The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), sometimes shortened as Global Initiative, is an
international non-governmental organization
An international non-governmental organization (INGO) is an organization which is independent of government involvement and extends the concept of a non-governmental organization (NGO) to an international scope. INGOs can admit members affiliated t ...
headquartered in
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
. The organisation is composed of a network of law enforcement, governance and development practitioners, who share the objective of developing innovative strategies and responses to
organized crime
Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
.
In July 2020, the network counted 500 experts.
The organisation was launched formally at the
United Nations headquarters
The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) is on of grounds in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It borders First Avenue (Manhattan), First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd ...
, in New York in September 2013. It was initially established with funding and operational support from both the Governments of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
and of
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. The Global Initiative has offices in Geneva,
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, and
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
.
Governance
The Global Initiative Board for 2017-2020 is composed of Sarah F. Cliffe (Chair), and board members
Rodrigo Avila,
Gwen Boniface,
Solange Ghernaouti,
Misha Glenny
Michael V. E. "Misha" Glenny (born 25 April 1958) is an English journalist and Television presenter, broadcaster, specialising in southeast Europe, global organised crime, and cybersecurity. He has been Rector of the Institute for Human Science ...
,
Marc Hofstetter,
Kristin Kvigne,
Nick Lewis,
Moises Naim,
Mary Jane C. Ortega and
Gladwell Otieno. The leadership team is composed of Mark Shaw (Director) and Tuesday Reitano (Deputy Director).
Activities and partnerships
The Global Initiative has published numerous publications, reports and policy briefs on organised crime. It has published a report together with the
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...
on combatting environmental crime.
According to an article at ''Polizia Moderna'',
the Global Initiative is the first organisation which analysed the risks and dangers associated with the infiltration of criminal organisations into the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a focus on the social and economic results. In March 2020, the organisation published a report of which summarized the
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted crime and illicit economies such as organised crime, terrorism, street crime, online crime, illegal markets and smuggling, human and wildlife trafficking, slavery, robberies and burglaries.
The Global Initiativ ...
.
In 2024 the Global Initiative published a report on the criminal background to
migrant smuggling across the English Channel.
The Global Initiative provides briefings to the United Nation Security Council, highlighting that the United Nations System needs a coherent, streamlined and strategic approach to combat organized crime and to reduce its negative impacts on peace and prosperity.
Together with Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Ltd., the Global Initiative developed an
illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing index for coastal states, which measures the degree to which states are exposed to and effectively combat IUU fishing.
The Global Initiative co-organizes workshops with the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French language, French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention ...
focusing on non-governmental alliances and developing multi-stakeholder engagement, in the context of the
(UNTOC).
Together with
Babson College
Babson College is a Private university, private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States specializing in entrepreneurship education. Founded in 1919 by Roger Babson, the college was established as the Babson Institute in his We ...
and the
International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations related organization working in the field of migration. The organization implements operational assistance programmes for Human migration, migrants, including internally displa ...
, the Global Initiative is a founder of the Responsible and Ethical Private Sector Coalition against Trafficking (RESPECT) initiative, which aims to find solutions to modern slavery in the public and private sectors.
The Global Initiative has partnerships with
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...
, and
Wilton Park
Wilton Park is an executive agency of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office providing a global forum for strategic discussion.
Based since 1951 at Wiston House in Sussex, it organises over 70 dialogues a year in the UK and overs ...
. It is a member of the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance, and of the Global Risk Governance programme.
Global Organized Crime Index
The
Global Organized Crime Index The Global Organized Crime Index is a index that measures and ranks countries based on the prevalence of organized crime and their resilience to it. It evaluates criminal activities like drug trafficking, human trafficking, and cybercrime, alongside ...
is a
index
Index (: indexes or indices) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index''
* The Index, an item on the Halo Array in the ...
that measures and ranks countries based on the prevalence of
organized crime
Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...
and their resilience to it. The Index was first published in 2021 by GI-TOC and was based on the 2019 ENACT Organised Crime Index for Africa.
References
External links
*
{{International criminal law
International organizations based in Europe
Crime prevention
Organized crime