PRESS RELEASE
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | 29 September 2026
Hon. Norbert Mao, with Ms. Monica Juma, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Uganda’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Head of Delegation to the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Hon. Norbert Mao, held bilateral discussions with Ms. Monica Juma, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), on the sidelines of the Congress in Abu Dhabi. Ms. Juma assumed leadership of UNOV and UNODC in May 2026.
The Minister was accompanied by senior members of Uganda’s delegation, including Hon. Lady Justice Jane Frances Abodo, Principal Judge of the Courts of Judicature of Uganda; Hon. Lino Anguzu, Director of Public Prosecutions; H.E. Amb. Dora Kutesa, Chargé d’affaires a.i., Embassy of the Republic of Uganda to Austria, and Permanent Mission to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna; Ms Rachel Odoi-Musoke, Senior Technical Advisor and Head of the Governance and Security Programme (JLOS) Secretariat, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs; and Ms Anne Nyakato, Counsellor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting reaffirmed the long-standing partnership between the Government of Uganda and UNODC, particularly in strengthening crime prevention, criminal justice institutions, international cooperation, and responses to transnational organised crime.
Ms. Juma thanked the Government of Uganda for its continued cooperation with UNODC and welcomed the recent signing of the Host Country Agreement establishing a UNODC Office in Uganda. The Agreement, signed in Kampala on 18 August 2026, provides a strengthened institutional framework for UNODC programmes in Uganda and for regional initiatives. Areas of cooperation include transnational organised crime, wildlife trafficking, people smuggling, cybercrime, money laundering and anti-corruption.
The discussions also explored opportunities for deeper cooperation on natural-resource governance and environmental crime, recognising the growing link between environmental offences, illicit financial flows and organised criminal networks.
Minister Mao highlighted the evolving nature of crime in Uganda and the wider region, noting that crime increasingly transcends national borders and is being transformed by technology. He observed that the rise of online and digitally enabled crime has diminished the practical significance of physical borders for criminal networks, requiring governments and justice institutions to respond through stronger coordination and international cooperation.
The Minister further emphasised that organised crime is increasingly interconnected and cannot be effectively addressed through fragmented institutional responses. He underscored the importance of Uganda developing a comprehensive national strategy against transnational organised crime that integrates prevention, intelligence, investigation, prosecution, financial disruption, and international cooperation.
The meeting builds on years of cooperation between Uganda and UNODC to support criminal justice reform. This partnership has contributed to initiatives to strengthen institutional coordination, prosecution capacity, crime prevention, justice-sector integrity, and responses to organised and transnational crime. Most recently, UNODC has continued to support justice-sector initiatives in Uganda, including programmes focused on accountability, integrity, and transparency in justice institutions. United Nations Uganda
The establishment of a dedicated UNODC Office in Uganda marks an important further step in this relationship. Uganda has welcomed the Office as an opportunity to strengthen national institutions, support law-enforcement and criminal-justice agencies, and deepen regional cooperation against criminal networks.
The bilateral engagement also reinforced a central message from Uganda’s participation in the 15th UN Crime Congress: modern crime requires connected institutions and stronger cross-border cooperation. In Uganda’s national statement to the Congress, Minister Mao likewise called for stronger international cooperation as countries respond to increasingly sophisticated, transnational and technology-enabled forms of crime. Judiciary of Uganda
Both sides reaffirmed the value of the Uganda–UNODC partnership and the opportunity to deepen cooperation on areas of mutual priority, including criminal justice reform, transnational organised crime, environmental crime, natural resource governance, and strengthened regional and international cooperation.
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