In 2020, the Index reports, ‘security agencies esca- lated the pressure on CSOs and investigative journalists, evident in the regular arrests and abductions’.35 Such is the range of restrictions and challenges that civil society faces at the national level, due to both state and non-state actors, as set out in the in-depth country reviews of the Global Organized Crime Index. [...] ■ In many decision-making bodies – including the NGO Committee of the economic and Social Council (eCOSOC), which grants eCOSOC Consultative Status, and the Vienna-based bodies that govern the work of the UNODC and the imple- mentation of both the UNTOC and the UNCAC – the practice of ‘Vienna spirit’ (i.e. [...] The infa- mous ‘Marrakesh compromise’, struck at the 2011 COSP in Morocco, sets the rules for NGO engagement.48 Under the compromise, NGOs can attend the main sessions of the UNCAC COSP Conference but cannot attend the COSP’s subsidiary bodies, including the working group that meets to monitor the implementation of the Convention. [...] 12 13 14 We also recognize that, to enhance the effectiveness Doha 2015 and fairness of such strategies, we should take mea- sures to ensure the contribution of civil society, the private sector and academia, including the network of institutes of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme, as well as the media and all other relevant stakeholders, in the development and imp. [...] The Vienna-based bodies should institute balanced and inclusive modalities for civil society participation across the board of the treaty bodies and governing bod- ies that come under the auspices of the UNODC, based on successful practices such as those of the Ad Hoc Committee on the criminal use of ICTs, and build- ing on the decision made at the 11th UNTOC Conference of Parties.
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