Intersectional Gender and Human Rights-Based Approach to Organized Crime

Enablers of Intersectionality

Intersectionality is facilitated by eight specific enablers. To minimize the detrimental impact of unconscious biases and beliefs, practitioners must engage in a rigorous examination of their own judgments and the structures within which they operate.

  • 1. Reflexivity: This is the process by which individuals learn about their unconscious biases, beliefs, judgments, and practices.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • How is our understanding of organized crime shaped by gender and other stereotypes?

      • How can we critically reflect on how our biases, attitudes, and beliefs influence our opinions and actions in relation to organized crime?

      • How does our privilege directly or indirectly disadvantage others we work with or encounter in our work against organized crime, including potential victims and perpetrators?

      • What can we do to address these issues in the development and implementation of law and policy measures?

  • 2. Dignity, Choice, and Autonomy: Practitioners must respect and uphold the dignity, choice, and autonomy of all people. This cannot be assumed for others, and decision-making authority cannot be substituted.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • Who has independence and who does not in organized crime groups?

      • Who has full control over how they live their life and who does not?

      • How does this impact the roles people play in organized crime and their engagement with the criminal justice system?

      • Who shares their perspectives about organized crime and response to it, and who does not?

      • Who shares their perspectives with criminal justice practitioners and why?

  • 3. Accessibility and Universal Design: This requires a universal design approach that ensures accessibility and reasonable accommodation.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • What is the composition of our criminal justice system?

      • How do staff profiles align with the intersecting identities of people we encounter in our work?

      • How may this composition impact how people outside the criminal justice system interact with it?

      • How can we ask people what they need to participate in efforts to address organized crime?

      • How can we remove physical, transportation, information, and communication barriers or provide reasonable alternatives to such participation?

      • How can we address attitudinal, environmental, and institutional barriers to such participation?

  • 4. Diverse Forms of Knowledge: Prioritize and learn from people with diverse forms of knowledge who are typically excluded from expert roles. Knowledge production is inherently tied to power dynamics.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • How do we know what we think we know about organized crime? Who told us?

      • Who has and has not been consulted? Are we consulting with various communities impacted by organized crime?

      • What voices may be missing from the discussion due to structural inequalities?

  • 5. Intersecting Identities: Consider how diverse identities interact to create unique social effects that vary by time and place. Identities are not singular, distinct, or additive; they are intertwined.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • What are the intersecting identities of the individuals who are engaged in organized crime as victims, perpetrators, and respondents?

      • Who is missing?

  • 6. Relational Power: Be aware of and challenge relational power, including one's own. Power and oppression are contextual and can change over time.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • Who holds power and makes decisions, and in what circumstances in organized crime groups?

      • How are they held to account for their decisions?

      • Who holds power and in what circumstances in the criminal justice system?

      • Who makes decisions in the criminal justice system about the response to organized crime?

      • How are decision-makers in criminal justice systems held to account for their decisions?

  • 7. Time and Space: Recognize that privilege and disadvantage are fluid, influenced by social position and location.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • Does the way we perceive who has privilege and power look different in this location?

      • How does this influence participation in organized criminal groups while also increasing vulnerabilities for victimization?

      • Does this privilege and power change across different types of organized crime and organized criminal groups?

      • Does discrimination look different in this location? Across different generations? Across different types of organized crime? Across different sectors of the criminal justice sector?

  • 8. Transformative and Rights-Based: Promote human rights and address inequalities by transforming social structures and changing how resources and relationships are produced and allocated.

    • Questions for Consideration:

      • How can we improve the way that laws and policies are developed and/or implemented in responding to organized crime?

      • How can we change the way resources are allocated to address inequalities?

      • How can we transform relationships within broader society that perpetuate intersectional inequalities?

      • How can this support the prevention of organized crime and the achievement of a more just and gender-responsive criminal justice sector?

Technical Definitions and Standards

The framework relies on specific international standards for inclusion and design, adapted from the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and UN-Women (2021).

  • Reasonable Accommodation: This refers to necessary and appropriate modifications and adjustments that do not impose a disproportionate or undue burden. These are provided in particular cases to ensure persons with disabilities are treated equally regarding the enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

  • Universal Design: The design of products, environments, programs, and services to be usable by all people to the greatest extent possible, without needing adaptation or specialized design. It does not exclude assistive devices for particular groups of persons with disabilities where needed.

Data Collection and Disaggregation

Data collection is essential for analyzing the manifestations of organized crime and evaluating State responses at the national level. To ensure an intersectional approach, data should ideally be disaggregated by several factors:

  • Gender

  • Age

  • Racial or ethnic group

  • Nationality

  • Education level

  • Disability status

Intersectional Framework for Legislation and Policy

Legislative drafters and policymakers should utilize an intersectional lens to evaluate the causes, consequences, and solutions related to organized crime.

Causes

  • How do intersectional identities (ethnicity, race, religion, culture, age, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, and class) compound discrimination and human rights harms based on sex and gender roles?

  • What attitudes does society hold toward people of intersecting identities (e.g., economic status, nationality, ethnicity)?

  • What role do these factors play in determining who perpetrates organized crime, the roles they play, and the experiences of victimization?

  • How can law and policy address these root causes?

Consequences

  • What are the specific experiences, needs, priorities, and capabilities of men, women, boys, girls, and gender-diverse people involved as both victims and perpetrators?

  • How are individuals impacted by normative frameworks due to inequalities like ableism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and health-status discrimination?

  • To what extent do intersecting factors determine who works within the criminal justice system and how they engage with others?

  • How can law and policy redress imbalances to ensure gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches?

Solutions

  • How are intersectional factors reflected (or neglected) in existing laws and policies?

  • How can laws and policies on organized crime be improved to respond to these specific factors?

  • How can people of all genders and abilities be engaged to inform the development of normative frameworks?

Gender and Human Rights Mainstreaming

Mainstreaming is not merely about adding women to existing efforts or mentioning gender and human rights in documents. It requires consistent, concerted measures to fulfill State obligations and achieve transformative change.

The Twin-Track Approach

Effective mainstreaming requires a combination of two types of measures:

  • Integrated Measures: Gender equality and human rights issues are fully integrated into the general law and policy on transnational organized crime.

    • Example: Strategies against organized crime are legally required to be human rights-based and pursue gender equality.

  • Targeted Measures: Interventions focused on specific differential and expressed needs to support gender equality and promote human rights.

    • Example: Consulting a particular ethnic cohort identified as being at higher risk of recruitment into organized criminal groups during policy development.

The Respect, Protect, Fulfil Framework

States must understand their human rights obligations as follows:

  • Respect: A negative obligation not to harm or interfere with human rights (the "do no harm" principle).

  • Protect: A positive obligation to protect human rights from violations.

  • Fulfil: A positive obligation to adopt proactive measures to advance and realize human rights.

Analytical Questions for Identifying Gaps

To determine the necessary integrated and targeted approaches, practitioners should evaluate:

  • Obligations: What are the State's existing obligations under international law?

  • Gaps: What specific human rights protection gaps exist in domestic law?

  • Barriers: Who faces particular barriers to the enjoyment of human rights?


The chapter focuses on the eight enablers of intersectionality that aim to mitigate unconscious biases and improve the understanding of organized crime through a multidimensional lens. It addresses the challenge of respecting diverse identities, ensuring accessibility, and promoting human rights within the criminal justice system, emphasizing the need for reflexivity and transformative approaches to social structures. The chapter ultimately seeks to demonstrate how recognizing intersecting identities can lead to more effective responses to organized crime and promote equality within society.

Two key recommendations for integrating gender and human rights into policy and practice include adopting the Twin-Track Approach and implementing the Respect, Protect, Fulfil Framework. The Twin-Track Approach combines integrated measures, where gender equality and human rights issues are woven into general laws on organized crime, with targeted measures that focus on specific needs. For example, consulting specific ethnic groups at higher risk of recruitment in organized crime can inform policy development. The Respect, Protect, Fulfil Framework highlights States' obligations to respect human rights by not interfering with them, protect individuals from human rights violations, and fulfil these rights proactively. This approach can guide law and policy reforms to ensure they are responsive to gender and rights-based concerns, ultimately fostering a more equitable criminal justice system that acknowledges diverse experiences in organized crime.

These recommendations matter because they promote inclusivity and equality, ensuring that responses to transnational organized crime consider the diverse needs of different populations. By integrating gender and human rights into policy and practice, governments and criminal legal systems can create more effective and just responses. These frameworks empower marginalized voices, leading to more relevant and effective interventions. Additionally, adopting such approaches aids in addressing systemic inequalities, which can perpetuate organized crime. This not only improves immediate responses but also fosters long-term societal change, reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing community resilience against organized crime.

The proposed policy, titled the Gender-Responsive Organized Crime Prevention Act, aims to address gender disparities and human rights violations in the context of organized crime. This policy is designed to ensure equitable participation of marginalized women and gender-diverse individuals in the criminal justice system and decision-making processes related to organized crime prevention. It would require law enforcement agencies to implement gender-sensitive training programs and mandates for inclusive consultations with affected communities before formulating anti-organized crime strategies. The policy reflects ideas from the UNODC toolkit by promoting an intersectional approach, emphasizing the need for both integrated measures addressing systemic inequalities and targeted measures focusing on the specific needs of vulnerable populations, ultimately fostering a more equitable and effective criminal justice response to organized crime.