COMCRIM
COMCRIM is an interdisciplinary research project conducted by a public-private consortium into crimes that undermine democracy and the rule of law in and via the Netherlands (ondermijning). Over 28 scholars from more than nine disciplines jointly examine the systemic factors of organized crime. Public and private partners collaborate to detect such crime in unconventional data sources such as banking records, follow the money and discern criminal networks, patterns, and effects. Altogether, our COMCRIM community thereby seeks to ensure proactive, evidence-based interventions that foster resilience of democracy and the rule of law.
What is COMCRIM?
COMCRIM is an interdisciplinary research project conducted in an innovative public-private research consortium. Together, we study the more systemic factors of crimes that undermine democracy and the rule of law in and via the Netherlands (rechtsstaat-ondermijnende criminaliteit or, in short, ondermijning). This means a focus on its business model. Hardly any organized crime can be committed without (a) persons, (b) money and (c) infrastructure. Therefore, we focus on (a) human trafficking, (b) money laundering and (c) corruption. All three are organized crimes themselves, and will allow us to detect (a) forced commission of (other) organized crimes, (b) the whitewashing of their criminal proceeds, and (c) their effects of interweaving the under- and upperworld.
For all three crimes, we do proactive crime victim detection in unorthodox data sources such as banking records, follow the money, and discern the criminal networks consisting of perpetrators, victims and facilitators. Based on such data, we model interventions and seek to understand their intended and unintended consequences. Plus we determine both micro, meso and macro level effects such as the triad of perpetrator-victim-facilitator and the impact on the national economy.
Through interdisciplinary research conducted by over 28 scholars, our aim is to develop proactive, evidence-based solutions to foster resilience in democracy and the rule of law. Our collaboration involves 22 diverse agencies, from the private and public sector, including four universities, two applied science organizations, three banks, two intelligence and law enforcement agencies, three NGO, three ministries, three network organizations, as well as a norm-setting body and national rapporteur.
When we think of slavery, we think of the past, but human trafficking nowadays ‘enslaves’ more people than at any time in history. In this lecture, Jill Coster van Voorhout (Maastricht University) explains one specific aspect of COMCRIM: how we can detect and prevent more cases of human trafficking. More videos and publications from the other COMCRIM scholars will follow.
Vacancies
There are currently no vacancies open.
Publications
- Awarded grant in the annual funding round for Research along Routes by Consortia (NWA-ORC) in the context of the Dutch Research Agenda by NWO (under budget range 2-5 million euros): https://www.nwo.nl/en/researchprogrammes/dutch-research-agenda-nwa/research-along-routes-consortia-nwa-orc/awards/2020/21
- One component of the pilot research resulting in COMCRIM: Jill E. B. Coster van Voorhout. (2020). Combatting Human Trafficking Holistically through Proactive Financial Investigations. https://academic.oup.com/jicj/article/18/1/87/5849185
- One early report on aspects of COMCRIM: Jill E. B. Coster van Voorhout. (2022). How Human Trafficking Fuels Erosion of Liberal Democracies—In Fiction and Fact, and from within and without. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/12/560
COMCRIM appearences
Media
- Combating human trafficking: round table to strengthen collaboration between public and private sector stakeholders - Federal Office of Police, January 25th 2024 (English).
- AFM-baas Van Geest hoopt op ‘nieuwe sleepwet’ tegen financiële criminelen - Het Financieele Dagblad, February 4th 2024 (Dutch).
Following the money trail: using financial investigations to combat human trafficking - April 6th 2024 (English).
- Podcast episode regarding human trafficking and money laundering - AMLC podcast, February 24th 2025 (Dutch).
Events
Comparative International Responses to Combatting the Crime of Human Trafficking - Panellist during webinar by the International Criminal Law Committee - June 19th 2024.
IAS Academy - Workshop on democratic decline and crime - July 2nd 2024.
COMCRIM NWO Grant Recipients
Universiteit Maastricht
Universiteit Maastricht, having its registered office at Minderbroedersberg 4-6, 6211 LK, Maastricht, the Netherlands, more specifically the Faculty of Law
University of Amsterdam
University of Amsterdam, having its registered office in Amsterdam at Spui 21, 1012 WX, the Netherlands, more specifically Faculty of Science
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, having its registered office at Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA Rotterdam, the Netherlands, more specifically the Erasmus School of Law
Stichting VU
Stichting VU, operating and doing business as Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, having its registered office at De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, the Netherlands, more specifically the Faculty of Social Sciences
Involved Academics
Jill Coster van Voorhout
Suzan van der Aa
Ana Barros
Huub Dijstelbloem
Menno Dolman
Yarin Eski
Drona Khandai
Frank Pijpers
Marcel Worring
Martijn Scheltema
Zeno Geradts
Mike Lees
COMCRIM Project Stakeholders
COMCRIM Project director and principal investigator
| Name, title(s) | Organisation | Position | Expertise (in key words) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ms. mr. dr. drs. J. (Jill) E.B. Coster van Voorhout | University of Maastricht, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology | Associate professor, (inter)national criminal law | Criminal law, (international and national) organized crime that undermines the rule of law (‘ondermijning’) with a focus on (financial) investigations into (inter and trans)national human trafficking. |
COMCRIM Academics
| Name, title(s) (in alphabetical order) | Organisation | Position | Expertise (in key words) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prof. mr. dr. Suzan van der Aa | University of Maastricht, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology | Professor | Criminal law, Criminal procedure, Victim rights, Sexual violence, Gender-based violence, Vulnerable victims |
| Dr. Ana Isabel Barros | Police Academy | Lector- Full professor | Intelligence, Complex systems, Social network analysis, Organized crime, linking science and practice. |
| Prof. dr. Huub O. Dijstelbloem | University of Amsterdam, IAS and Faculty of Humanities | Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Professor of Philosophy of Science, Technology and Politics | Philosophy of science, Philosophy of technology, Science and technology studies, International security, Evidence- based policy-making. |
| Mr. dr. Menno Dolman | University of Maastricht, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology | Asssitant Professor | Substantive criminal law, Criminal procedure, International criminal law, Law of evidence, Military criminal law |
| Dr. Yarin Eski | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Knowledge Hub Security & Social Resilience | Associate professor | Port security, policing, organized (drug)crime, arms trafficking, corruption, genocide, ethnography, biography. |
| Prof. dr. ing. Zeno Geradts | University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Science; Netherlands Forensic Institute; Co van Ledden Hulsebosch Center, Amsterdam Center for Forensic Science and Medicine (CLHC); and Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). | Professor | Natural sciences and information technology – forensic data sciences. |
| Prof. dr. Drona B.D. Kandhai | Faculty of Science, Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam, and Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) | Professor by special appointment | Computational Finance, Complex Adaptive Systems, Systemic risk modeling. |
| Prof. dr. Frank P. Pijpers | Statistics Netherlands, senior methodologist and programme manager of methodological research, & University of Amsterdam, professor by special appointment Korteweg de Vries Institute for Mathematics and Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek | Professor by special appointment | Complex systems analysis, data analysis and statistics; time series analysis, formal causality testing. |
| Prof. dr. Martijn Scheltema | Erasmus University, Department of private law | Professor | Business and human rights, supply chains, artificial intelligence and multi-stakeholder collaboration on business human rights. |
| Prof. dr. Marcel Worring | University of Amsterdam, Informatics Institute | Professor | Multimedia Analytics, Artificial Intelligence. |
COMCRIM co-funders
| Organisation | Type** | Sect | Expertise (in key words) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aanjaagteam Ondermijning | Governmental organisation | Government | Crimes that undermine the rule of law, financial focus, evidence-based policy. |
| ABN AMRO Bank | Business large | Financial institutions | Bank which cooperated in the previous research on human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation with its 70% success rate. It works under COMCRIM on initially the co-creation of algorithms to detect human trafficking for criminal exploitation. |
| Knab | Business SME | Financial institutions | Bank which focuses initially on the nexus between human trafficking and migrant smuggling. |
| Netherlands Labor Inspectorate (NLA) | Governmental organisation | Other | Law enforcement agency which cooperated in the previous research on human trafficking for labor exploitation with its 70% success rate. It is mandated to criminally investigate and under administrative law hold surveillance actions. |
| Rabobank | Business large | Financial institutions | Bank which will initially focus on human trafficking for sexual exploitation. |
COMCRIM Cooperation partners*
| Organisation | Type** | Sect | Expertise (in key words) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) | Public knowledge institute | Other | Applied research into complexity science applications (networks) and more ‘classical’ statistical estimation. |
| CoMensha | NGO | Other | Human trafficking |
| Fairwork | NGO | Other | Human trafficking for labour exploitation |
| FIU-Nederland | Governmental organisation | Other | Financial intelligence |
| La Strada International | NGO | Other | Human trafficking abroad, i.e. beyond the Netherlands or international human trafficking affecting Dutch or committed by Dutch (corporations) abroad. |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Governmental organisation | Government | International orientation on legislation and policy pertaining to ‘ondermijning’, with a focus on human trafficking, cooperation with the financial sector and human rights due diligence. |
| Ministry of Justice and Security | Governmental organisation | Government | National orientation on criminal law responses through legislation and policy pertaining to ‘ondermijning’, including human trafficking, corruption and money laundering. |
| Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment | Governmental organisation | Government | National orientation on criminal law responses to human trafficking for labor exploitation as one form of ‘ondermijning’, including legislation and policy pertaining to this offence and its connections with related corruption and money laundering. |
| NEN's standard setting body regarding Artificial Intelligence | Foundation | Other | Standard setting regarding Artificial Intelligence |
| National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children | Other | Other | Human trafficking, including human trafficking-related corruption and money laundering, building also on international advice. |
| Police academy | Public knowledge institute | Other | Applied research on intelligence analysis and complex systems modelling including computational modelling on ‘ondermijning’, including human trafficking, corruption and money laundering, and financial (criminal) investigations. |
| Though as a center of UvA (but to clarify references thereto below), Amsterdam Center for Forensic Science and Medicine, Co Ledden Hulsebosch Center (CLHC)i | Public knowledge institute | Science | Forensic sciences |
| Though as center of UvA (but to clarify references thereto below), Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)ii | Public knowledge institute | Science | Complexity science |
| Though as an initiative by the Public Prosecution Service (OM) together with the National Police and supported by the Ministry of Justice and Security, and thus not as a separate legal entity (but to clarify references thereto below), Organized Crime and Human Trafficking Field Lab (OCFL/MFL) 2020-2023iii | Other | Other | Organized Crime, human trafficking, including human trafficking-related corruption and money laundering. |
COMCRIM's International Expert Group*
| Name organisation (in alphabetical order) | Host country | Type | Sector** | Expertise (in key words) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maastricht University, Prof. Dr. Anna Beckers, Professor of Private Law and Social Theory | The Netherlands | Public knowledge institute | Law | Corporate social responsibility, legal research, contract law, corporate governance. |
| Institute ICE on Engineering and (forensic) Computer Science, Mr. Prof. Dr. Bruce Nikkel, Co-Leiter | Switzerland | Public knowledge institute | Science | Digital forensics and cyber dimensions of subversive organized crime, network forensics and digital forensics, information security, and understanding cyber-criminal activity. |
| Northeastern University, Mr. Prof. Nikos Passas, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice; CoDirector, Institute for Security and Public Policy | Greece/United States | Public knowledge institute | Science | Corruption, illicit financial/trade flows, human trafficking, sanctions, informal fund transfers, remittances, terrorism, white- collar crime, financial regulation, organized crime and international crime. |
| George Mason University, Ms. Prof. Louise Shelley, Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair; Director, Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC); University Professor, Schar School of Policy and Government | United States | Public knowledge institute | Science | Organized subversive crime, human trafficking, money laundering, corruption. |
| University of Amsterdam, Prof. Dr. Peter M.A. Sloot, Professor of Complex Adaptive Systems | The Netherlands | Public knowledge institute | Science | Science, informatics, complex adaptive systems. |
Contact
J.E.B. Coster van Voorhout
Strafrecht en Criminologie
Faculty of Law, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Maastricht University
My office days in C3.319 are Monday – Wednesday; I am available from Utrecht or Amsterdam on Thursday and Friday