Africa Conference on Drugs and Crime: Promoting evidence-based interventions to foster African development

AFRICA CONFERENCE ON DRUGS AND CRIME - “Promoting evidence-based interventions on drugs and crime to foster African development”
February 21-23, 2022, ONLINE VIA ZOOM
The online, regional conference is organised by Slum Child Foundation Kenya, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the NGO Alliance on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (the Alliance) and the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC). 

The conference aims to create avenues for dialogue and action to address drug and crime challenges in Africa and opportunities for civil society to support governments in responding to them through the main international instruments. The intended output of the conference is an outcome document which will be presented at the 65th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the 31st session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) and the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (COP-UNTOC) in a form of conference room papers and side events. 

The conference will address the nexus between drugs and crime issues in Africa, focusing on three main topics: 

• Crime and drug use prevention among youth
• Cybercrime: Vulnerabilities and opportunities of digitalisation
• Illicit trafficking

The main sessions of the Conference are listed below. Please see the draft agenda here. 

Day One (21 February):

• OPENING SESSION & EXPERT PRESENTATIONS ON THE NEXUS BETWEEN DRUGS AND CRIME: THE EVIDENCE AND EXPERIENCE ON THE GROUND
• Breakout session 1: EXISTING INSTRUMENTS TO ADDRESS CHALLENGES ON CRIME & DRUG USE PREVENTION AMONG YOUTH
• Breakout session 2: EXISTING INSTRUMENTS ON CYBERCRIME: VULNERABILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF DIGITALIZATION
• Breakout session 3: EXISTING INSTRUMENTS FOR ADDRESSING CHALLENGES OF ILLICIT TRAFFICKING
• CLOSING SESSION – PLENARY

Day two (22 February):

• Breakout session 1: PROMISING PRACTICES AND ACTIONS FOR CRIME & DRUG USE PREVENTION AMONG YOUTH
• Breakout session 2: PROMISING PRACTICES AND ACTIONS ON CYBERCRIME IN AFRICA
• Breakout session 3: PROMISING PRACTICES AND ACTIONS TO ADDRESS ILLICIT TRAFFICKING
• CLOSING SESSION – PLENARY

Day three (23 February):

• PLENARY SESSION
• Breakout session 1: ACTIONS AND THE WAY FORWARD ON DRUGS AND CRIME AMONG YOUTH IN AFRICA
• Breakout session 2: ACTIONS AND THE WAY FORWARD TO ADDRESS CYBERCRIME IN AFRICA
• Breakout session 3: ACTIONS AND THE WAY FORWARD TO ADDRESS ILLICIT TRAFFICKING IN AFRICA
• PLENARY SESSION
• CLOSING OF THE CONFERENCE

Up to 100 participants will be able to join live, discuss with experts and contribute to the Outcome Document. To ensure that all interested stakeholders can follow the discussions, the conference sessions will be live broadcasted via Facebook and YouTube.