International students reflect on the role of illicit firearms in organized crime and experience real scenarios on criminal justice responses

Trento, Italy. 31 January – 1 February. Students from international Universities participated in an interactive session conducted by UNODC Firearms Trafficking Section in the framework of the Winter School at the School of International Studies of the University of Trento where they had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge on the international instruments that support an adequate criminal justice response to the illicit firearms trafficking problem.

During the first day, the students were presented the UNODC, the Global Firearms Programme (GFP) and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) mandates and were introduced to the topics of firearms flows and how firearms get diverted in from licit to illicit markets, the role illicit firearms play in the criminal world, the impact of armed violence and the international instruments that support an adequate criminal justice response at national and international levels.

The presentations were followed by a question and answers session where the students learnt more about specific research topics on firearms and how to access various open sources to sustain their research.

In continuation, the students were introduced to the use of new technologies in illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms, parts, components and ammunition and were presented the simulation exercise to be conducted the following day, respectively a debate in the context of a CCPCJ fictious session and the drafting of a declaration on this topic.

Simulation exercises

Students were given roles as Chair and Secretary of the session while others were divided in groups, representing various member states and civil society. They were allowed time to perform an open-source research to the general topic of new technologies - Chair and Secretary - and specific to each country they represented for the other members of the groups. Civil society representatives analysed the human rights and gender violence components.

During the debates the Chair presented the general topic while the Secretary raised some questions for the debates. Each country presented their declaration followed by the intervention of the representatives of the civil society. The Chair and Secretary moderated the debate session and took note on the agreed points to finally draft the common declaration.

UNODC cooperation with the academia

This activity reflects the cooperation between UNODC and the academia to raise awareness on the role of illicit firearms in supporting crime and a practical application of the modules developed by GFP under the E4J.

We recognize the role played by universities in this domain and express our hope to expand such cooperation in the future.

United Nations

Office on Drugs and Crime

International students reflect on the role of illicit firearms in organized crime and experience real scenarios on criminal justice responses