Illicit financial flows is the grease that facilitates and fuses transnational organized crime: drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime and corruption, and they cross borders faster than any single jurisdiction can follow. The Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as leading global financial and trade hubs, are particularly exposed to these challenges. I was pleased to join H.E. Hamad Ajlan Al Amimi, Assistant Secretary General for Security Affairs of the GCC, at #UNTOC2026 to discuss how to strengthen regional collaboration to address these threats. Through our strategic partnership with the GCC and its Secretariat, we will continue building on our partnership, support cooperation between jurisdictions, and share best practices across countries in the region and beyond.

Africa is affected by a multitude of complex, dynamic migrant smuggling routes that connect countries across the continent and that extend to Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and the Americas. From the Mediterranean to the Eastern and Southern routes within Africa, migrants often face violence, exploitation, and the risk of trafficking; many do not survive. Today at #UNTOC2026, I highlighted the need to strengthen cooperation across jurisdictions, close the gaps that criminals exploit, invest in data, protect migrants, and address the conditions that make smuggling possible. This is an important opportunity to ensure that migration is addressed in a way that protects people, upholds human dignity, and tackles the criminal networks that prey on the vulnerable. Very grateful to South Africa for convening this event and for placing migration as one of its key priorities. @UNODC stands ready to deepen our partnership in supporting efforts that address this challenge.