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Dr Matt Garrod Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Law, Politics and Sociology and Director of the Sussex Terrorism and Extremism Research Network (STERN) recently published a major piece of empirical research The Applicability and Effectiveness of the AU’s Instruments to Organized Criminal Terrorism Empirical Links: Organised Crime and Terrorism in Africa published by Brill.com

What is it about? 

According to the African Union, Africa is a ‘terrorist breeding ground’ and the epicentre of the links between organised crime and terrorism globally. This publication is the first empirical study to examine (1) how some of the most powerful and lethal transnational terrorist groups in Africa benefit from seven different types of organised crime financially, logistically and operationally and (2) the applicability and effectiveness of African Union legal instruments for combatting the phenomenon. 

The ‘effectiveness’ of African Union legal instruments is based on the extent to which such instruments provide a legal basis to facilitate coordinated practice among states with regard to harmonized criminalisation and the operation of the law ‘on the ground’ in terms of law enforcement. The primary focus of this research is East and West Africa and the Sahel, which are sub-regions most affected by organised crime and terrorism. 

Dr Matt Garrod said of the research: 

“I was motivated to conduct and publish this research because of the growing threat of terrorism and organised crime in Africa. Yet, the African Union has done little to respond to this threat. As a former independent expert at the UN, I was aware that the UN also urgently needs empirical data to inform policy responses to this problem. The next goal is to use the findings from this research to inform policy and legal responses to the links between terrorism and organised crime in Africa”.

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