On November 19, 2024, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) launched its report, Under the Guns: Firearms Trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean.[1]  The report points out that even though only eight percent of the world lives in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the region has one-third of all homicides worldwide.  Arms trafficking is now more than a law enforcement challenge.  Transnational organized criminals (TCOs) use the proliferation of semi- and fully automatic rifles, grenade launchers, and various high-caliber weapons to endanger the sovereignty of various countries, most recently Haiti and Ecuador.[2] The report makes a number of recommendations for each of the regions.

                On November 6, 2024, INTERPOL announced that between September 29 to October 4, 2024, it conducted an operation leading to the rescue of 3,222 potential victims of human trafficking and identified 17,793 irregular migrants.  The operation was done with law enforcement authorities in 116 countries and territories.[1]  

               Even though only a few days have elapsed since the United States Presidential elections on November 5, 2024, important implications can be drawn from the results.

               On November 12, 2024, a former Miami banker pleaded guilty to his role in a bribery and money laundering scheme involving the former Comptroller General of Ecuador.

                Over the past month, multiple Palestinian detainees have alleged that the Israeli Army has been using them as human shields. The use of human shields during times of war is not unprecedented; however, Israeli soldiers have taken this abuse to a whole new level. According to Al Jazeera and Haaretz, Israeli troops are abducting Palestinians, dressing them in Israeli military uniforms, and forcing them to enter areas that are thought to be booby-trapped or targets. These practices significantly differ from when Israeli forces previously allowed Palestinian detainees to wear their civilian clothes and used robots and trained dogs as shields.

                On September 11, 2024, the General Court (Fourth Chamber, Extended Composition) delivered a judgment in Case T‑793/22 TU v European Parliament.[1] In essence, the Court ruled that The European Parliament infringed certain protection rules relating to the status of an “informant” of a parliamentary assistant. In the judgment, the case documents, and the press release, the terms “informant” and “whistle-blower” are used interchangeably. By confining itself to relieving the person concerned of his duties, the Parliament did not take all the measures necessary to ensure that he had balanced and effective protection against any form of retaliation.

                In a significant development for global criminal justice, Sean McGovern, a high-ranking member of Ireland's Kinahan Organized Crime Group, was apprehended in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on October 10, 2024. McGovern, who faces charges in Ireland ranging from murder to directing a crime organization, was detained following the issuance of an INTERPOL Red Notice.[1] This event marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing international fight against organized crime, illustrating both the effectiveness of coordinated law enforcement and the challenges of cross-border extradition.

               On October 17, 2024, the Justice Department announced the official charges against Vikash Yadav, an Indian government employee who remains at large, for his role in plotting to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. citizen. Yadav was charged in a second superseding indictment for the Southern District of New York while his alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta, was extradited to the U.S. on charges contained in the first indictment.[1] According to Anne Milgram, the administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, “We charge that Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on U.S. soil.”^[2] Additionally, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland stated that, “The Justice Department will be relentless in holding accountable any person – regardless of their position or proximity to power – who seeks to harm and silence American citizens.”[3]

                Prosecutors in Finland have charged Yan Petrovsky, also known as Voislav Toden, with committing five war crimes in Ukraine in 2014. “The charges are related to the suspect’s activities in a unit called Rusich, which has fought on the side of the Russian-backed Luhansk separatist region against Ukraine,” Finnish prosecutors said in a released statement.[1]  Petrovsky allegedly  helped found and lead the neo-Nazi, paramilitary group Rusich.  Prosecutors assert that Petrovsky was Rusich’s deputy commander and culpable for the deaths of twenty-two Ukrainian soldiers, and critically wounding four more.[2]  The group is rumored to have ties to both the Kremlin and Wagner group. It is also  accused of perpetrating acts of terrorism in the Ukraine war.  Petrovsky, who has been on Finnish soil since July of last year, has denied all charges.

                On October 16, 2024, when Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh highlighted the benefits of its policies at an anti-corruption round table with leaders from 15 major U.S. companies, the Biden-Harris White House released a fact sheet on its achievements in combating transnational corruption.[1]  The report observes that the first National Security Study Memorandum of the Administration identified countering corruption as a “core U.S. national security interest,” leading in December 2021 to the first U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption.