⭕️ Today, we release our 2026 report on the presence of organized crime and armed groups in the Amazon. It is our third annual mapping and comes with an interactive tool. Check it out! ➡️ amazonunderworld.org/policy-…

Today we are hosting "The Energy Transition and Organized Crime in the Amazon: Illegal Mining, Illicit Economies and the Governance Challenge for UNTOC," an official UNTOC COP13 side event in Vienna. Organized by Amazon Underworld with the support of @amazonwatch and the @GI_TOC, this session addresses how the global push for clean energy is unintentionally opening a new illegal mining frontier across the Amazon. While demand for critical minerals surges worldwide to power green technology, weak local governance allows criminal networks to control and tax illicit extraction. These activities converge with drug trafficking, land and timber trafficking, and money laundering—endangering Indigenous Peoples and connecting remote forest territories to global supply chains. 1. The Energy Transition Paradox: How surging demand for strategic minerals fuels illicit economies and deforestation. 2. Transnational Convergence: Concrete evidence linking illegal mining to drug smuggling, land trafficking, and international supply chains. 3. Actionable Governance & Protocols: Positioning traceable supply chains, territorial security, and international cooperation as core strategies under the proposed UNTOC protocol on environmental crimes. Join field investigators, state representatives, and indigenous rights advocates as we bridge field-based evidence with global anti-crime policy.

Amazon Underworld’s participation as an observer at the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) Conference of the Parties is strategically important because it creates a bridge between evidence from the ground in the Amazon and international policymaking on organized crime. Organized crime in the Amazon is not limited by national borders. Criminal networks operate across countries, exploiting gaps in governance, environmental regulation, and law enforcement. Activities such as illegal gold mining, mineral trafficking, drug trafficking, and illicit economies are increasingly interconnected, with serious consequences for Indigenous peoples, local communities, ecosystems, and territorial governance. Our role as observers goes beyond sharing research findings. We seek to transform evidence into advocacy, advocacy into political engagement, and political engagement into concrete policy commitments. Our advocacy work focuses on four interconnected priorities: 1. Influencing international policy agendas: Bringing evidence from the Amazon into UNTOC discussions, particularly regarding environmental crimes, illegal mining, mineral trafficking, and the connections between criminal economies and transnational organized crime. We aim to ensure that these issues are adequately reflected in international priorities and emerging legal frameworks. 2. Engaging directly with governments: Through bilateral meetings and diplomatic dialogue, we seek to understand national positions, identify opportunities for convergence, and encourage States to support stronger international cooperation, including discussions on a potential additional protocol on crimes that affect the environment. 3. Building coalitions and strategic partnerships: Connecting governments, civil society organizations, Indigenous representatives, and international institutions to strengthen collective advocacy efforts and develop coordinated positions that can influence negotiations and future implementation. 4. Connecting international commitments to territorial realities: Using our investigations and engagement with affected communities to advocate for policies that respond to the actual dynamics of organized crime in the Amazon, while promoting human rights, environmental protection, and meaningful community participation. Our objective is not simply to participate in international discussions, but to influence how governments understand, prioritize, and respond to organized crime in the Amazon.

¡AMAZON UNDERWORLD EN LA #COP13 DE LA #UNTOC! Recibimos la invitación oficial para participar como organización observadora en la 13.ª Conferencia de las Partes de la UNTOC, que se celebra en Viena del 19 al 23 de octubre. 🇦🇹 Es una oportunidad clave para llevar la evidencia de nuestras investigaciones de campo directamente ante delegaciones diplomáticas y responsables de políticas públicas a nivel global. En Viena buscaremos posicionar la trazabilidad en las cadenas de suministro, la gobernanza territorial e indígena y la urgencia de un nuevo protocolo sobre delitos ambientales en la agenda de seguridad internacional. ¡Mira las imágenes para conocer la agenda completa!

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Desde la perspectiva del Derecho Internacional Humanitario (DIH), no existe el "reclutamiento voluntario" de menores: la indigencia estructural y la falta de opciones anulan cualquier consentimiento legal, trasladando la plena responsabilidad penal a los adultos que los instrumentan.

La falta de registros oficiales y el temor a denunciar en zonas fronterizas perpetúan un círculo vicioso: sin cifras no hay emergencia, y sin emergencia el Estado no interviene con soluciones de fondo.

La provincia peruana de Putumayo enfrenta una grave crisis socioeconómica y de seguridad: registra la tercera mayor extensión de cultivos ilícitos de coca en el país (1 211 ha) junto con un avance de la minería ilegal de oro, mientras los grupos armados (CdF) reclutan jóvenes ofreciendo armas, alimentos y unos 600 dólares mensuales. Esta problemática se agrava por el rezago social y la falta de oportunidades, reflejados en una pobreza que afecta a la mitad de la población, un analfabetismo del 7,2 % y una deserción escolar casi tres veces mayor al promedio nacional, acentuada por la falta de colegios secundarios en muchas comunidades.

El grupo disidente colombiano Comandos de la Frontera (CdF) utiliza el territorio peruano como plataforma estratégica para el narcotráfico y la minería ilegal, cooptando a niños y adolescentes peruanos.

PT: amazonunderworld.org/pt-br/o…