“This issue of the Magazine Freedom From Fear (F3) The day we discovered our fragility and our strength addresses the collateral effects of COVID-19 impacting criminal justice, namely, the growing influence of organized crime and terrorism and the rise of violence against and exploitation of women and children. I wish to commend all the authors and the Ghent University for exhibiting their commitment to research and innovation during these challenging times.
The COVID-19 virus knows no boundaries. It is laying bare weaknesses and vulnerabilities in even the most powerful countries and the richest families, while the vulnerable among us suffer the most. Nothing is remote anymore. We are all connected: our economies, our security, our health, and our futures. The achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in its 2030 Agenda is critical to the world’s collective recovery from the multifaceted impacts of the pandemic. United Nations programmes implemented in the past, for example, in response to the Ebola crisis, are now mitigating the deadly effects of COVID-19; African countries, indeed, are better able to respond to the public health crisis and to counter zoonotic diseases.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic is a “human crisis that is fast becoming a human rights crisis.” Nationalism, racism and xenophobia, abuses of power, and oppression by criminal and extremist groups are all on the rise. Applying the shared values of the United Nations, UNICRI and its partners are committed to countering COVID-19’s direct and indirect acceleration of human rights violations, crime, armed conflict, inequality, and de-development. As showcased in this edition of F3, our expertise in research, training, and the dissemination of information based upon sound research and innovation, is a force for positive change and hope as together the world emerges from the most significant challenge of our times.”
Antonia Marie De Meo, Director of UNICRI
Table of contents:
Coronavirus as a burning glass for digital risks?
by Thomas-Gabriel Rüdiger
Cyber-crime during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Adil Radoini
How organized crime is expanding during the COVID-19 crisis
by Marco Musumeci and Francesco Marelli
Evolution from a social animal to a virtual animal? Using New Tech and AI Responsibly During and Post-COVID-19 Crisis Period
by Irakli Beridze and Maria Eira
The principles of equality and non-discrimination under viral attack: Stigma, hate speech, xenophobia, racism and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic
by Odhran McCarthy and Sophie Van De Meulengraaf
Covid-19 pandemic and illicit drugs
by Alessandra Liquori O’Neil
Domestic violence — the shadow pandemic of Covid19 Effects of policy measures on vulnerable population
by Elke Klaassen
Covid-19 pandemic and gender aspects
by Alessandra Liquori O’Neil
Partner and domestic violence during the COVID-19 crisis
by Wim Hardyns, Ines Keygnaert, Koen Ponnet and Christophe Vandeviver
AESI promoted active dialogue among students on several topics of international relations in this pandemic period
by Massimo Maria Caneva, President AESI
The young people of Mali: Key players against Covid-19
by Yehiya Boré
Coronavirus: in Timbuktu youth are at the forefront of raising awareness against COVID-19
by Mohamed Mahmoud Elhadj
Violent Extremist Offenders Rehabilitation and Reintegration in prison: a focus on the challenges and way forward in Mali
by Elise Vermeersch and Elena Dal Santo
Gender in the digital age: exploring innovative practices and women’s involvement
by Soraya Binetti
"He for She”: The new wave of the cultural revolution
by Varun VM
