Drugs and organized crime: Analysis

How the Libyan conflict transformed human trafficking routes in West Africa, and why Europe’s response has so far failed.

Although there is a brief respite from the threat of tariffs, Mexican leaders must brace for tough times and focus on the long-term potential of the US–Mexico relationship.

Transnational conflict in the Middle East is fuelled by both ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ trade. Mapping these cross-border dynamics can help understand and address violent conflict.

The synthetic opioid fentanyl has become one of America’s biggest killers. Now even stronger ‘nitazenes’ have begun to emerge from China’s huge chemical industry, prompting fears of a global health crisis. Danny Vincent talks to those on either side of the front line.

However painful previous interventions have been, Haitians cannot be abandoned to the rule of criminal gangs.

This episode discusses transnational links between the movement of people and armed conflict – from Edo State in Nigeria, through Niger, to Libya.

President Noboa faces the daunting task of rooting out narco-terrorism and corruption. The international community must step up to prevent the country losing this gang-declared war.

With a new president – probably a woman – guaranteed in June, an apathetic electorate has the chance to renew the country’s social contract, writes Vanessa Rubio-Márquez.

A wave of crime and kidnapping has increased murder rates five-fold in a country that was until recently a haven of peace. Dan Collyns speaks to those affected.

Explaining the UN cybercrime treaty, its potential benefits and risks, key issues in the negotiations, and likely paths forward.

Afghanistan’s opium production may be 90 per cent down this year, but it’s likely to bounce back thanks to soaring prices and global demand, writes Orzala Nemat.

President Gustavo Petro’s decision to talk to criminal groups will be carefully watched, but the policy is rife with problems, writes Mariano Aguirre.

The synthetic opioid is killing dozens monthly, but authorities and health campaigners can’t agree how to stem the deadly epidemic, writes Mallory Moench.

HE Faouzia Mebarki explains why the first United Nations effort to create a legally binding instrument on a cyber issue could have far-reaching impacts.

The case of Kufra raises difficult questions for policymakers over what interventions to support in places that have come to thrive on illicit cross-border trade.

Transfer illegally held land from big ranchers to small farmers who don’t have the incentives to deforest, argues the investigative journalist in his book ‘Masters of the Lost Land’.

In the third of a series of interviews with the Queen Elizabeth II Academy faculty, Alex Cooley examines the challenges of reigning in kleptocratic networks.

The country’s elite football academies produce champions, but the lure of fame and fortune abroad can lead to ‘football trafficking’, says Azil Momar Lô.

Any policy designed to counter the growing Captagon trade must take into account its impact on local border communities.

Exploring the definition of kleptocracy, the motivations behind it, why it flourishes in certain societies, and its global impact.

Poor infrastructure and even poorer governance is a critical part of the story of healthcare in Iraq, but so too is the complex issue of the movement and supply of medicines.

The ‘poor man’s cocaine’ is now rife across the Middle East, heralding an era of violent, state-sponsored drug-trafficking, says Vanda Felbab-Brown

A new UN cybercrime treaty process is raising strong awareness about one of the biggest global challenges and the complexities of addressing it.

Here are this year’s winners of the Courage in Photojournalism Award, presented by the International Women’s Media Foundation

Will the realities of needing a functioning economy to run Afghanistan effectively be enough to temper the worst of the Taliban’s policies?

Helen Fitzwilliam describes an Iranian filmmaker’s quest to find his brother, the heroin addict

Siloed thinking on cybersecurity and cybercrime leaves blind spots ready to be exploited by anyone – a critical weakness for both governments and corporations.

Despite progress on peace between Colombia’s state and ex-FARC guerrillas, alleged murders of social leaders are rising and coca is a political issue once more.

In the first of two summer specials, Ben interviews the former Deputy Foreign Minister of Mexico about the state of Mexican politics under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

As an inherently transnational activity, global money-laundering is perhaps the definitive problem in need of cross-border, rules-based cooperation. The G7 should lead the way.

This paper aims to assist the region’s local authorities, and their key foreign backers, in understanding how transitional justice can provide alternative avenues for holding local ISIS members to account while contributing to the healing of communities.

The use of AI in counterterrorism is not inherently wrong, and this paper suggests some necessary conditions for legitimate use of AI as part of a predictive approach to counterterrorism on the part of liberal democratic states.