Beyond boardrooms: Transnational crime as a human security threat in East Africa

Minerals, wildlife products, and other illicit goods from East Africa regularly make their way to the United Arab Emirates and the wider global market. This trade is sustained by complex networks that often include corrupt customs officials, military personnel, and politicians. Among these actors, politicians frequently stand to gain the most due to the influence and control they wield over state apparatus and illicit activities. For example, in South Sudan, one of the president’s daughters has been implicated in illegal gold mining, while in the late 1990s, Ugandan military officers were implicated in the illegal exploitation of timber in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The consequences of such activities include severe environmental degradation, increased violence, and the loss of life. While political will remains central to addressing these crimes, it is difficult to achieve when politicians and segments of local communities directly benefit from them. Furthermore, when politicians and military officers engage in transnational crime, their actions ultimately cost the entire nation, as demonstrated by the DRC v. Uganda case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Although the illicit exploitation was carried out by individual military officials, the burden of paying billions in reparations fell upon the Ugandan state. From a human security perspective, such financial losses divert vital public funds away from essential social services, enriching a select few at the expense of the public.

How illicit financing undermines peacebuilding

All forms of transnational crime involve a chain of beneficiaries and facilitators, ranging from desperate individuals seeking employment in conflict zones to the middlemen and customs officials who oversee the smuggling process.

Although transnational crime does not have a formal seat at the peacebuilding table, it heavily dictates how stable a peace process will be and how far it can go. By providing steady financing to armed groups and corrupt military officials through the exploitation of natural resources, illicit trade creates a powerful economic incentive for continued instability. This incentive frequently delays, undermines, or completely derails peacebuilding efforts, leaving local communities with disrupted lives and halted development.

The missing link: Community awareness and human security

Transnational crime must be viewed as much as a direct threat to individual lives as it is to national and international security. Yet a critical question is rarely asked or answered: do local communities recognise the human security threat that transnational crime poses?

Most high-level discussions around transnational crime focus heavily on political will, overlooking the vital role of human security, which directly shapes why ordinary individuals participate in illicit economies in the first place. Recently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) finalised measures aimed at strengthening counter-trafficking frameworks. However, it remains unclear how these top-down measures will trickle down to ordinary people, who are often unwittingly drawn into these networks while simultaneously serving as the first line of defence. The core challenge is building awareness and trust to ensure local compliance when smuggling and illicit mining are viewed as essential livelihoods especially in conflict-affected areas where formal jobs are scarce and corrupt officials act as the law.

Beyond high-level boardrooms, addressing transnational crime is fundamentally a human security issue linked to employment and survival. Involving communities as part of the solution requires clearly breaking down what the smuggling of gold, timber, and wildlife for armed groups actually means for their daily lives. It must be understood as a factor that fuels and prolongs conflict, resulting in longer periods displaced from home, reduced access to medical facilities, and fewer social services.

Holding culprits and transit states accountable

To effectively combat transnational crime, local communities must be actively engaged alongside stricter top-down enforcement against conflict-sourced resources. Crucially, individual criminal responsibility, particularly for politicians and military elites, must be enforced to deter influence peddling and state capture.

Transit countries that facilitate the smuggling and trafficking of illicit products must also be held accountable. Precedent already exists: the DRC successfully sued Uganda before the ICJ over illegal resource exploitation, resulting in international penalties. However, state-level penalties alone have proven insufficient, as both Kenya and Uganda have recently been implicated as transit hubs in the illicit gold trade from South Sudan. This underscores that far more decisive political action is required.

From strengthening political will to safeguarding human security, a comprehensive approach is needed to deliver effective measures against transnational crime, which continues to threaten peace, biodiversity, and human lives.

Transnational crime does not happen in a vacuum, and neither should its solutions. From artisanal miners coerced at gunpoint into dangerous pits to laborers loading timber or smuggling minerals across borders, the everyday involvement of local populations cannot be overstated. Engaging these communities is essential, because it is ultimately through the lens of human security that the real impact of boardroom decisions is felt on the ground.