Legalize it? – An International SWP Project Examines How Legal and Illegal Commodity Flows Intersect
SWP Podcast 2021/eP 08, 15.07.2021 ForschungsgebieteDrugs, art, humans, gold – organized criminal networks smuggle illegal products into legal supply chains to then sell them on the European market. Roman Kern and Anne Kathrin Thüringer speak with experts of an international SWP project that takes a closer look at some of these illicit supply chains.
Dr Judith Vorrath is a Senior Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik/SWP) with a focus on transnational organized crime linked to armed violence and fragility. As she investigates illegal human trafficking, particularly of women from southern Nigeria, she sheds light on the connection to local traditions and spiritual rituals, as well as the colonial slave trade and even current migration movements. Dr Melanie Müller is a Senior Associate with a focus on Southern Africa at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, SWP) and the head of the research project “Approaches for Transnational Governance of Sustainable Commodity Supply Chains”. Her research examines illegal gold mining in South Africa and the resulting transnational illicit trade and financial flows. She identifies both the underlying socioeconomic disparity in South Africa as well as the ambiguous legal status of artisanal mining as fundamental barriers to tackling organized criminal networks in this sector.
