science

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime rather than just read about it. In short: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; 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 by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna, adopting the current name…

Key takeaways

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; 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 by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna, adopting the current name in 2002. The agency's focus is the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. In 2022–23, it had an estimated biannual budget of US$822 million.

History The United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna were merged to form the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. This was renamed to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2002.

Organisational structure

Locations UNODC, which as of 2020 employs around 3400 people worldwide, has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, with 115 field offices and two liaison offices in Brussels and in New York City. The United Nations Secretary-General appoints the agency's Executive Director. Yuri Fedotov, the former Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, held this position from 2010 until 2019, when the United Nations Secretary-General announced that Ms. Ghada Fathi Waly of Egypt would replace him as both executive director of UNODC and Director General of the United Nations Office at Vienna. Main operating locations:

Africa and Middle East Europe and West/Central Asia Latin America and the Caribbean Southeast Asia and the Pacific South Asia Liaison Office(s) · Brussels · New York

Sub agencies The United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme Network (PNI) is a network consisting of UNODC as well as many crime-related institutes and other centres around the world. Its aim is to strengthen international co-operation in the areas of crime prevention and criminal justice. The network facilitates the "exchange of information, research, training and public education". UNODC incorporates the secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). UNODC's Terrorism Prevention Branch was headed by International terrorism studies expert Alex P. Schmid from 1999 to 2005. The agency is a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group.

Budget In 2022–2023 it had an estimated biannual budget of US$822 million.

Aims and functions UNODC was established to assist the UN in better addressing a coordinated, comprehensive response to the interrelated issues of illicit trafficking in and abuse of drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption. These goals are pursued through three primary functions: research, guidance and support to governments in the adoption and implementation of various crime-, drug-, terrorism-, and corruption-related conventions, treaties and protocols, as well as technical/financial assistance to said governments to face their respective situations and challenges in these fields. The office aims long-term to better equip governments to handle drug-, crime-, terrorism-, and corruption-related issues, to maximise knowledge on these issues among governmental institutions and agencies, and also to maximise awareness of said matters in public opinion, globally, nationally and at community level. Approximately 90% of the Office's funding comes from voluntary contributions, mainly from governments. These are the main themes that UNODC deals with: alternative development, anti-corruption, criminal justice, prison reform and crime prevention, drug prevention, treatment and care, HIV and AIDS, human trafficking and migrant smuggling, money laundering, organized crime, piracy, terrorism prevention.

The World Drug Report The World Drug Report is a yearly publication that presents a comprehensive assessment of the international drug problem, with detailed information on the illicit drug situation. It provides estimates and information on trends in the production, trafficking and use of opium/heroin, coca/cocaine, cannabis and amphetamine-type stimulants. The Report, based on data and estimates collected or prepared by Governments, UNODC and other international institutions, attempts to identify trends in the evolution of global illicit drug markets. Through the World Drug Report, UNODC aims to enhance member states' understanding of global illicit drug trends and increase their awareness of the need for the more systematic collection and reporting of data relating to illicit drugs.

Treaties United Nations Conventions and their related Protocols underpin all the operational work of UNODC.

Crime-related treaties

United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

The convention is a legally binding instrument that entered into force on 29 September 2003, through which States parties commit to taking a series of measures against transnational organized crime. States that ratify the convention has the duty of creation of domestic offences to combat the problem, the adoption of new, sweeping frameworks for mutual legal assistance, extradition, law enforcement cooperation, technical assistance and training. The convention signifies an important stage in dealing with transnational crime by recognizing the seriousness of the problem that the crime poses, and gaining understanding from the member states of the importance of a cooperative measure. The convention is complemented by three different protocols:

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

In research: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Corruption, Counterterrorism, Criminal justice reform, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in simple terms?

Why does United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.