Author: Baris Cayli Messina
Date: 31.3.2025
CIVIL SOCIETY AS AN AGENT OF CHANGE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ILLICIT TRADE
Illicit trade poses challenges for social stability and prosperity. It produces dire consequences which weaken economic stability, empower criminal enterprises, and target vulnerable groups. The proliferation of counterfeit goods, human trafficking, illegal arms transactions, corruption, and environmental crimes are closely connected and together they create fertile conditions for organised crime groups. Their actions erode institutional trust by compromising the rule of law. There have been visible efforts in the implementation of stringent legal frameworks in the last years, However, illicit trade continues to persist. State actors bear primary responsibility for curtailing illicit trade. Yet their capacity is limited due to institutional inefficiencies, political inertia, and, in some cases, direct complicity. The close relationship between illicit markets and formal economies creates the zones of impunity where criminal networks become more sophisticated. In this context, civil society emerges as a formidable counterforce. They have the great potential to become an agent of change through expanding advocacy and enforcing structural reform to challenge both the perpetrators of illicit trade and the institutional deficiencies that enable it.
           Civil society consists of a large group of diverse actors, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), investigative journalists, human rights defenders, and grassroots movements. The actions of civil society organisations, such as advocacy campaigns, policy interventions, and direct community engagement become the weapons of civil society in the battle against illicit trade. These activities gain more importance when civil society actors increase public awareness, expose corrupt networks, and mobilize people. Moreover, civil society leverages data-driven methodologies so they can trace illicit financial flows, disrupt trafficking routes, and hold corporate and state actors accountable for their complicity. This blog article critically examines civil society’s interventions in the fight against illicit trade and it is based on my keynote speech which I delivered in international workshop in Palermo on the 6th of February 2025.
The Role of Civil Society in Addressing Illicit Trade
State institutions is essential in combating illicit trade. However, corruption within law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and political institutions obstructs efforts to dismantle illicit economies. Besides, organised crime networks operate with implicit or explicit state protection in many jurisdictions to secure their operations through bribery, political patronage, and the strategic exploitation of weak governance structures. When state actors become complicit, either by direct engagement or inaction, this makes illicit markets to gain immunity and flourish with impunity. In the light of these limitations, civil society emerges as a crucial counterforce where state mechanisms are either weak or vulnerable to cope with illicit trade. Their interventions to be an agent of change are particularly critical in four main areas: (i) advocacy and awareness; (ii) community engagement; (iii): whistleblowing and transparency efforts; and (iv): corporate accountability.
           Civil society organisations are powerful catalysts for meaningful social change by shedding light on the scale and consequences of illicit trade. NGOs and activist networks conduct research, disseminate information, and engage in public campaigns to educate citizens and policymakers on the dangers of illicit markets. Illicit trade can’t be reduced to simply an economic issue. It poses multiple risks and threatens human rights and public safety so changing the perception of masses may lead to push governments to adopt more stringent enforcement measures. NGOs may also increase public awareness by lobbying for stronger regulations. Their advocacy for stricter penalties and transparency in trade agreements at the international level may provide additional capacity in the fight against illicit trade.
           Illicit trade has a strong foothold in environments where consumers remain uninformed about its impact. Civil society bridges this gap by engaging communities. They can achieve this by encouraging ethical consumption practices. Consumer advocacy groups’ effective engagement with the community may reveal the hidden consequences of counterfeit goods, human trafficking, and environmental crimes. In doing so, they can empower individuals to make informed choices. Civil society actors can mobilise local people to resist exploitative trade practices. They challenge corporate complicity and demand greater accountability from private and public actors. These actions foster a culture of responsibility and vigilance while contributing to social resilience against illicit trade.
           Investigative journalism and citizen reporting are cornerstones of uncovering illicit trade networks and exposing political-criminal nexus and corruption. Journalists, independent researchers, and anti-corruption watchdogs conduct investigations. Their reports and works reveal the complex networks of illicit trade which include political elites, financial institutions, and multinational corporations. In addition, platforms that support whistleblowing provide safe avenues for insiders to report misconduct. This brings secret and underground networks to light. Civil society disrupts the secrecy that enables illicit trade to persist and holding criminal enterprises and complicit institutions accountable is a key dimension in this struggle.
           The private sector is a key battleground in the fight against illicit trade, and civil society plays another fundamental role in ensuring corporate responsibility. Watchdog organisations can contribute to this battle against illicit trade by shaping supply chains. Greater transparency in sourcing and ethical business practices support the prevention of illicit trade. Fair-trade certificates and corporate social responsibility assessments can also canalise civil society actors to make pressure on businesses for the implementation of anti-illicit trade policies. What is more, ethical purchasing habits and public shaming of corporations prioritising profit over integrity are other policy tools that make civil society a vital actor.
Challenges and Barriers to Civil Society’s Involvement in Combating Illicit Trade
We also need to be aware of the grim reality that there are certain risks in civil society’s efforts. Those actors have mostly been subject to targeted repression. Speaking out against illicit trade isn’t without consequences. Activists, journalists, and anti-corruption organisations routinely face harassment, legal intimidation, and even violence. When whistle-blowers and investigative reporters uncover human trafficking rings, illicit financial flows, or counterfeit networks, they also unearth the illegal dealing of powerful actors. In some cases, governments, whether complicit or unwilling to challenge criminal networks, weaponise defamation laws, restrict NGO operations, or suppress independent media to silence dissent. All these efforts discourage civic engagement and render illicit economies to be resistant.
           Civil society organizations have limited budgets different from organised crime networks, which generate billions in illicit profits. Many NGOs rely on short-term grants, donations, or volunteer labour. As a result, making their efforts sustainable is highly challenging. The lack of financial and technological resources weakens investigative capabilities. Legal advocacy as well as community outreach programs become hard to realise. Additionally, governments in certain regions impose funding restrictions that constrain the ability of civil society actors to conduct independent research and mobilise grassroots resistance. Therefore, the capacity to counter illicit trade remains fragmented without the sufficient resource to sustain these programmes.
           Similar to organised crime activities, illicit trade has a transnational dimension. It exploits gaps in legal systems and enforcement mechanisms across different jurisdictions. Nevertheless, civil society organisations mostly operate at national or local levels. This particularly makes it difficult to address the full scope of illicit economies. International coalitions and partnerships have been increasing in recent years. Yet, the collaboration across borders is also hindered by differing legal frameworks. We may need to include also language barriers and geopolitical tensions as other major challenges to increase effectiveness in the cooperation of civil society actors. The absence of a unified global strategy enables traffickers, counterfeiters, and money launderers to move operations to jurisdictions that have weaker enforcement. This movement across borders makes actors fighting the illicit trade to run in circles. It leads to a persistent game of cat and mouse.
           Illicit trade is operative in grey areas which shares a common ground with actors, including legitimate businesses, corrupt officials, and political elites who profit from its operations. Civil society faces resistance from powerful actors with vested interests in maintaining the status quo when they expose those illicit networks. For example, it is common that large corporations may try to avoid supply chain transparency revealing their unethical sourcing to make more profits. Besides, some political leaders may benefit from illicit economies through electoral campaign financing and economic support. These benefits canalise them to obstruct regulatory reforms. All these factors result in policy inaction. They weaken enforcement agenda for regulatory reforms and misinformation campaigns to discredit civil society actors. These challenges limit the effectiveness of civil society interventions and demonstrate us the complex power structures that make illicit economies sustainable.
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      Illicit trade is an economic infraction. Yet, more alarmingly, it is a structural menace that erodes ethical governance, empowers organised crime, creates numerous victims, and perpetuates socio-economic disparities. State institutions are ostensibly the most prominent actors in curbing these transnational criminal enterprises. Nevertheless, their efficacy is impeded by endemic corruption, bureaucratic inertia, and jurisdictional fragmentation. Civil society emerges as an indispensable counterforce within these deficiencies. It functions as a watchdog and an advocate. Thus, it becomes an agent to stimulate structural reforms. As discussed above, investigative journalism, policy advocacy, and grassroots mobilisation increase the leverage of civil society actors to challenge institutional complicity and catalyse legal and normative transformations. On the other hand, civil society’s attempts to disrupt illicit economies is crumbled. Activists, journalists, and non-governmental organisations are frequently subject to repression and censorship. More vehemently, they are struggling to overcome financial precarity to sustain their activities. Political elites, corporate interests, and organised crime groups obstruct regulatory reforms suggested by civil society actors. The transnational nature of illicit trade pose additional challenges to create a harmonised global coordination, robust legal frameworks, and sustained financial investment in civil society initiatives.
           The battle against illicit trade isn’t waged solely through legislative enactments or enforcement directives because it is also fundamentally a struggle over the integrity of governance and the legitimacy of economic and legal structures. This is the reason that the role of civil society enhances democratic deliberation as the efforts against illicit economies pave the way for strengthening democratic principles. To make the role of civil society more effective, governments must enact robust legal protections for whistle-blowers and anti-corruption advocates. International organisations must fortify transnational partnerships to eliminate jurisdictional loopholes of which organised crime groups hugely take advantage. It also equally important that global public must recognise that illicit trade isn’t a peripheral concern but a central threat to economic stability, social justice, and the rule of law. This is a long and thorny path to realise. However, as long as civil society efforts persevere, the forces of impunity won’t be able to implement their oppression and threaten us easily.
Dr Baris Cayli Messina
Short Bio: Baris Cayli Messina is Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Lincoln as well as editor-in-chief of the International Social Science Journal (Wiley) and editor of the book series Temple Studies in Criminalization, History, and Society (Temple University Press). He is the author of Violence and Militants: From Ottoman Rebellions to Jihadist Organizations (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019) and editor of Environmental Injustice and Catastrophe (De Gruyter). He has been published widely on subjects related to crime, conflict and violence.
