The Virtual Counter-Terrorism Week organized by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism concluded its discussions on Friday July 10, 2020.

On July 10, 2020, the European Parliament adopted with 534 votes to 25 and 122 abstentions a resolution on a comprehensive Union policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.[1]

On July 10, 2020, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued its World Wildlife Crime Report 2020.[1] The report underscores the threat wildlife trafficking poses to nature and the biodiversity of the planet. The report discusses the trafficking of some wild species, such as pangolins, birds, turtles, tigers, bears, etc. According to the report, trafficking wild animals increases the potential for transmission of zoonotic diseases, which are spread from animals to humans.

On June 17, 2020, the Trump Administration imposed new sanctions on the Syrian government, led by President Bashar al-Assad. The sanctions are intended to prevent private and foreign investors from supporting reconstruction and revenue-producing efforts in the country, which has been ravaged by a civil war.[1] The stated purpose of the sanctions is to create accountability for the Assad regime’s violence against the Syrian people through the use of diplomatic and coercive economic measures. The Caesar Act was sponsored by Senator James Risch (R-Id.) and signed into action by President Trump in December 2019.  

In June, 2020, the European Parliament released a report authored by Wouter van Ballegooij on the implementation of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), EU’s “flagship instrument” of international cooperation in criminal matters.[1]

On July 2, 2020, Europol and Eurojust, together with French and Dutch law enforcement and judicial authorities, announced the results of a joint investigation, dismantling EncroChat, an encrypted phone network employed by criminal networks, and arresting thousands of individuals and seizing the instrumentalities and proceeds of crime.[1]

In June 2020, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, an international civil society organization,[1] released a timely report focusing on crime in the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

The impact of current immigration policies, laser focused to expedite the removal of asylum seekers from the border regardless of humanitarian concerns, has been exacerbated by Covid-19. Two significant reports outline the unacceptable realities.

On June 25, 2020, Novartis Hellas S.A.C.I. (Novartis Greece), a subsidiary of Novartis AG, a Swiss-based global pharmaceutical company, and Alcon Pte Ltd., a former subsidiary of Novartis AG and current subsidiary of multinational eye care company Alcon Inc., have agreed to pay more than $233 million in criminal monetary penalties to resolve the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).[1]

On June 9, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded that there was no jurisdiction for the suit of the Saretta Barnet Trust Foundation and Sotheby’s Inc. against the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports. The viability of the suit, which arose from Greece’s patrimony claims to a miniature horse figurine placed on auction by Sotheby’s, depended on the court’s interpretation of the commercial activities exemption to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. While the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York initially determined Greece’s claim was a commercial activity that exempted it from sovereign immunity, the Court of Appeals has remanded that decision.