Overview of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was established in 1997 through a merger of the United Nations Drug Control Programme and the Centre for International Crime Prevention. The office was created to assist the UN in providing a coordinated and comprehensive response to the related issues of drug trafficking and drug abuse, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption.
In its work towards these goals, the UNODC conducts research and analysis, provides guidance and technical/financial assistance to governments in the adoption and implementation of various crime-, drug-, terrorism-, and corruption-related conventions, and drafts relevant treaties and protocols.
The Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB), a subdepartment of the UNODC, delivers assistance to Member States for the ratification, legislative incorporation and implementation of the international legal instruments against terrorism. The TPB works to:
- promote the ratification of the 19 universal legal instruments against terrorism;
- support the drafting and review of national legislation in order to incorporate the legal standards of these international legal instruments;
- build the capacity of national criminal justice officials to implement these standards; and
- support regional and international cooperation in criminal matters in particular in relation to requests for mutual legal assistance and extradition.