On 24 November 2020, UNICRI in collaboration with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) held the virtual webinar “What Enhances Community Resilience to Violent Extremism? Main findings from UNICRI Pilot Project in Sahel-Maghreb region”. As the official launch of the Project’s final report “Many hands on an elephant”, the webinar featured speakers from four partner civil society organisations, as well as representatives from UNICRI and DG NEAR.

On 7-10 December 2020, the Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission (LAEC), with the support of UNICRI held a four-day national training entitled “Combating illicit trafficking of Radioactive and Nuclear Materials” for the Lebanese officers responding to nuclear security events and illicit trafficking operations. The training was conducted within the framework of the project “CONTACT – Enhancing capacities to prevent the trafficking of radiological and nuclear material in the Middle East”.

On 4 December 2020, UNICRI held the virtual meeting “Supply chain security: illicit trafficking of precious metals”. The meeting was organized by the UNICRI Knowledge Center SIRIO in Geneva.

CARICOM States will soon benefit from enhanced  global tools and expertise related to research, delivery of training, capacity building, technical assistance and policy support to assist in reducing criminality and countering terrorism in the Region, through an enhanced collaboration between the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS).

On 9 December 2020, UNICRI will held a specialized virtual course aimed at analysing how violent non-state actors, including terrorist, violent extremist and organized criminal groups, are maliciously using social media during COVID-19 to spread misinformation and disinformation.

These actors have created and amplified misleading content on a large-scale by taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the social media ecosystem and by manipulating people through conspiracy narratives and fake news.

On 25-27 November 2020, a UNICRI Team held a virtual meeting to discuss and consult with the Georgian authorities responsible for preventing the trafficking of radiological and nuclear (RN) material. The meeting was conducted within the framework of the project CONTACT – Enhancing capacities to prevent the trafficking of radiological and nuclear material in the Black Sea. The meeting was organized with the precious support of the State Security Service of Georgia.

On 23-24 November 2020, a UNICRI Team held a virtual meeting to discuss and consult with the Moldovan authorities responsible for preventing the trafficking of radiological and nuclear (RN) material. The meeting was conducted within the framework of the project CONTACT – Enhancing capacities to prevent the trafficking of radiological and nuclear material in the Black Sea. The meeting was organized with the precious support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova.