From AI to blockchain, emerging technologies are reshaping the landscape of WMD non-proliferation. This issue of the 1540 Compass explores how innovation can serve as both a challenge and a catalyst for stronger implementation of UNSCR 1540.
From 28 April to 2 May, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) conducted the first Train-the-Trainers (TTT) session on countering radiological and nuclear (RN) trafficking for nuclear and radiological security stakeholders in Uzbekistan. The training took place in Tashkent and was hosted by the Customs Institute under the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
The Report Crimes Associated with Critical Minerals in Southeast Asia: Trends, Challenges and Solutions, offers a regionally focused analysis of the risks and vulnerabilities posed by illicit activity in the critical minerals sector. As Southeast Asia’s role in supplying minerals is essential to the global energy transition and digital technologies expand, so too does its exposure to environmental crime, corruption, and illicit financial flows.
Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents pose a significant threat to global safety and security. These events can result in devastating human, environmental, and economic consequences, while also undermining public trust and social stability. Effectively managing CBRN risks requires a coordinated and strategic approach—one that goes beyond immediate response to include long-term planning, capacity building, and interagency collaboration.
On 9 April 2025, in Nouakchott, Mauritania, UNICRI held the closing event of its project Gender-Based Discrimination and the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) in the Sahel, generously funded by the Republic of Korea through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
The report Right- and left-wing violent extremist abuse of digital technologies in South America, Africa and Asia, jointly published by UNICRI and VOX-Pol, investigates the underexplored phenomenon of right- and left-wing violent extremist groups in the Global South and their abuse of digital technologies.
