Monica Juma: Steering global cooperation at a time of converging threats
The new head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says global cooperation is essential and already adapting as criminal networks become more complex, sophisticated and interconnected.
Monica Juma has taken up the dual role of Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna.
A former national security adviser, minister, diplomat and academic, she brings experience spanning defence, security, foreign affairs and multilateral cooperation.
Ahead of the UN Crime Congress in Abu Dhabi, she is calling for stronger cooperation to confront organized crime, corruption, terrorism, trafficking and technology-enabled threats.
After decades in public service in her home country, Kenya, Monica Juma now steps onto a wider stage, assuming two of the United Nations’ most consequential roles:
As Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna (UNOV), she represents the Secretary-General in one of the Organization’s major duty stations beyond its New York Headquarters. And as Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ), she leads global efforts to strengthen crime prevention and criminal justice.
That mandate, she told UN News, is rooted in helping countries confront drugs, corruption, terrorism, human trafficking and transnational organized crime – with the ultimate aim of delivering “safety, protection and justice for all”.
Ms. Juma formally took office last month and was sworn in by Secretary-General António Guterres last Thursday, succeeding Ghada Fathi Waly of Egypt.
She says she was honoured to take on the dual role “at a critical time for multilateralism” and looked forward to contributing to the UN’s efforts to build “a safer, more just world”.
UN Photo/Manuel Elías
Ms. Monica Juma, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna and Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, speaks in the General Assembly Hall.
Experience in security, diplomacy and governance
Few arrive in Vienna with as broad a portfolio of experience. Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Juma served as Kenya’s first National Security Adviser and Secretary to the National Security Council . Earlier roles included senior ministerial and principal secretary positions across foreign affairs, defence, interior and energy. Her career has also been shaped by multilateral diplomacy and academic research.
In her interview, she reflected on the value of “multi-agency cooperation” in managing complex challenges. As national security adviser, she said, she closely tracked “trends of risks, vulnerabilities and opportunities” at national, regional and global levels.
That experience, she hopes, will help her build the consensus required among Member States, particularly in a system where progress often depends on a shared understanding of what constitutes the “global public good”.
A mandate that meets the moment
After her first weeks in office, Ms. Juma said her initial impressions were encouraging.
She pointed to what she described as a “general consensus” around UNODC’s “value proposition” – namely, that its mandate is highly relevant “in terms of the risk portfolio that is facing the world over”.
At the heart of that consensus, she said, is a growing recognition that “no single sector, no single country, no single region can do it alone”, a realization that forms “a nucleus for building stronger international cooperation and multilateralism”.
She also underlined the strength of the institution itself, describing UNODC staff as “a cohort of extremely competent professionals who are at the forefront” of efforts to make communities safer, protect people and advance sustainable development, “and that gives me hope”.
That optimism, however, is tempered by the speed at which threats are evolving.
Criminal networks now operate across borders, sectors and technologies. Drug trafficking, illicit financial flows, money-laundering, corruption, trafficking in persons and terrorism are increasingly intertwined, “creating webs of engagement” that demand equally connected responses.
In her engagements with partners, she has sensed “a big appetite to contribute positively to the work of UNODC”, particularly in sharing “the right information in a world that is characterized by disinformation”, and in helping Member States make informed decisions.
Yet she also pointed to structural challenges. Much of UNODC’s work relies on voluntary, often tightly earmarked funding, while the threats it addresses remain fluid and adaptive. Transnational organized crime, she noted, “goes into ungoverned spaces and can manipulate those spaces”.
To keep pace, she argued, donors must be encouraged to adopt a broader perspective — moving beyond “pet projects” and towards more flexible support that allows the Office to scale up its impact in line with the accelerating nature of global…
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