove” to victims in photos or real-time video calls that they are who they claim to be.

Using these setups, however, can require stable internet connections, which can be harder to maintain within some regions where pig butchering compounds and other scamming have flourished. There has been a “notable” increase in cops seizing Starlink satellite dishes in recent months in Southeast Asia, the UN says—80 units were seized between April and June this year. In one such operation carried out in June, Thai police confiscated 58 Starlink devices. In another instance, law enforcement seized 10 Starlink devices and 4,998 preregistered SIM cards while criminals were in the process of moving their operations from Myanmar to Laos. Starlink did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

“Obviously using real people has been working for them very well, but using the tech could be cheaper after they have the required computers” and connectivity, says Troy Gochenour, a volunteer with the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), a US-based nonprofit that fights human-trafficking and cybercrime operations in Southeast Asia.

Gochenour’s research involves tracking trends on Chinese-language Telegram channels related to carrying out pig butchering scams. And he says that it is increasingly common to see people applying to be AI models for scam content.

In addition to AI services, attackers have increasingly leaned on other technical solutions as well. One tool that has been increasingly common in digital scamming is so-called “crypto drainers,” a type of malware that has particularly been deployed against victims in Southeast Asia. Drainers can be more or less technically sophisticated, but their common goal is to “drain” funds from a target’s cryptocurrency wallets and redirect the currency to wallets controlled by attackers. Rather than stealing the credentials to access the target wallet directly, drainers are typically designed to look like a legitimate service—either by impersonating an actual platform or creating a plausible brand. Once a victim has been tricked into connecting their wallet to the drainer, they are then manipulated into approving one or a few transactions that grant attackers unintended access to all the funds in the wallet.

Drainers can be used in many contexts and with many fronts. They can be a component of pig butchering investment scams, or promoted to potential victims through compromised social media accounts, phishing campaigns, and malvertizing. Researchers from the firm ScamSniffer, for example, published findings in December about sponsored social media and search engine ads linked to malicious websites that contained a cryptocurrency drainer. The campaign, which ran from March to December 2023 reportedly stole about $59 million from more than 63,000 victims around the world.

Far from the low-tech days of doing everything through social engineering by building a rapport with potential victims and crafting tricky emails and text messages, today’s scammers are taking a hybrid approach to make their operations as efficient and lucrative as possible, UN researchers say. And even if they aren’t developing sophisticated malware themselves in most cases, scammers are increasingly in the market to use these malicious tools, prompting malware authors to adapt or create hacking tools for scams like pig butchering.

Researchers say that scammers have been seen using infostealers and even remote access trojans that essentially create a backdoor in a victim’s system that can be utilized in other types of attacks. And scammers are also expanding their use of malicious smart contracts that appear to programmatically establish a certain agreed-upon transaction or set of transactions, but actually does much more. “Infostealer logs and underground data markets have also been critical to ongoing market expansion, with access to unprecedented amounts of sensitive data serving as a major catalyst,” Wojcik, from the UNODC, says.

The changing tactics are significant as global law enforcement scrambles to deter digital scamming. But they are just one piece of the larger picture, which is increasingly urgent and bleak for forced laborers and victims of these crimes.

“It is now increasingly clear that a potentially irreversible displacement and spillover has taken place in which organized crime are able to pick, choose, and move value and jurisdictions as needed, with the resulting situation rapidly outpacing the capacity of governments to contain it,” UN officials wrote in the report. “Failure to address this ecosystem will have consequences for Southeast Asia and other regions.”

[vague-humanoid]

a reading of the article

a sample of the article

Israel has seen demonstrations that have become known as “right to rape” rallies ever since the arrests, with protesters demanding the accused rapists be allowed to walk free without any consequences for their actions. 

Earlier this month an Israeli reporter named Yehuda Schlesinger sparked outrage with an appearance on Israel’s Channel 12, during which he not only supported the accused rapists but called for the IDF to formally implement raping Palestinian prisoners as a matter of state policy. 

One of the accused was invited on to Israel’s Channel 14 to defend himself and tell his side of the story, while wearing a mask to hide his identity.

To be clear, this is for a widely witnessed gang rape for which there is hard video evidence.

Israel is a deeply sick society, with a deeply sick attitude toward rape. A 2011 poll published by Haaretz found that 61 percent of Israeli men don’t view forced sex with an acquaintance as rape, and that only seven percent believe marital rape is a thing. 

Rape is abundant in the Israeli military and is almost never punished — an important thing to keep in mind when Israelis tell pollsters that IDF troops should only face internal disciplinary measures as opposed to criminal charges. In 2022 The Jerusalem Post reported that 1,542 incidents of sexual assault complaints were received by the IDF in the year 2020, and that of these, only 31 indictments were filed.

related reading from 2020

Many feminists see a “connection between a toxic manhood and a militarised society,” says Magda, an activist in Haifa. Which sheds doubt on that display of unanimity in the condemnation of the Eilat gang rape. “In a society dominated by male hierarchies, violence is not merely an all-pervasive symptom, it is a decisive characteristic,” journalist Henriette Chacar wrote last year. “Benny Gantz, Israeli army chief who challenged Netanyahu—before teaming up with him—in the last national election, bragged in one of his campaign spots how ‘certain portions of Gaza had been sent back to the stone age’ under his command. When Netanyahu was trying to form a cabinet in May 2019, Gantz pleaded with him, ‘to be a man.’"

Does being a man involve lording it over women and despising them? The figures supplied by various sources are appalling. According to the police, 230 women are raped every day, i.e., 84,000 each year in a country whose total population is just under 9 million, which would put Israel in 32nd place in the world according to the statistics of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). One woman in five is raped during her lifetime and one in three suffers a sexual assault. There are over 20 femicides each year. And half of these murdered women had lodged a complaint, which clearly shows that “up till now the victim’s word doesn’t count for much in the eyes of the police” as Magda points out. The statistics for 2020 are likely to be worse. According to Iliana Weizman, there have already been some fifteen femicides since the beginning of the year, and during the Covid-19 lockdown, “Violence to women has increased by 60%”.

related 2019

Nine out of 10 rape cases are closed by prosecutors without charge, according to an annual survey released Wednesday, which also found a significant increase in reports of sexual assault and harassment to the authorities.

The report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel found that in 2018, police opened 6,220 investigations into alleged sex crimes and harassment, including 1,166 of suspected rape, marking a 12% increase as compared to the previous year and a 40% rise from 2013.

Of the sexual assault and harassment cases completed by police and handed over to prosecutors to press charges, 83% were closed, and 17% resulted in an indictment. Some 91% of rape allegations did not yield criminal charges. All but one appeal against the closing of sex crimes cases were also dismissed (181 out of 182, or 99.5%), the report said.

The data collected by the organization also found that over half (52%) of jailed sex offenders did not receive psychological treatment.

Amid a rise in high-profile gang rape cases in schools, the report found that most victims (63%) of reported gang rapes in 2018 were underage girls between the ages of 12 and 18.

[everythingaboutjude]

For example Amanda diaz is an influencer with 1.1M of followers cuz in the past she accused someone of raping her on a Hotel and now she is even in magazines like forbes , is not what happens to men when they are accused of that is what influencers can gain and obtain with that . And mostly when the man is famous or rich. I remember when jude gave her a like that was the first thing some people were talking about .<<<This is an example>>>

We know that there are women who lie but you people act like all of the famous men who are accused of rape are innocent, when it’s just not true!

I just don’t understand why you spend so much time defending men when they are the same gender who brutally rape, abuse, and murder our women. Again, not all, but god, riding this hard for celebrities? Girl… 😒

Do you keep this same energy for feminist topics? Because quite literally everyone knows that men are dominant in like, every crime…

Men account for the majority of arrests worldwide. For example, in the United States, men made up about 73% of all arrests in 2020.

Men also make up the majority of those prosecuted. Globally, men are more likely to be prosecuted for crimes than women.

The vast majority of the prison population is male. Globally, men constitute about 93% of the prison population.

Men are more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of homicide. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), men commit about 90% of homicides worldwide.

This conversation literally started because SOME people think that these women are all playing Jude when he knows what he’s doing. I can understand y’all’s point of views, you really like this man and it’s hard for you to understand that he is not a child anymore, but a fully grown adult man who is on the internet, and sees the things these women are doing, how they are embarrassing themselves, and others, but you have to get it in your head and stop just blaming them. I love Jude, I love him as a player, and I love him as a role model, but you need to realise that he is not as naive as you think. He just doesn’t care what they do! They’re pretty and he’s not looking to wife these women up, so why would he care if they’re acting like weirdos? Unless he’s actually interested, and then he will cut them off if they give him the ick. Like Azra.

But I think that he would appreciate if you lot stopped babying him because it’s so weird! You guys act like Kpop fans! Every woman is an attention whore, and are planning on baby trapping him to you.

I feel really bad for him. Really bad. I couldn’t imagine having such mentally ill fans. I remember seeing someone reply to his comment on Toby’s page, basically telling him to unfollow Laura like she was his jealous girlfriend. People are so weird! Why would anyone comment that on his FRIENDS post?!

Just stop acting like all these women are going to accuse him of rape. It’s so damn weird! What is wrong with y’all, seriously?

I’m not sure how old most of you guys are, but I’m pretty young, and I’d be shocked to find out if you people are adults, because acting like this at your grown age… is something else.

🙏!!!!

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

A new report from the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has found that more than 4,000 wildlife species are targeted worldwide for illegal trade, and about 162 countries have active illegal wildlife trading.

According to the latest edition of the UNODC’s World Wildlife Crime Report, the third of its kind, more than 4,000 plant and animal species are illegally traded, often for medicinal, food, pet or ornamental purposes.

For example, shark fins, eels and pangolins are often sought out in bulk for consumption as food, the report noted, while rare reptiles and amphibians are in demand as pets. Further, some parts of species are in demand as ornamental goods, such as ivory from elephant tusks or horns of rhinoceroses.

The report found 1,652 mammal, bird, reptile and amphibian species that were seized by authorities from 2015 to 2021. Of those seized species, 40% were considered threatened or near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The analysis revealed that seizures from illegal wildlife crimes totalled around 13 million items from 2015 to 2021 and weighed over 16,000 tons.

As part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 15 is aimed at protecting and restoring land-based ecosystems, and it includes targets to end wildlife trafficking of protected species. But the new UNODC report compared data to progress of Goal 15 and found that the world is not on track to meet this goal. According to the report, intercepted illegal wildlife trading as a proportion of all wildlife trade (including legal trade) increased from 2017 to 2021, even reaching its highest levels in 2020 and 2021.

“These estimates give no reason for confidence that SDG target 15.7 is on track to be met by 2030,” the report stated.

The report also outlined some of the major threats of the illegal wildlife trade, not just to the targeted species but to their entire ecosystems and humans as well.

“Wildlife crime inflicts untold harm upon nature, and it also jeopardizes livelihoods, public health, good governance and our planet’s ability to fight climate change,” Ghada Waly, executive director of the UNODC, told The Guardian.

[everythingkashmir]

Hell in Paradise

By Faisul Yaseen

On a chilly December morning, something took over J, a young baker in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district as he went on a rampage, killing his mother and two others, and leaving his father and five others injured.

“He started attacking everyone ferociously like a bear. I don’t know what happened to him. It was as if he turned mad. He even attacked me and dragged his mother along and killed her too,” J’s father says, unable to come to the grips of the tragedy that has befallen the family.

As the cold winter paved way for the blooming spring, it was déjà vu.

This time another son went bizarre in north Kashmir’s Sopore area when he strangled his mother to death.

Rewind to the blazing autumn, and we see the same tragic events unfold in Kehribal village of Anantnag.

A son, along with his friend, tried to snatch money from his mother, resulting in an argument between the mother and the son.

Infuriated, the son beats and punches his mother forcefully, resulting in her fall inside the kitchen of their house.

With the help of his friend, the son brings a big stone and hits it on his mother’s head, leaving her dead.

The heartrending story is played over and again.

What toxicity is in the air?

All the three sons involved in the gruesome murder of their mothers are said to be involved in substance abuse.

Professor at the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Kashmir, Dr Arshad Hussain says that though substance abuse is associated with harm to self in most instances, in some circumstances it is associated with violence to others.

“Most of the research done in the field does conclude that substance use like alcohol and cannabis are associated with increased crime rates,” he says. “They are associated with aggression which doesn’t have a stop button as drugs cut the brakes in our frontal lobes which otherwise modulate our behaviours. Rising crime rates and accidents are indirect heinous costs of rising substance use.”

*****

Narcotics is the third largest business in the world with a turnover of 500 billion US dollars, and, according to the latest World Drug Report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), some 35 million people globally are suffering from drug use disorders.

In Kashmir too, drug addiction is becoming a rampant phenomenon, bringing other associated crimes along.

According to the ‘The National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India’, one million people in a population of 12.5 million in Jammu and Kashmir have fallen to the menace of drug addiction.

What lures people in Kashmir to substance abuse?

“Various factors,” says Prof Aneesa Shafi, Head of the Sociology Department of the University of Kashmir (KU).

“Our value system getting weak, global connectivity, media, restricted entertainment sources, peer pressure, easy access to drugs, and shrinking space for expression are some factors that push people to substance abuse,” she says.

Those indulging in drug addiction mention other factors too.

K, who is in his early twenties, says that in his teens, he used to be distressed due to the expectations of his parents of excelling at studies and would often remain confined to his room.

“To complicate matters, the girl I loved turned me down,” he says.

Unable to deal with rejection and failure to shine at studies, K was drowning in the pool of depression when a friend suggested trying cannabis.

“It gave me a high,” he says. “I was hooked.”

Within sometime, K began trying other drugs like heroin that completely derailed his life.

Soon, he was a school dropout.

*****

The substance abuse in pop culture too has impacted the lives of youth.

With easy access to Over The Top (OTT) media platforms on their mobile phones, some substance abusers say that popular Hollywood movies like ‘Train Spotting’, ‘Pulp Fiction’, and ‘The Basketball Diaries’ and TV shows like ‘Narcos’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ influenced them in doing drugs.

Others say they were swayed by the mention of intoxication in poetry like Allama Iqbal’s couplet, ‘Mai ḳhana-e-Europe ke dastur nirale hain; laate hain surur avval dete hain sharab aḳhir’ or Bashir Badr’s, ‘Na tum hosh main ho na ham hosh main hain; chalo maikade main vahin baat hogi’.

Yet others say they started doing drugs for the exploration of creative processes, something that has been in discourse for long.

Thomas De Quincey’s ‘Confessions of an English Opium-Eater’ published in 1821 had first romanticised the link between intoxicants and artists’ careers in songs, novels, and films.

Head of the Psychiatry Department at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, Dr Muhammad Maqbool Dar is of the opinion that unregulated media and social media were playing the main role in pushing youth to substance abuse.

“Youth get influenced by what keeps coming on the media and social media over and over,” he says. “More than the influence of drugs in pushing them toward crimes, copycat homicides and copycat suicides are a bigger concern.”

*****

Though the phenomenon of drug addiction in Kashmir has witnessed a surge in recent years, Kashmir has long had its tryst with substance abuse.

Seeing faith healers and traditional musicians in a state of high has been socially acceptable since long.

In their book ‘Dimensions of Drug Abuse in Kashmir: A Study of Anantnag District - A Sociological Perspective’, Shahzad Wani and Pirzada M Amin write that drug abuse has been prevalent in Kashmir society for a long time and functioned as an institution in the form of ‘Takayas’.

‘Takayas’ used to be the havens of cannabis consuming addicts in Kashmir that used to have such social acceptance that people would even send them a share from their feasts.

By the 1990s, the menace of substance abuse had started taking root in Kashmir.

In 1993, Dr Mushtaq A Margoob and Dr K S Dutta set the alarm bells ringing in their report ‘Drug abuse in Kashmir – Experience from a Psychiatric Diseases Hospital’ published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry.

Their report stated that the menace was “touching new heights”, the situation would eventually become “explosive”, and “urgent steps” needed to be taken to curb it before it was too late.

Noted Kashmiri poet, writer, and satirist Zareef Ahmad Zareef blames the political leadership for failing to control the menace of drug addiction in the region.

Giving the example of Mao Zedong, Chinese communist revolutionary leader and founder of the People's Republic of China, Zareef says Zedong eradicated both consumption and production of opium in China during the 1950s.

Under Zedong, 10 million addicts were forced into compulsory treatment, dealers were executed, and new crops planted in opium-producing areas.

*****

The situation regarding substance abuse has gone so bad now that a recent study done by the Psychiatry Department of GMC, Srinagar revealed that Kashmir had surpassed Punjab in drug abuse cases and was currently positioned at number two among top drug abuser regions in India not far behind Northeast.

According to the study, a whopping 33,000 syringes are used to inject heroin by drug abusers in Kashmir every day.

The worrying sign is that most drug abusers are in the age group of 17 to 33 years and unemployed.

The study says that on an average, a single drug abuser spends Rs 88,183 every month on substance abuse.

The COVID-19 pandemic also complicated the matters.

According to doctors, the substance abuse among the addicts increased during the pandemic because of boredom due to lockdown.

With the ‘dark web’, tech-savvy youth have easy access to illicit drugs.

*****

As youth continue to fall into the rabbit hole of substance abuse, calls for awareness and rehabilitation are growing shriller.

A study ‘Drug Addiction Causes and Awareness among people of Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir State’ by Tahira Sidiq, Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Nusrat, and Feroz Ahmad Wani in the Saudi Journal of Biomedical Research says that 94.17 percent respondents they surveyed were not aware of the process of drug de-addiction.

The study urges society elders and religious leaders to come forward and support people who want to eliminate drug abuse from J&K.

*****

As drug abusers frequently feel alone and alienated, religion plays a role in providing spiritual assistance and builds their capacity to overcome this problem.

The holy Quran has several references against intoxication.

Chapter 2 (Al-Baqarah), Verse 219 states: “They ask you about wine and games of chance. Say: ‘In both these there is great evil, even though there is some benefit for people, but their evil is greater than their benefit.’”

Chapter 4 (An Nisa) Verse 43 states: “Believers! Do not draw near to the Prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying nor while you are defiled - save when you are travelling - until you have washed yourselves.”

Chapter 5 (Al-Maidah), Verses 90-91 state: “O believers! Intoxicants, gambling, idols, and drawing lots for decisions are all evil of Satan’s handiwork. So shun them so you may be successful. Satan’s plan is to stir up hostility and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling and to prevent you from remembering Allah and praying. Will you not then abstain?”

There is also mention against intoxication in the Hadith.

Al-Bukhari (4087) and Muslim (1733) narrated that Abu Musa said: “The Prophet (SAW) sent Muadh ibn Jabal and me to Yemen, and I said: O Messenger of Allah, there is a drink that is made in our land and is called al-Mizr, which is made from barley, and another drink called al-Bit, which is made from honey. He said: “Every intoxicant is haram.”

Al-Bukhari (4343) and Muslim (3032) narrated that Ibn Umar said: “I heard Umar say from the minbar of the Messenger of Allah (SAW): “O people, the prohibition of khamr was revealed when khamr was made from five things: grapes, dates, honey, wheat and barley. Khamr is whatever befogs the mind.”

*****

Kashmir lacks proper facilities for rehabilitating drug users and lack of knowledge regarding drug addiction, detoxification, and rehabilitation.

The governmental agencies, educational institutions, NGOs, and other social work organisations need to scale up their awareness programmes.

As some substance abusers die of overdose while some commit suicide when they become hopeless, parent and care knowledge also needs to improve.

Professor in the Department of Psychiatry IMHANS, Kashmir, Dr Yasir Rather says there are Addiction Treatment Facilities (ATFs) in all district hospitals of J&K.

“However, there is also a need for long-term rehabilitation centers that would provide comprehensive treatment – a combination of medical, psychological, and social services to help individuals overcome their addiction and regain control of their lives,” he says.

Though the crackdown of law-enforcing agencies’ against drug traffickers has been welcomed, people are also suspicious at times.

When former Punjab chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh spoke about the drug menace in 2018, he told Hindustan Times, “One new source of drugs is Kashmir despite so much security.”

However, SSP J&K Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) Vinay Kumar says that policing related to narcotics and awareness was getting better.

“Every year, we used to register around 22 to 23 cases under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1988, however, in the year 2022 we registered 235 cases under PITNDPSA,” he says.  

Kumar feels that as Police are getting teeth to seize the financial assets and properties of the repeated offender, the results on the ground are getting better.

Stressing that while the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment had informed the Lok Sabha that 4.6 percent of J&K population was involved in substance abuse, he says that according to IMHANS, Srinagar, only 2.5 percent of Kashmir population was involved.

Kumar says that the first priority of the Police Department was to take action against those working on the inside of the organisation for drug smugglers.

“Cases have been registered against BSF officials, CRPF officials, and Police officials. Five to six Police officials were chargesheeted in a single case,” he says.

While dealing strongly with drug traffickers is a welcome development, there is a need to treat substance abuse as a disease and drug addicts as diseased, rather than criminals.

*****

L, a youth who has been sober for the past 2 years after being a chronic addict for over 5 years says he owes his recovery to his parents and medics who treated him.

“If my parents wouldn't have been understanding, I would never have been able to come out of this abyss,” L says. “If I could fight addiction, anyone can.” 

Greater Kashmir

[bloody-sarcasm-central]

I love you all but this is a misconception, the majority of people trafficked are trafficked in their own countries.

I know, sounds counterintuitive, but have you thought that it’s all about money and that moving people across borders when they don’t want to is freaking expensive? Yeah. I love you all but not everything is about post colonialism - not that it isn’t important, but don’t let that blind you! Exploited labour is like 18% of human trafficking, the rest is sexual exploitation. At home. Managed by the same people you buy weed from, btw, more money for them. Just saying 🤷🏻‍♀️

Human trafficking in real life: primarily people from poor countries being taken into rich countries to act as exploited labor

Human trafficking in fiction: "Boss, we've kidnapped our five hundredth white woman from the suburbs today. That's our quota, so we're ready for the underground slave auction. Oh, and fire up the darkweb livestream for the pit battles between everyone we don't sell."

[somalilandcurrentnews]

Somaliland: Justice Minister meets UNODC officials on prison reforms

By M.A. Egge The Minister of Justice of Somaliland, Hon. Yoonis Ahmed Yoonis, held a meeting with officials from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) focusing on prison reforms and inmates welfare. The meeting, which saw the attendance of the Director General of the Ministry of Justice, Isma’il Suleiman Bowkah, and the departmental heads, was both orientative and exchanging of…

[traffickinginstitute]

Understanding Human Trafficking: Facts and Statistics Explained

Human trafficking is a serious global issue, affecting millions of people around the world. Every year, countless men, women, and children fall victim to this form of modern-day slavery. To better understand the scope and impact of human trafficking, it’s essential to look at the facts and statistics behind it. By doing so, we can raise awareness, help prevent further exploitation, and advocate for those trapped in this vicious cycle.

What Are Human Trafficking Facts? What Are Human Trafficking Facts is a crime that involves the exploitation of people through force, fraud, or coercion for various purposes, including labor, sex, and involuntary domestic servitude. It's a widespread issue, and unfortunately, it continues to grow across the globe. According to various sources, there are an estimated 25 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. The victims come from all backgrounds, ages, and nationalities. Men, women, and children are exploited for various forms of trafficking, such as forced labor, sex trafficking, and organ trafficking.

The complexity of human trafficking often makes it difficult to detect. Many victims are hidden in plain sight, often living in abusive conditions and manipulated into staying quiet. Law enforcement agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) continue to raise awareness and strengthen their efforts to combat this growing problem. However, the fight against human trafficking requires more than just enforcement; it also demands a shift in societal views and a collective effort from all corners of society.

Statistics on Human Trafficking Understanding statistics on human trafficking is crucial for addressing the problem effectively. Research indicates that human trafficking is a significant concern in almost every country. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that trafficking victims come from a wide range of countries, with many being trafficked across borders. However, domestic trafficking also remains prevalent, particularly in wealthy nations.

A disturbing statistic reveals that approximately 70% of trafficking victims are women and girls, and the majority of them are trafficked for sexual exploitation. This underscores the gendered nature of human trafficking and the need for more tailored approaches to prevention and victim support. Moreover, children account for a significant portion of trafficking victims, especially for purposes such as forced labor, child pornography, and illegal adoptions.

In terms of geography, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa are known to be some of the largest sources of human trafficking. However, trafficking also happens in the United States, Western Europe, and other developed nations. The reasons for this are varied, including factors like poverty, lack of education, political instability, and corrupt governments, all of which create vulnerable populations that traffickers can exploit.

The Impact of Human Trafficking The impact of human trafficking is profound and far-reaching. Victims suffer from both physical and psychological trauma. Many endure physical abuse, sexual violence, and prolonged isolation. The mental toll can be devastating, as victims often develop long-lasting issues like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and a general sense of hopelessness.

For traffickers, the financial rewards are substantial, often running into billions of dollars annually. Human trafficking is considered one of the most lucrative forms of organized crime, alongside drug and arms trafficking. This financial incentive fuels the continued operations of trafficking rings, making it even harder to combat the issue.

Prevention and Solutions Preventing human trafficking requires a comprehensive approach that involves government action, law enforcement, NGOs, and local communities. Education plays a vital role in prevention efforts, as it helps raise awareness about the signs of trafficking and how to report suspicious activities. Additionally, strengthening legal frameworks and ensuring that traffickers face severe consequences is essential to discouraging such crimes.

Countries and organizations are increasingly focusing on victim support, providing legal, medical, and psychological assistance to those rescued from trafficking. Rehabilitation and reintegration programs are also critical in helping survivors rebuild their lives and heal from their experiences.

Conclusion Human trafficking remains a devastating global problem that impacts millions of people worldwide. By understanding the facts and statistics on human trafficking, society can make significant strides toward combating it. Awareness, education, and international cooperation are key components in eradicating this crime and providing support to the victims who need it most. Only through continued efforts can we hope to put an end to the exploitation and suffering caused by human trafficking.

[jenny-williamson]

The Global Crisis of Child Trafficking

Child trafficking remains one of the most critical human rights violations that affects millions of children worldwide. This complex issue intersects with various forms of discrimination, including poverty, gender norms, and racial inequalities. Therefore, a multifaceted approach that targets all these aspects is necessary to combat child trafficking effectively.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), one in every three victims of human trafficking is a child. The Global Report on Trafficking in Persons reveals that girls are particularly vulnerable, representing a significant portion of detected trafficking victims. Child trafficking takes many forms, including sexual exploitation, forced labor, domestic servitude, forced marriage, and involvement in criminal activities such as begging, theft, and drug trafficking.

While trafficking affects all genders, it impacts girls a lot more compared to boys. They are often trafficked for sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Boys, on the other hand, are more frequently trafficked for forced labor, though they can also be victims of sexual exploitation. The UNODC report found that between 2004 and 2018, the share of boys among detected trafficking victims significantly increased. This highlights the need for gender-sensitive approaches that address the unique vulnerabilities of both girls and boys.

Traffickers resort to several tactics to recruit and control their victims. They usually target vulnerable children, including runaways, homeless youth, and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Traffickers prey on these children by promising a better life that offers safe shelter, financial compensation, or friendship and romance. The use of technology, particularly online platforms and social media, has become increasingly prevalent in recruitment and exploitation. Traffickers also employ tactics of violence and coercion, including physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, to maintain control over victims. Additionally, traffickers may provide drugs or alcohol to create dependency and compliance.

Technology plays a dual role in child trafficking. While it facilitates recruitment and exploitation, it also offers tools for prevention and detection. Law enforcement agencies have started to use technology tools to identify potential trafficking situations and rescue victims.

Several factors complicate efforts to address child trafficking. Underreporting remains a problem as victims often experience fear or shame and are averse to sharing their stories. Others are not fully aware they were trafficked, so they don't report their story. Victims may be mistaken for criminals, especially in cases involving forced criminal activities. Some anti-trafficking policies prioritize prosecution over victim support and rehabilitation. The international scope of trafficking complicates law enforcement efforts, and variations in how trafficking is defined and addressed across different jurisdictions pose additional challenges in standardizing efforts to tackle this global crisis.

Addressing child trafficking requires a comprehensive approach that includes education and awareness, strengthening legal frameworks, providing victim-centered support, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and addressing root causes such as poverty, discrimination, and lack of educational opportunities. While the challenge of child trafficking is not easy, there has been some progress. Increased awareness, improved legislation, and innovative approaches to prevention and victim support are making a difference.

Key priorities for the future include improving data collection and analysis to better understand trafficking trends and inform policy decisions, developing more effective strategies to identify and support male victims of trafficking, enhancing international cooperation to address cross-border trafficking, investing in long-term support and rehabilitation programs for trafficking survivors, and engaging the private sector, particularly industries at high risk for labor trafficking, in prevention efforts.

By combining these efforts with a commitment to addressing the root causes of vulnerability, it's possible to create a world where children are protected from the horrors of trafficking. The fight against child trafficking requires sustained effort and cooperation across all sectors of society, from governments and law enforcement to NGOs, communities, and individuals.

[oipolinternacional]

Call 911:  AI to detect cases of violence against women

OIPOL & OIJUST Global Operation / Communication by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Monday, December 12, 2024. Oipol & Oijust OSINT Cooperation and edition, december 12, 2024.- A pilot project by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to detect…