Fighting transnational organized crime: the role of gender-sensitive prevention and exit programmes (webinar)

On the International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against all Forms of Transnational Organized Crime, the OSCE is holding a webinar to discuss a frequently overlooked aspect of organized crime: the role of women in organized criminal groups.

OSCE research shows that women’s agency in organized crime is rarely recognized by criminal justice practictitioners across the OSCE area, resulting in women being able to act with impunity within criminal networks and being underrepresented in – or absent from – prevention, exit and witness protection initiatives.

Drawing on experience and good practices from the OSCE region, this discussion will focus on how gender-sensitive approaches to preventing and countering organized crime are essential components of targeted, systematic and efficient criminal justice responses to transnational organized crime that recognize and address the different roles played by women and men. Speakers will highlight how the lack of gender-senstitive prevention and exit initiatives undermines efforts to stop women and girls becoming involved in criminal activity and reduces their opportunities to leave criminal groups. They will also showcase how engaging women – as agents in their own right – in witness protection initiatives can enhance efforts to disrupt organized crime.  

The webinar, organized by the OSCETransnational Threats Department's Strategic Police Matters Unit, will bring together policymakers, criminal justice practitioners and representatives of civil society and academia from across the OSCE region, and will be held in English.

Background

Organized crime is one of the most serious threats to security and stability across the OSCE area. The global value of criminal networks continues to rise, exceeding 1.3 trillion US dollars in 2018, which is equivalent to about 1.5 percent of global GDP. Amid widespread recognition of the importance of evidence-based responses to TOC, it is essential to examine who is involved in organized crime and what roles they play in criminal activities. In the 2020 Tirana Declaration, OSCE participating States acknowledged the importance of ensuring the inclusion and active engagement of women in efforts to prevent and combat TOC. These efforts have, however, been held back by a lack of research on the gender aspects of TOC.

To address this gap, the OSCE developed an Assessment Report on Understanding the Role of Women in Organized Crime based on data from criminal justice practitioners and civil society organizations in 14 participating States from across the OSCE area. The report provides the most comprehensive evidence to date on how women are recruited to organized crime groups, their roles within them, and how and why they exit these groups. It shows that although women are often exploited and victimized by organized crime groups, they can also be significant actors within them. Despite this, persistent gender stereotypes mean that women’s agency is often not recognized by criminal justice practitioners, hampering states’ ability to combat TOC effectively.

Speakers

• Amb. Alena Kupchyna, OSCE Co-ordinator of Activities to Adress Transnational Threats;
• H.E. Gunnar Strömmer, Minister of Justice, Sweden;
• Ms. Anna Ekstroem, Researcher, Institute for Future Studies, Sweden;
• Ms. Milica Vujanic, Senior Adviser, Public Prosecution Office for Organized Crime, Republic of Serbia;
• Ms. Klaudia Hasanllari, Director, Juvenile Crime Prevention Center, Albania;
• Dr. Mahmoud Jaraba,  Erlangen Centre for Islam and Law in Europe (EZIRE), Germany;
• Ms. Martha Stickings, Deputy Head of Strategic Police Matters Unit, OSCE Transnational Threats Department.

Registration 

Register here by 14 November.