Page 15 - EPLO ACTIVITY REPORT 2023

20-21 June 2023
Fifth intersessional
consultation of the Ad Hoc
Committee to Elaborate a
Comprehensive International
Convention on Countering the
Use of Information and
Communications Technologies
for Criminal Purposes.

21 August-6 September 2023
Sixth session of the Ad Hoc
Committee to Elaborate a
Comprehensive International
Convention on Countering the
Use of Information and
Communications Technologies
for Criminal Purposes.

Activities
The first Scientific Colloquium Teaching Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption issues in South-
Eastern Europe
21-22 October 2022
The “Scientific Colloquium Teaching Organized Crime”
was jointly organized and hosted by EPLO and the Global
Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-
TOC) and the Panteion University’s European Centre for
Criminal Justice, in partnership with the South Eastern
Europe Academic Anti-Corruption Network and the
Balkan Criminology Group. The event, which took place
at the EPLO premises at the Roman Agora in Athens,
brought together over 80 representatives from
international organizations, Greek judiciary and the
Government (in addition to the National Transparency
Authority), and South-Eastern Europe universities, to
discuss how to teach organized crime and anti-
corruption issues in the region.
The event’s objectives were to provide a forum for the
exchange of views and experiences in teaching these
subject areas, and to share instruments and resources
created by international organizations. Professor
Spyridon Flogaitis, Director of the EPLO, addressed the
event’s opening remarks.
The GI-TOC presented the Global Organized Crime
Index, the Western Balkans Anti-corruption Pledge
Monitor and its academic engagement efforts.
Representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime shared their organized crime, corruption and
integrity teaching modules and manuals; Transparency
International presented the Corruption Perception
Index; and the International Anti-Corruption Academy
outlined their Master’s degree courses on anti-
corruption. The event provided academics from South-
Eastern Europe, namely Albania, Bosnia and
Athens Colloquium Group Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo,
Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, with the opportunity to present their organized crime and corruption
courses to stakeholders and students from the region. Along with networking opportunities and the strengthening
of professional relationships, the event contributed to the exchange of information and exposed the younger
generation to learning opportunities available in the region and those offered by international organizations. The
event was convened in memory of Dimitri Vlassis, former Chief of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch,
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, who passed away in April 2019.
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