Download or read book The Challenge of Drug Trafficking to Democratic Governance and Human Security in West Africa written by David Edward Brown and published by Army War College Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International criminal networks mainly from Latin America and Africa -- some with links to terrorism -- are turning West Africa into a key global hub for the distribution, wholesaling, and production of illicit drugs. These groups represent an existential threat to democratic governance of already fragile states in the sub-region because they are using narco-corruption to stage coups d'état, hijack elections, and co-opt or buy political power. Besides a spike in drug-related crime, narcotics trafficking is also fraying West Africa's traditional social fabric and creating a public health crisis, with hundreds of thousands of new drug addicts. While the inflow of drug money may seem economically beneficial to West Africa in the short-term, investors will be less inclined to do business in the long-term if the sub-region is unstable. On net, drug trafficking and other illicit trade represent the most serious challenge to human security in the region since resource conflicts rocked several West African countries in the early 1990s. International aid to West Africa's "war on drugs" is only in an initial stage; progress will be have to be measured in decades or even generations, not years and also unfold in parallel with creating alternative sustainable livelihoods and addressing the longer-term challenges of human insecurity, poverty, and underdevelopment.
Download or read book The Challenge of Drug Trafficking to Democratic Governance and Human Security in written by U S Army War College and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: West Africa is under attack from international criminal networks that are using the subregion as a key global hub for the distribution, wholesale, and increased production of illicit drugs. Most drug trade in West Africa involves cocaine sold in Europe, although heroin is also trafficked to the United States, and the subregion is becoming an export base for amphetamines and their precursors, mainly for East Asian markets and, increasingly, the United States. The most important of these criminal networks are drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) from Latin America-primarily from Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico-partnering with West African criminals. These criminals, particularly Nigerians and Ghanaians, have been involved in the global drug trade for several decades, first with cannabis and later with heroin. The problem has worsened to the point that these networks represent an existential threat to the viability of already fragile states in West Africa as independent, rule of law based entities. As part of this new Latin America- West Africa criminal nexus, Guinea-Bissau is generally recognized as a narco-state where state-capture by traffickers has already occurred. There is also increasingly strong evidence linking terrorist organizations or state sponsors of terrorism to the West Africa drug trade, including Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Hezbollah (allied with elements in the Lebanese diaspora), Venezuela, and Iran. These criminal and terrorist groups are also a threat to U.S. national security, because the illicit profits earned by Latin American drug cartels operating in West Africa strengthen the same crimi nal elements that traffic drugs to North America, and the same North African and Middle Eastern terrorist groups and nations that target the United States. The link to AQIM takes on particular significance in light of this terrorist organization's recent takeover of a vast sector of ungoverned space in northern Mali, along with Touareg allies. West Africa's geographical location between Latin America and Europe made it an ideal transit zone for exploitation by powerful drug cartels and terrorist organizations-much as the Caribbean and Central America had long suffered for being placed between South America's cocaine producers and North America's cocaine users. West Africa's primary operational allure to traffickers is not actually geography, however, but rather its low standards of governance, low levels of law enforcement capacity, and high rates of corruption. Latin American traffickers recently relocated a share of their wholesale distribution from the Western Hemisphere to West Africa, with the subregion moving from being merely a short-term transit point to becoming a storage and staging area for wholesale repackaging, re-routing and sometimes (re-)sale of drugs.
Download or read book The Challenge of Drug Trafficking to Democratic Governance and Human Security in West Africa written by David Edward Brown and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: International criminal networks mainly from Latin America and Africa -- some with links to terrorism -- are turning West Africa into a key global hub for the distribution, wholesaling, and production of illicit drugs. These groups represent an existential threat to democratic governance of already fragile states in the sub-region because they are using narco-corruption to stage coups d'état, hijack elections, and co-opt or buy political power. Besides a spike in drug-related crime, narcotics trafficking is also fraying West Africa's traditional social fabric and creating a public health crisis, with hundreds of thousands of new drug addicts. While the inflow of drug money may seem economically beneficial to West Africa in the short-term, investors will be less inclined to do business in the long-term if the sub-region is unstable. On net, drug trafficking and other illicit trade represent the most serious challenge to human security in the region since resource conflicts rocked several West African countries in the early 1990s. International aid to West Africa's "war on drugs" is only in an initial stage; progress will be have to be measured in decades or even generations, not years and also unfold in parallel with creating alternative sustainable livelihoods and addressing the longer-term challenges of human insecurity, poverty, and underdevelopment.
Download or read book CHALLENGE OF DRUG TRAFFICKING TO DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN SECURITY IN WEST AFRICA written by David E. Brown and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Challenge of Stability and Security in West Africa written by Alexandre Marc and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2015-06-19 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since independence, the West African sub-region has been an arena for a number of large-scale conflicts and civil wars, as well as simmering and low-intensity uprisings. Contrary to perceptions, West Africa in its post-independence history has experienced fewer conflict events and fatalities from conflict than the other sub-regions on the continent. The turn of the millennium has witnessed the recession of large-scale and conventional conflict, and it has ushered in new and emerging threats. The specters of religious extremism, maritime piracy, and narcotics trafficking threaten to undermine some of the progress achieved in recent years. The Challenge of Stability and Security in West Africa critically examines the key drivers of conflict and violence, and the way in which they impact the countries of the sub-region. In addition to emerging threats, these drivers include the challenges of youth inclusion, migration, sub-regional imbalances, and extractives, as well as challenges related to the fragility of political institutions and managing the competition for power, reform of the security sector, and weakness of institutions related to land management. The book explores how the sub-region, under the auspices of the regional organization ECOWAS, has become a pioneer on the continent in terms of addressing regional challenges. The Challenge of Stability and Security in West Africa also identifies key lessons in the dynamics of resilience in the face of political violence and civil war drawn from CÃ ́te d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, that can be useful for countries around the world in similar situations. It incorporates knowledge and findings from leading experts and provides insights from academics and development practitioners. Finally, the book identifies possible policy and programmatic responses and directions for policy dialogue at the national and international levels.
Download or read book State Fragility and Organized Crime in West Africa written by Victor Ukpong and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2018-06-22 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Document from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, grade: -, , language: English, abstract: West African states have become increasingly porous and vulnerable to the activities of organized criminal networks which negatively impact their security situations. At the same time, there are various national and bilateral concerns to tackle these problems and restore the security situation in these countries, yet they remain vulnerable to these quagmires, which are expressed in the forms of human trafficking/ smuggling, drug trafficking, armed robbery, money laundry and arms trafficking which have had tremendous effects on the security of these countries. However, the ease at which these crimes are executed across the sub-region signals the cooptation or involvement of some state officials, whose role is to pave way for the smooth execution of these of these nefarious acts for their private gains. In line with the foregoing, it has become necessary to interrogate the role of the criminal justice systems in the sub region. This paper examines the dynamics of corruption and institutional lapses within the context of state fragility in West Africa and determines whether or not the sub-region does lack the capacity necessary to accurately respond to the methods utilized by trafficking networks in their businesses viewing from their proliferation in the sub-region despite their threats and efforts made to counter them. The research makrd use of secondary data and the data is derived from an in-depth review of related literature on the subject mainly from online journal articles. The result of the findings shows that states’ failure to adequately position and manage their security apparatuses can give room for infiltrations that can entirely corrupt and defeat their entire security goal. Based on the findings of this work, it becomes evident that since West African states are deficient in this regard, their national security also been prone to such deficits.
Download or read book Drug Trafficking as a Security Threat in West Africa written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "At a high-level conference on drug trafficking as a security threat to West Africa in Praia, Cape Verde, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, warned that "West Africa is at risk of becoming an epicentre for drug trafficking and the crime and corruption associated with it". A report by UNODC, launched at the meeting, shows that at least 50 tons of cocaine from the Andean countries are transiting West Africa every year, heading north where they are worth almost $2 billion on the streets of European cities. Most cocaine entering Africa from South America makes landfall around Guinea-Bissau in the north and Ghana in the south. Much of the drugs are shipped to Europe by drug mules on commercial flights. According to seizure data, the majority of air couriers seem to be coming from Guinea (Conakry), Mali, Nigeria and Senegal destined for France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Upon arrival, the cocaine is predominantly distributed by West African criminal networks throughout Europe. The problem is getting worse. Cocaine seizures have doubled every year for the past three years: from 1,323 kilograms in 2005, to 3,161 in 2006, to 6,458 in 2007. Major seizures have been made in 2008, including 600 kilos of cocaine found in a plane (with fake Red Cross markings) at the airport in Freetown, Sierra Leone this summer. Most seizures occur by accident - "this is probably just the tip of the cocaine iceberg", said Mr. Costa. Local police are ill-equipped to deal with the threat, and "prosecutors and judges lack the evidence or the will to bring to justice powerful criminals with powerful friends", observed the UN's top crime-fighting official. Time is running out", warned Mr. Costa. "The threat is spreading throughout the region, turning the Gold Coast into the Coke Coast". Narco-trafficking, through a vulnerable region that has never previously faced a drugs problem, is perverting weak economies - evident by the unusual appreciation of currencies and inflows of foreign direct investment. It is also corrupting senior officials, and poisoning the youth by spreading addiction and criminality. "This is more than a drugs problem - it is a threat to public health and security in West Africa", said the head of UNODC. Mr. Costa underlined the importance of promoting development and strengthening the rule of law in order to reduce vulnerability to drugs and crime. He called on governments of the region to strengthen integrity and criminal justice to "stop the corruption that is enabling criminals to infiltrate your countries". He urged the international community to provide the assistance needed to help the countries under attack to regain control of their coasts and airspace, and train special police forces to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking. Because organized crime is a trans-national problem, regional cooperation is crucial. The head of UNODC proposed the creation of a West Africa intelligence-sharing centre. But he warned that "there will be no success in combating this regional problem if individual countries fail to stamp out the problem in their midst - criminals will exploit the weakest links and the whole chain will break". At the Praia meeting, Ministers of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) agreed to a Political Declaration on Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in West Africa and an ECOWAS Regional Response Plan. Mr. Costa urged the Ministers to follow up these words with robust deeds "to drive the traffickers from the shores of West Africa.'"--Publisher description.
Download or read book The Greater Maghreb written by David Garcia Cantalapiedra and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-09-18 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book represents a different approach in the study of the Sahel region in North Africa. Due to the hybrid security threats sweeping across the area, the whole region becomes a new security complex different from Middle East and more related to Western and Central Africa developments, including the impact of drug-trafficking coming from Latin America. This book discusses how the Transnational Organized Crime-Terrorism Nexus has created a very different dynamics from Middle East’s, hitting hard to people, societies and states there. The contributors argue that the countries in the area and the European Union should recognize this new complex and respond properly and differently to this situation.
Download or read book Narcotics Drug Use in West Africa and Its Impact on Human Security written by Emmanuel Uzuegbu-Wilson and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The West African sub-region has increasingly become a consumer and a final destination market for all types of drugs of abuse attributed to regional drug trafficking that has caused a supply-driven increase of narcotic drugs. This paper therefore reviewed the impact of narcotic drug use on human security of states in the West African sub-region and adopted the theory of rational addiction as theoretical framework for analysis. The paper also employed a desk-review research approach with the reports and evaluations obtained from secondary sources of data analyzed through content analysis. The paper found that narcotic drug use is associated with several drug problems that include biological, environmental, behavioral, cognitive and emotional risk factors. The study concluded that narcotic drug use has negative impact on the human security of West African states and recommended that ECOWAS Commission and member states should address the structural, political and socio-economic weaknesses facing states in the region by adopting policy measures aimed at improving human security. Furthermore, drug supply reduction strategies which primarily focus on interdiction actions should be complemented with harm reduction policies that will address public health and developmental challenges.
Download or read book Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is one of several studies conducted by UNODC on organized crime threats around the world. These studies describe what is known about the mechanics of contraband trafficking - the what, who, how, and how much of illicit flows - and discuss their potential impact on governance and development. Their primary role is diagnostic, but they also explore the implications of these findings for policy. Publisher's note.
Download or read book Why Has West Africa Become a Nexus for the International Traffickers written by Yahya H. Affinnih and published by Covenant Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2023-02-16 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is undoubtedly rich in different diverse sources and literature that are put together into a coherent whole instead of dispersed copious literature on the genesis of West African countries' integration into the world political economy and geopolitics of the drug trade. To the author's best knowledge, there is no similar book that has focused on the recent West Africa drug connection. The book is well-researched and documented. It fills the missing void in the discourse of West Africa drug trade arrangements. This book is one of its kind in the annals of West Africa's drug trade history. This thrust and the thesis of the book is to provide a plausible and sufficient explanation as to why West Africa has become international traffickers' transshipments and transits hubs and cocaine distribution and repackage centers for cocaine en route to Europe. This book is informative for a wide variety of readers such as students, social analysts from different social sciences disciplines, drug policy makers in West African countries, and elsewhere in the world. The book's subject matter is a global-wide problem that concerns all modern human societies worldwide. There are no human societies that are immune to the dynamics of the global drug trade industries that pose threat to human, national, and global security in its wake.
Download or read book Mexico Is Not Colombia written by Christopher Paul and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2014-06-25 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the scope of the threat they pose to Mexico’s security, violent drug-trafficking organizations are not well understood, and optimal strategies to combat them have not been identified. While there is no perfectly analogous case to Mexico’s current security situation, historical case studies may offer lessons for policymakers as they cope with challenges related to violence and corruption in that country.
Download or read book Challenges of Security Sector Governance in West Africa written by Alan Bryden and published by Lit Verlag. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is currently no comprehensive study of the status of security sector governance in West Africa. Many efforts to understand governance of the security sector in Africa have been directed either at individual countries or at providing a general analysis of the state and security in Africa. This book is intended to contribute to confidence and peace-building through developing a better understanding of the challenges of security sector governance and generating practical policy recommendations based on work conducted by West African experts. It analyses the nature of security sector governance in each of the 16 West African states, provides an assessment of the effectiveness of governance mechanisms, in particular relating to democratic oversight of the security sector, and takes into account the regional and international dimensions to the issue.
Download or read book Cybersecurity Measures for E Government Frameworks written by Zaman, Noor and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2022-03-11 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As an application of information technology (IT), e-government is used for delivery in government for services and information exchange between the government and the public. This electronic service delivery is an important innovation to society; however, it also attracts hackers and cyberattacks. It is essential to provide fast protection application software and structure. Cybersecurity Measures for E-Government Frameworks provides security techniques and measures to e-governance applications. It further discusses emerging technologies in the cybersecurity field as well as the specific uses they have to e-government technologies. Covering topics such as cyberattack detection, deep learning, and preventive approaches, this book is an essential resource for government officials, security professionals, students and educators of higher education, IT professionals, researchers, and academicians.
Download or read book Economic and Societal Impact of Organized Crime Policy and Law Enforcement Interventions written by Danielsson, Alicia and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2024-03-06 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organized crime, a hidden and pervasive threat, casts its dark shadow over societies globally, impacting countless lives through activities like human trafficking, illegal drug trade, and cybercrime. This intricate web of criminality leaves lasting scars on individuals, families, and entire communities, with its true cost remaining obscured. Amidst this dilemma, the question arises: how can the erosion of societal well-being be countered and a sense of security restored? Economic and Societal Impact of Organized Crime: Policy and Law Enforcement Interventions stands as a reservoir of knowledge offering profound insights into combatting organized criminal endeavors. Edited by renowned scholar Alicia Danielsson, an expert in Comparative and EU law, this interdisciplinary collection delves beneath the surface of organized crime. Drawing on contributions from diverse fields, the book unravels real-world stories, empirical evidence, and case studies, shedding light on the psychological, physical, and economic toll exacted by these activities. Moreover, it explores the wider societal consequences, including eroding trust in institutions and exacerbating inequality and poverty. This work serves as an intellectual haven for academics, providing a roadmap to comprehending and confronting this global threat. It navigates the intricate pathways of criminal networks, corrupt actors, and the responses of law enforcement and policymakers. By championing an evidence-based approach that prioritizes human well-being and community resilience, the book equips readers to grasp the intricacies of the challenge and contribute to a world where organized crime's grip is loosened, and the foundations of security and justice are reinforced.
Download or read book Drug Traffickers and Intriguing Tentacles of Narco Terrorism written by Dr. Shreekumar Menon and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2022-12-24 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, Opium Wars, Narco-Trafficking and Narco-Terrorism, contains a vast variety of well researched articles covering the emergence of opium trade onto narco-terrorism.
Download or read book Counternetwork written by Angel Rabasa and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2017-01-04 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report presents operational characteristics of transnational criminal networks originating in South America, identifies U.S. government policies and programs to counter these networks, and examines the military's role in that context.
