The Centre for Transnational Crimes and Strategic Threats at HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies focuses on advancing strategic thinking on transnational crime and emerging security threats in the Horn of Africa. It conducts multidisciplinary research on cross-border illicit networks and asymmetric challenges shaping the region’s security landscape. Through its work, the Centre contributes to strengthening responses to transnational threats by producing high-quality research and policy-relevant recommendations. Its outputs include bulletins, policy briefs, and books, alongside the convening of workshops, seminars, conferences, roundtable discussions, and consultative forums. The Centre also serves as a platform for in-house expertise, bringing together scholars and practitioners working on transnational crime and strategic threats in the region.

The Horn of Africa’s vast ungoverned spaces, porous borders, and overlapping conflict zones have made it one of the world’s most active corridors for transnational criminal activity, from the illicit flow of small arms and light weapons that sustain non-state armed groups, to human trafficking networks exploiting migration routes through Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Somalia toward the Gulf states. The Centre examines these interconnected illicit economies, recognising that criminal networks and armed groups frequently operate in symbiosis, undermining state authority and regional security alike. The Horn Institute’s Western Indian Ocean Program further extends this lens to maritime threats, including illegal fishing and the security of Blue Economy resources.