Riikka Puttonen holds a PhD in law and is trained as a judge in her home country Finland. She joined UNODC in 1999, initially in South-East Asia, and has worked to counter various forms of organized crime, notably participation in an organized criminal group in general and trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants – and more recently wildlife crime and falsified medical products.
Riikka currently works in the Organized Crime Branch of UNODC as the programme manager of the global programme on implementation of the Organized Crime Convention. She is the secretary of the Working Group of Government Experts on Technical Assistance to implement the Organized Crime Convention and the Protocols thereto.
Sarah is an elected member of the Executive Committee of the World Society of Victimology, Chairperson All-Africa Criminal Justice Society and a Focal Point for Stakeholder Engagement for Implementation of UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC SE4U) and its 3 Protocols (Trafficking in Persons, Smuggling of Migrants & Illicit Firearms). Dean, Faculty of Psychology and Criminology at Frantz Fanon University in Hargeisa, Somalia. Previous engagements in university teaching, administration, project management and research in the field of Organized Crime (Human Trafficking and Maritime Piracy) covered fifteen countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America. Sample regional and global research areas: UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking Project www.ungift.org; Creating a Regional Action Plan to Prevent and Combat HT in Eastern Africa; Maritime Piracy in East Africa.
Mr. Acuña has worked for more than two decades on the issues of democratic governance and public administration at the global, regional and country levels. From 2014 to 2019 he was the UNDP's global advisor on basic government functions where he led institutional reforms in countries affected by fragility and conflict. Mr. Acuña has led the development and implementation of policies and programs for the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular goal 16 on peace, justice and efficient institutions in several countries.
Mr. Acuña has work experience in governance and public sector reform issues at the World Bank Institute and Washington, D.C .; the Danish Agency for International Development and HN Consultants ApS in Denmark; the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico; the International Center for Human Development, the Central American Organization of Audit Institutions, Transparency International and the UNDP in Costa Rica. Mr. Acuña holds academic degrees from the University of Oxford (Ph.D. candidate), University of Essex in England (MA in Political Economy) and National University, Costa Rica (MSc International Relations). He was a recipient of the Ronaldo Falconer Scholarship at St. Antony's College at Oxford University from 2004-2007, as well as a recipient of the 1999-2000 British Chevening Scholarship.
Maria de la Luz Lima Malvido is an expert in victimology, criminology and in criminal law. She was trained at, “Violent Criminal Apprehension Program” (VICAP), FBI-PGR. She has a PhD in Law. Professor Lima was awarded a certificate in terrorist studies by the University of St Andrews, Scotland (2008-2009). She is the writer of several books and articles, including victim rights, immigration law, and female criminality. She was a Sexual Offenses and Kidnapping Prosecutor and the deputy Attorney General of Mexico. She has been part of experts groups in the United Nations on topics on violence against women, gender, victim assistance and organized crime and has been a guest professor at different universities in Argentina, Honduras Colombia, Santo Domingo, Croatia, and others. Currently she is a researcher and Professor of Victimology at Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Penales (National Institute for Crime Sciences, INACIPE).
