Muhammad Ferdaus, Lecturer and Coordinator, Postgraduate Programs in Disaster Management (PPDM), SOAD, attended the Constructive Dialogue in Technical Assistance at the UNODC Civil Society Unit from May 30 to 31, 2023, at the UNODC Headquarters, Vienna, Austria.
The UNODC has long been processing a new convention on transnational crime called UNTOC (United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crimes), and this interactive dialogue is part of the review mechanism of that convention. The goal of this dialogue was to create a bridge between civil society actors and the government to tackle organized crime together.
There were speakers from all around the globe, including Russia, Ukraine, China, the United States, the European Union, etc. As transnational crimes work beyond borders, UNTOC suggests a pilot project where three countries could potentially work together, one of them as a country under review and two of them overseeing the process. The first piloting was done with the financial aid of the USA between Pakistan and Mexico and was a massive success. This constructive dialogue celebrated that and encouraged more Asian countries to join the path.
Muhammad Ferdaus has a long history of working in the field of organized crime, especially as a policy researcher and specialist. He worked closely with the ATU, CTTC of Bangladesh Police, and diplomatic missions on security aspects, specifically countering the issue of violent extremism and terrorism in Bangladesh. He also works with various law enforcement agencies and intelligence services. Ferdaus expressed his gesture at the dialogue and has been chosen to act as a beacon in this review process to assist the Bangladesh government.
Furthermore, he expressed his keen enthusiasm to work on the localization of the documents UNODC has prepared for UNTOC in UN languages. It is a must that, for proper transfer of knowledge, it be available in regional languages. Ferdaus kindly offered his help, which was vastly appreciated at the program.