2019

The 2nd edition of the Hackathon for Peace, Justice and Security will take place in The Hague, The Netherlands from 14-16 June. Organized by the Municipality of The Hague, participants are invited to use their skills in artificial intelligence to hack for peace, justice and security by solving real world problems. UNICRI, through its Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, has joined this initiative, becoming a challenge owner alongside Translators Without Borders and the National Rapporteur for Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children.

Within the context of the UNICRI project to assist Arab Spring countries on the recovery of assets linked to corruption and other forms of serious crime a two-day conference (11-12 September) was held in Tunis (Tunisia).

The aim of the meeting was to continue to foster political and technical will to adopt non-penal mechanisms to freeze, seize and confiscate assets.

The Prime Minister of Estonia, Mr Jüri Ratas, convened the 2019 edition of the Tallinn Digital Summit, an annual gathering of government leaders and ministers from digital-minded countries, the tech community, and influential thinkers. The 2019 Summit, which was attended by 14 EU Members States, as well as Canada, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and the global trade in data, as well as their implications for governance, economies, and societies as a whole.

On 19 September 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and UNICRI co-hosted a workshop that brought together international experts and emerging leaders from different countries to discuss global programs dedicated to biosecurity and the prevention of the misuse of current and future biotechnologies.

UNICRI briefed different Director Generals of the European Commission on the infiltration of organized crime in food business and bioterrorism through the use of biotechnology. Organized by the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), the meeting aimed at discussing possible forms of cooperation in the area of Big Data analytics and visualization, in cooperation also with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). On that occasion, a “knowledge hour” was also organized by the DG to sensitize the staff to issues related to food fraud.

The development of modern technologies along with the acceleration of globalization and increasing inequalities are generating new paradigms and unpredictable risks. This has huge impact on populations all over the world. Today, millions of people are coping with crises stemming from climate change, violent extremism, organized crime, and a general lack of vision on how to develop sustainable responses. Threats, uncertainties and socioeconomic disparities, and the need for new effective and innovative approaches are symbiotic in every corner of the world.

Within the framework of the project Mali (Dis-) Engagement and Re-Integration related to Terrorism (MERIT), UNICRI and the International Center for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT-The Hague), in close collaboration with Think Peace Sahel, Conseil National de la Jeunesse, International Alert, and SNV-ICCO-OXFAM, have developed a set of engagement and empowerment training sessions addressed to young people to promote alternatives to violence.

Geneva (Palais des Nations), 28 November 2019. Preventing and combatting counterfeiting and criminal infiltration into the legal economy is very complex. Organized crime groups are showing alarming capabilities to infiltrate different sectors of the economy, including the health care sector and other public services, the construction, the transportation and logistics, the mining supply chain, the financial activities and the business of restaurants, hotels and bars.

Funded by the European Union

Key Takeaways of the Side event "Youth Engagement and Resilience against Violent Extremism in the Sahel"

74th session of the United Nations General Assembly