When we think about the global drugs trade – countries like Colombia and Mexico often come to mind. But according to the Global Organized Crime Index, the country that sits just behind those two is Paraguay. In fact, Paraguay sits 4th globally for levels of criminality, with 7.52 out of 10.

It has really high scores for illicit markets like arms trafficking (9), counterfeit goods (9), Cocaine (8.5), and Cannabis (9). But then if we look at Criminal Actors within the OC Index, again, Paraguay scores incredibly highly across the board, for example state-embedded actors are at 9 out of 10, alongside foreign criminal actors. Overall, its Criminal Actor score is 8.3 out of 10.

Since 2021, Paraguay has seen an increase of 0.82 in levels of criminality, which means it climbed 12 places to 4th globally.

In addition to this, levels of resilience have remained relatively low, at 3.42 out of 10.

Only four other countries have seen a larger increase in the gap between criminality and resilience.

In this episode Thin discusses the situation in Paraguay.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speakers: Professor Alba Maria González Rolón, former Judge for the first and only court dealing with Organized Crime in Paraguay and member of the GI Network of Experts.

OC Index Country profile(s):

Paraguay Country Profile

Additional Links:

The Global Organized Crime Index

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Welcome to Underworlds with Mark Shaw.

Organized Crime is everywhere, hidden in plain sight. The stories from this world have been mythologised by Hollywood. But the reality can be even stranger and more exciting than fiction.

From the golden age of the American mafia (La Cosa Nostra), to the modern-day cocaine empires, and from the shadowy links between organized crime and terrorism, to the twilight of the Yakuza.

In this series Mark Shaw, the Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime delves into non-fiction books about organized crime and the illicit economy with the authors themselves. He asks questions about their background and investigations, but also the challenges associated in writing about this murky world.

Ivory poaching is a problem wherever we find elephants, and that is no different in India. The ivory taken from the Asian elephants has long been prized in both traditional Chinese medicine and also ivory artefacts.

According to the Global Organized Crime Index, India has low score for Criminal Actors (4.8), but scores highly for Criminal Markets (6.7), where it sits 16th globally. Ivory poaching falls into the category of Fauna Crimes, here India scores 7.0 out of 10, that places the country 25th globally.

But India also has the highest levels of Resilience (5.42) to organized crime in South Asia.

In this episode we discuss an AI-driven technology developed specifically to help combat ivory poaching in India.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speakers: Sharada Balasubramanian, independent environmental journalist.

Links:

(Article) ‘Hawk-eyed: India is fighting its ivory poachers with a powerful tech weapon’

ECOSOLVE project

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) - Kerala Forest & Wildlife Department takes official charge of ‘HAWK’ to Combat Wildlife Crime

OC Index Country profile(s):

India Country Profile

Additional Links:

The Global Organized Crime Index

The Observatory of Illicit Economies in Central and South Asia (CSA-Obs)

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime