UN Crime Congress: Technology is transforming crime – and the response to it

Criminal networks now move money, goods and information across borders at lightning speed, exploiting everything from new technologies to global instability. Yet the same tools that help drive illicit activity could also transform the fight against it.

Technology, while creating what Ms. Juma describes as “an ecosystem of criminal profiteering with a very far-reaching footprint”, can also enable faster, smarter and more coordinated responses to threats that increasingly touch every corner of the world.

Those challenges – from cyber-enabled crime to trafficking and online scams – will be at the centre of discussions in Abu Dhabi at the 15th UN Crime Congress; the world's largest gathering focused on crime prevention and criminal justice.

As the newly appointed Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ms. Juma is preparing to attend the event for the first time in her current role.

We sat down with her to discuss the criminal threats reshaping the world and the opportunities for governments and institutions to respond more effectively.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity

UN News: The UN Crime Congress convenes every five years, and provides a platform where the world converges to ask the question: how has crime changed?

Ms. Juma: The defining factor today is, of course, technology. Five years ago, technology was evolving very differently. Now, it is enabling a multitude of crimes across various sectors. What we are seeing is a convergence of crime types that is creating an ecosystem of criminal profiteering with a very far-reaching footprint across the world.

With technology, millions of people can become targets within a fraction of a second. There is no need for intermediaries, or to cross borders.

Caption: UNODC Executive Director Monica Juma during an interview with UN News and UNIS Vienna. (Credit: UNIS Vienna/Laura Skocek)

UN News: How can the Crime Congress help ensure that justice and law enforcement systems in developing countries are not left behind amid a widening global digital gap?

Ms. Juma: Technology, in fact, is not leaving anyone behind. Countries that are considered very advanced in terms of technology, are as vulnerable as the weakest ones. Organized criminals have no border inhibitions.

Traffickers no longer just depend on people carrying people across borders in boats. They are now also using technology and disinformation to create fake jobs, and sometimes even ending up in legitimate business supply chains, including banking services.

This is exactly why the UN Crime Congress platform is so important. That is the value of the UN. We have the capacity to bring everyone to the table, and that is what we will see in Abu Dhabi. There will be representation from everywhere in the world.

At UNODC, we are increasingly creating platforms for interface across borders and sectors; for example: investigators, prosecutors, police enforcement officials, judicial officials, now even investigative journalists.

The purpose is to create a convergence of competencies that can be quickly used to convey information, evidence, or suspicions to somebody who can act on it almost immediately.

We are encouraging countries to cooperate more, including in the areas of intelligence sharing and forensic analysis among others, but the ability to translate that cooperation has not been fully enabled so far on the Member State side. Doing so requires the right policies, relationships, and mechanisms.

UN News: Why is the UN Cybercrime Convention so important?

Ms. Juma: The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime was adopted unanimously by the General Assembly in 2024, and we have more than 80 signatories already. The Convention provides a full toolkit that facilitates cooperation among countries and creates similar standards that will enable faster and more agile responses to common threats.

We are calling on and encouraging countries to ratify it so that it can enter into force, because, until that happens, its full utilization would be limited.

Now, ratification is a domestic legislative process, but a lot of countries that I have personally spoken to have indicated that that process is ongoing. We hope that it can enter into force soon.

UN News: Hundreds of thousands of victims of trafficking are forced to commit cybercrimes in ever-expanding, large-scale scam centres. How can the Crime Congress address their plight?

Ms. Juma: First of all, these scam centres are really a global crisis. Our last report on scam centres in Southeast Asia indicated that victims came from more than 80 nationalities around the world. This is a global situation that is expanding exponentially. These scam centres are a real pandemic if you think about it.

Many times, they manifest as genuine opportunities for young people who are curious – who want to work and experience the world. It is very important that they are conceived as victims rather than culprits, and that we identify the real perpetrators of the crime. It is the people that are deceiving them, recruiting them, and misleading them.

It is also important to protect the victim’s rights and support them through rehabilitation and treatment. Some of them have been through very traumatic experiences, including torture and abuse, and these experiences will stay with them for a very long time. For our part, UNODC has been supporting capacity building within criminal justice systems to effectively handle victims and vulnerable groups.

UN News: What can be done to ensure that the Crime Congress delivers real solutions at a time of increasing geopolitical polarisation and global tensions?

Ms. Juma: It is true that the world is in a very concerning situation, but it is also true that the threat of crime is something that people feel every day across the world.

It is impossible to create any level of productivity or sustainability if you are experiencing insecurity at a personal, local, or community level – which is what drugs and crime is doing. It affects people at every level, and that reality makes it easier to cooperate and look for solutions.

And so, we have a situation where there is a convergence, both at the level of the threat, and the desire to look for solutions. As we come to Abu Dhabi, there is no debate whether this is important or not.

We hope that we can take the solutions presented in Kyoto (the venue of the 2021 UN Crime Congress) to now look at the current threats that are being accelerated by new intervening variables such as technology.

We look to the role of technology in aiding us to respond in an agile and more effective manner, so that we can restore safer environments, secure communities, and hopefully achieve better prosperity for the world.