Myanmar is now world’s largest source of opium, UN says
Bangkok, Thailand Reuters Myanmar has become the world’s largest source of opium, thanks to domestic instability and a decline in cultivation in Afghanistan, the United Nations said in a report on Tuesday. The 95 per cent decline in opium cultivation in Afghanistan after a drug ban by the Taliban in 2022 has seen global supply […]
Cocaine market is booming as meth trafficking spreads, UN report says
Vienna, Austria Reuters Cocaine demand and supply are booming worldwide and methamphetamine trafficking is expanding beyond established markets, including in Afghanistan where the drug is now being produced, a United Nations report said on Sunday. Coca bush cultivation and total cocaine production were at record highs in 2021, the most recent year for which data […]
Drug trafficking surging in year since Myanmar coup
Reuters Increased instability in Myanmar since a military coup a year ago has seen a surge in narcotics production there and trafficking into Southeast Asia and beyond, a senior official from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime told Reuters. Authorities in Laos, Thailand and Myanmar seized at least 90 million methamphetamine tablets and 4.4 […]
Traffickers found targeting more children as COVID-19 school closures fuel danger
London, UKThomson Reuters Foundation Human traffickers worldwide are increasingly targeting children and will likely exploit school closures during the coronavirus pandemic to abuse the young, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Children make up a third of trafficking victims who are uncovered – a share that has tripled in the past 15 years, with girls […]
UN drug agency loosens global controls on cannabis, following WHO advice
Vienna, SwitzerlandReuters The UN drug agency’s member states on Wednesday narrowly voted to remove cannabis from the most tightly controlled category of narcotic drugs, following the World Health Organization’s recommendation to make research into its medical use easier. The annual Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s governing body, voted 27 […]
UN raps nations for ignoring victims trafficked at home
Thomson Reuters Foundation Countries are ignoring the growing number of people trafficked within their own borders, focusing instead on the international trade in human beings, a top United Nations official said. UN special rapporteur Maria Grazia Giammarinaro said children were also increasingly vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers, be it for sex, begging or even their […]
Africa’s trafficking gangs flourish as nations fail to work together
Thomson Reuters Foundation Trafficking gangs are flourishing across Africa through the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of migrants, yet nations are failing to dismantle networks due to a lack of coordination, the United Nations said on Monday. More than 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually – often duped with promises of a better […]