On July 3, 2023, Eurojust and the European Commission announced the opening of the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) in the Hague.[1]  The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) is hosting the ICPA.  The ICPA will play an important role in investigating Russia’s alleged crime of aggression against Ukraine and facilitate case development for future trials.  The Centre will furnish a structure to support and strengthen ongoing and future investigations into the crime of aggression and contribute to the exchange and analysis of evidence collected since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.[2]

On June 21-23, 2023, the third Plenary of the Financial Action Task Force under the Presidency of T. Raja Kumar of Singapore was held.  Delegates from over 200 jurisdictions of the Global Network and observers from international organizations participated.

On June 22, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Special Agent in Charge Ivan J. Arvelo and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams announced that the United States filed and settled a civil forfeiture action against $12 million derived from the sale of stolen Southeast Asian antiquities by indicted antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford.

On June 26, 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, welcomed the completion of her technical visit to the United States and the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

On June 23, 2023, the United States Department of Justice announced the arrest of two individuals and the unsealing of three indictments in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, charging China-based companies and their employees with crimes related to fentanyl production, distribution, and sales arising from precursor chemicals.   The indictments are the first prosecutions to charge China-based companies and nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals into the U.S.  In particular, the indictments allege the defendants knowingly manufactured, marketed, sold, and furnished precursor chemicals for fentanyl production in the U.S. in violation of federal law.[1]  On June 22, 2023, Department of Homeland Security officials said they will widen a campaign targeting fentanyl by sending more teams of agents and investigators to interdict drug shipments and smuggling networks concerning fentanyl

      On November 23, 2022, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Terms of Reference for a new Committee of Experts on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law (PC-ENV). The PC-ENV was subsequently established and entrusted with the elaboration of a new draft Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law

  On, June 27, 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (the ICC or Court) issued its decision authorizing the ICC Prosecutor to resume its investigation in the situation in the Bolivarian Republic of VenezuelaI.

On June 15, 2023, the European Parliament (EP) published a resolution on lessons learnt from the Pandora Papers and other revelations.   The EP adopted the report by a 465-5 vote with 36 abstentions. 

On June 13, 2023, the European Parliament adopted a two-part legislative package will introduce a coherent EU framework for handling electronic evidence, speed up the process of evidence gathering, and maintain safeguards for fundamental rights. To make cross-border investigations more effective, MEPs voted to adopt new rules on the exchange of electronic evidence by law enforcement authorities.

On May 15 to 26, 2023, international community, represented by nearly 300 experts coming from all over the world, held a Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries in the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The key outcome of this gathering is the adoption, by consensus, the Ljubljana – The Hague Convention on International Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of the Crime of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes and other International Crimes (“the Convention”).