International Consultant for the Arab Strategy against Transnational Organized Crime

Result of Service

1. The strategic analysis of organized crime in the Arab region is successfully conducted and completed in a timely manner (including methodology, desk research, stakeholder consultations).
2. The four online Technical Working Group meetings are successfully facilitated with all relevant counterparts.
3. The second regional multi-stakeholder meeting is successfully facilitated.
4. The complete draft of the Arab Strategy against Transnational Organized Crime, including its objectives, subobjectives, activities, Monitoring and Evaluation framework and implementation mechanism, is finalized.

Work Location

Home-based, with possibility of travel

Expected duration

14.12.26-31.03.27

Duties and Responsibilities

Organized criminal groups are becoming increasingly poly-criminal, being involved in various crimes and trafficking different illicit goods and commodities. It is therefore crucial for States to develop regional and national whole-of-society strategies against organized crime that are comprehensive, coherent and evidence based, tackling the structural drivers, root causes and enablers of organized crime, to complement crime-specific responses. In October 2020, the mandate of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in supporting States in this undertaking was reiterated by resolution 10/4 entitled “Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and promoting its effective implementation”, adopted by the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties to UNTOC. The importance of this work was later reiterated in UNTOC COP resolutions 11/2 in 2022 and 12/2 in 2024. Resolution 11/2 encouraged States “to consider developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating comprehensive and evidence-based whole-of-government policies and strategies against organized crime, formulated through a whole-of-society approach that includes all relevant stakeholders, such as academia and civil society”. Since 2021, UNODC has been supporting more than 20 States and regional organizations around the world in developing and implementing strategies against organized crime. UNODC developed the Organized Crime Strategy Toolkit, as well as two supporting issue papers on gender and human rights considerations in the implementation of UNTOC. The Toolkit seeks to foster the development of comprehensive and inclusive strategic responses to organized crime structured around the following four main pillars:

• Preventing organized crime from (re)infiltrating communities, the economy and political institutions.
• Pursuing organized criminal groups and their illicit gains, increasing business costs and risks.
• Protecting those affected by organized crime from (further) harm.
• Promoting partnerships and cooperation at all levels, including across international borders, and adopting a whole-of-society approach in the development and implementation of these crucial instruments.

The Organized Crime Strategy Toolkit is complemented by an Annex on Building and Strengthening Resilience to Organized Crime at Times of Crisis that examines the impact of crises and disasters on responses to organized crime, as well as a series of regional policy briefs examining the organized crime landscape and strategic responses thereto in the regions of operation of the project. The importance of formulating gender-responsive and human rights-compliant responses to organized crime has also been stressed in recent international resolutions, including the aforementioned UNTOC COP resolutions 11/2 and 12/2 as well as resolution 26/3 of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. For this reason, in September 2023, UNODC launched a Toolkit on Mainstreaming Gender and Human Rights in the implementation of UNTOC. This Toolkit aims to support the mainstreaming of gender and human rights considerations into laws, policies and strategies against organized crime, in line with UNTOC and other relevant instruments. During the second meeting of the Steering and Follow-up Committee of the Regional Framework for the Arab States (2023–2028), a recommendation was adopted to “support the efforts and initiatives of Member States, through cooperation with the League of Arab States, the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council, and Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, to initiate the development of a comprehensive regional strategic framework for the prevention of and response to organized crime in the Middle East and North Africa”. To implement this recommendation, the League of Arab States (LAS), the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council (AIMC), the Arab Justice Ministers’ Council (AJMC), the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS) and UNODC are launching an initiative towards the development of an Arab Strategy against Transnational Organized Crime. Within this framework, the Conference Support Section (CSS) of the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch (OCB) of UNODC, in collaboration with the UNODC Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA), is looking for an expert consultant to support the development of the Arab Strategy against Transnational Organized Crime.

Qualifications/special skills

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in the fields of law, criminology or other related social sciences is required. A first-level university degree in similar fields, in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in the field of international relations and security, including on organized crime-related matters, is required;
• Experience in research, conducting assessments and drafting research products and reports, including on organized crime-related matters in the Arab region is required;
• Knowledge of approaches to preventing and countering transnational organized crime is desirable;
• Familiarity with UNODC tools and the United Nations Convention on the Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) is desirable;
• Experience working for the United Nations or other international organizations, preferably in the Arab region, is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position, fluency in English and Arabic (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of other official UN languages is an advantage.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.