Syrian refugees wait for water at an informal camp for displaced Syrians, between the Jordan and Syria borders. AP
Syrian refugees wait for water at an informal camp for displaced Syrians, between the Jordan and Syria borders. AP

Crime doesn’t just feed off conflict, it fuels it



Conflict remains the world’s greatest problem and conflict prevention our biggest hope, but if we do not face down crime and uphold justice, we simply risk swapping the challenges. Over the last century, crime has been transformed. Mobsters are more likely to be board members of companies. Safecrackers and getaway drivers have been replaced by worldly accountants and lawyers.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s study of illicit funds showed that the combined proceeds of all crimes amounted to some $2 trillion. If crime were a country, it would fall somewhere between Italy and India in the GDP league. That’s enough money not just to bribe and corrupt the odd customs or law enforcement officer, but to put in one's pocket ministers and ministries in fragile and vulnerable countries. And crime also adores a vacuum.

Ignore crime, concentrate efforts elsewhere, and transnational organised crime is suddenly embedding, spreading and thriving. The most disturbing feature of crime is not just the misery it causes, but its supreme ability to adapt. Let’s also be clear. Just as the hyena trails the lion in the hope of food, crime shadows conflict. It is no coincidence that conflict in Iraq and Syria is helping to drive human trafficking, migrant smuggling and other crimes throughout the Middle East, North Africa and across the Mediterranean. But crime doesn’t just feed off conflict, it fuels it.

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Read more by Yury Fedotov:

Four ways to respond to resurgent Somali piracy

Violent extremism and the challenges it presents

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UNODC estimates that the Taliban raised $150 million, some 50 per cent of their total income, from taxes and their involvement in the illicit opiate trade. Boko Haram is involved in smuggling heroin and cocaine, as well as trafficking people and natural resources across West Africa. Illicit profits are being made in East Africa where the terrorist group Al-Shabaab cooperates with Somali pirates, and earns millions off the charcoal smuggling trade.

These groups are using funds flowing from crime to spread havoc, death and destruction. Their activities undermine nations, weaken the rule of law and hamper development efforts. Ignoring them is perilous and to the detriment of work being done to sustain the lives of people facing poverty and hardship.

But if crime has changed, so have our views on how to confront it. The new transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development acknowledges the importance of staring down crime as a means of improving lives. Central to these efforts is Goal 16 on peaceful and inclusive societies that contains specific targets on ending crime’s catastrophic impact.

The search for coherence is central to dealing with the world’s woes and it broadly parallels recognition that no country can solve transnational organised crime in isolation. The old view that crime is primarily a national issue has given way to a dependence on greater international cooperation, and a reliance on universal legal instruments such as the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime and the UN Convention Against Corruption.

We, therefore, have the instruments, the alliances and the tools to tackle crime. What might be absent is the willingness to overcome the sequencing question. When should crime be challenged? The time for tackling transnational crime is not a year, or a month or even a day after peace has been agreed. Dealing with crime, strengthening the rule of law and promoting justice cannot wait. All of these need to be delivered simultaneously; if not, problems will develop further down the road.

Perhaps the most recent example of this interlinked approach is to be found in Colombia, where the peace treaty with Farc includes strategies for confronting the country’s cultivation and production of the coca plant. In Colombia, the search for peace, building justice and ending crime are all being dealt with as a single issue warranting holistic solutions. I would suggest this is the way forward everywhere.

Conflicts need to be ended to prevent the suffering of millions and for the good of our shared humanity. But, in the desperate search for peace, let’s not forget the hyena also has a savage bite.

Yury Fedotov is executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi

Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe

For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.

Golden Dallah

For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.

Al Mrzab Restaurant

For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.

Al Derwaza

For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup. 

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The specs

Engine: 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8

Transmission: nine-speed automatic

Power: 630bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh810,000

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The Penguin

Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz

Creator: Lauren LeFranc

Rating: 4/5

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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

Director: Goran Hugo Olsson

Rating: 5/5

The Buckingham Murders

Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu

Director: Hansal Mehta

Rating: 4 / 5

Profile box

Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)

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The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Rest

(Because Music)

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If you go

Flying

Despite the extreme distance, flying to Fairbanks is relatively simple, requiring just one transfer in Seattle, which can be reached directly from Dubai with Emirates for Dh6,800 return.

 

Touring

Gondwana Ecotours’ seven-day Polar Bear Adventure starts in Fairbanks in central Alaska before visiting Kaktovik and Utqiarvik on the North Slope. Polar bear viewing is highly likely in Kaktovik, with up to five two-hour boat tours included. Prices start from Dh11,500 per person, with all local flights, meals and accommodation included; gondwanaecotours.com 

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Asia Cup 2018 final

Who: India v Bangladesh

When: Friday, 3.30pm, Dubai International Stadium

Watch: Live on OSN Cricket HD

Company%20Profile
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Director: Venkat Prabhu
Rating: 2/5

The Kites

Romain Gary

Penguin Modern Classics

Warlight,
Michael Ondaatje, Knopf 

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

The Perfect Couple

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor

Creator: Jenna Lamia

Rating: 3/5

UAE jiu-jitsu squad

Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)

Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)