From 25th – 26th April 2022, FOSDA joined regional civil society actors, international partners and civil society institutions, and regional representatives of security infrastructure to engage around a pioneering research on the relationship between transnational organized crime, instability and conflict in West Africa.
The Dialogue, organized by the Global Initiative for Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) provided the opportunity for government actors, security practitioners, civil society and experts from across West Africa and international partners to focus on organised crime and its effects on critical security challenges.
Discussions at the meeting focused on illicit economies and armed conflict from Regional and international perspectives, current trends in illicit flows and political instability as well as response measures to the phenomenon.
Small arms trafficking, human trafficking and cattle rustling came up as the three top illicit activities in the sub-region followed by drug trafficking. Criminal, extremist and terrorist groups engage in these illicit activities to fund their activities which further destabilises the region.
FOSDA’s representative at the meeting, Theodora Williams Anti emphasized on the need for ECOWAS states to implement international frameworks such as the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms to control the production of small arms and arms trafficking in the sub-region.
Other proposed responses included creation of jobs for the teaming youth of West Africa, Increasing national security funding, enforcement of anti-money laundry laws, empowering CSOs and local communities to fight crime among others .