At a recent webinar organised by the EU-financed ENACT project three panellists discussed trends in trafficking in narcotics, human smuggling and the illicit arms trade.  While during the past two decades transnational organised crime activities have seen a worldwide increase, the expectation of many observers was that COVID-19 related travel restrictions and enhanced border controls would put a dent in illicit trans-border movements.  The ENACT webinar argued that, while this was perhaps the case during the initial onset of COVID-19 in the first half of 2020, criminal markets have meanwhile re-bounded. 

The research findings of the ENACT project highlighting the conclusion that overall levels of transnational organised crime in Africa have essentially not gone down during  the COVID-19 pandemic are derived from the Organised Crime Index.  The Organised Crime Index is an initiative started by the EU ENACT project.  The Index ranks African countries according to the presence of organised crime actors in the country, the country’s vulnerability to organised crime, as well as its capacity to combat the scourge.  The first Organised Crime Index was published in 2019 and a new iteration for 2021 is in the process of being finalised. 

The panellists  at the ENACT webinar highlighted the reasons behind the persistent levels of transnational organised crime on the continent: when faced with COVID-19 related lockdowns and other measures hampering international movements (e.g. reduced flight frequencies), the international crime syndicates active on the international drugs market and trading in firearms or wildlife quickly adapted  their modus operandi.  They have started to circumvent enhanced checks and controls by altering routes, making more use of cargo shipments –in which they conceal illicit goods- and offering (higher) bribes to port officials to look the other way. 

The important point to remember is that drugs trafficking remains hugely profitable, hence transnational crime groups have every incentive to try and continue their business, despite setbacks and challenges.  In addition, criminal syndicates also discovered a new lucrative market during COVID-19, namely substandard and falsified medicines –including fake COVID-19 cures and vaccines- which they have begun to sell on the black market in African countries. 

The Organised Crime Index is a landmark output of the ENACT project and represents the first-ever multi-dimensional measure of organised crime and its impact, to provide a benchmark for measuring organised crime.  The initial results of the 2021 update of the Organised Crime Index suggest that 37 of the 54 African countries included in the index have experienced a deterioration in their criminality score, with 15 countries improving their score and two countries registering no changes.  The 2021 findings suggest a number of criminal markets experiencing a moderate to significant growth across the continent, most notably the cocaine market, as well as arms trafficking.

Other key activities undertaken by the ENACT project include the publication of a range of research papers and policy briefs on topical transnational organised crime issues in Africa  (ranging from cattle-rustling to stolen motor vehicles), as well as enhanced national and regional capacities to respond to organised crime.  In particular, the EU ENACT project has helped establish four analytical units within the national police services of Niger, Malawi, Congo and Uganda.  The project has also supported AFRIPOL in the creation of its central analytical unit.

The EU ENACT project (PANAF/2016/382070) is implemented by a consortium consisting of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in South Africa, Interpol and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC).  The project’s activities will continue until 15 February 2022 (a further extension is being considered).  The current EU financial contribution is EUR16,300,000.

 More information on the ENACT project, including the Organised Crime Index, is available at the ENACT Website