UNODC - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

What’s happening on global drug markets, and what are the latest trends?

The is a key source of information on global drug production, trafficking and use.

Join us live for the report launch next week.

📅 26 June 2026
🕐 1 p.m. CET
🔗 https://ow.ly/j0ae50Zefzz

Combating illegal timber trade requires efforts that reach from the forest to the courtroom.

UNODC supports frontline officers in seizing illegal timber, while helping ensure evidence can be used in court.

When traffickers remove the visible features of protected timber, illegal wood can be hidden in plain sight. To counter this, UNODC equips enforcement officers with the technology, tools and skills needed to reveal wood grain patterns, identify timber species and establish probable cause for seizing illicit shipments.

These rapid, field-based assessments are only the first step. They can be reinforced through DNA analysis, providing definitive species identification and strengthen evidence for prosecutions..

From detection to prosecution, strengthening every step of the process is essential to disrupting illegal timber networks and holding offenders accountable.

How can expertise from different regions and disciplines contribute to international drug control?

This week, 19 independent experts from around the world came to Vienna for the first in-person meeting of the new Expert Panel on global drug policy.

https://ow.ly/lPke50Zeavt

Protecting marine biodiversity and tackling crimes at sea require coordinated action.

UNODC & IUCN support the implementation of the agreement to protect marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) and strengthen the enforcement of marine protected areas.

Victims of human trafficking are often coerced into online scams or drug smuggling by organized crime.

More than 8% of all victims are forced to commit criminal acts.

Ending the exploitation starts with not punishing victims for crimes they were forced to commit.

Migrant smuggling is a billion-dollar criminal industry.

Unaware of the dangerous journeys ahead, migrants pay smugglers to move across borders.

Many face sexual exploitation, forced labour or torture along the way.

UNODC helps countries trace these illicit financial flows and dismantle networks that prey on migrants’ vulnerability.

https://bit.ly/4sWARrl

Roughly two-thirds of the world's ocean lies beyond national borders and belongs to no single country.

Protecting these shared waters requires countries to improve maritime law enforcement and work together against organized crime that exploits the ocean.

“We make do with what we have.”

For decades, the National Police Service Training College in Kiganjo has led Kenya’s police learning with limited resources and outdated equipment.

Much of Kiganjo’s infrastructure dates to the 1960s, when the country’s policing needs were vastly different, posing challenges in preparing officers for complex 21st-century threats such as cybercrime and terrorism.

Learn how UNODC is supporting the transformation of key facilities and enhancing communications and outreach for modern policing: https://ow.ly/hzKw50Zcjf1

The ocean’s vastness and weak governance make it vulnerable to organized crime, threatening biodiversity, economies and security.

Tackling these risks requires coordinated law enforcement, shared intelligence and justice systems equipped to hold offenders accountable.