Erik Van Der Veen

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Head of Office

Speaker Bio

Mr. Van der Veen has served with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) since 2007, engaging with Member States worldwide on policy and strategy development, programme implementation, and international cooperation. He has done so across all UNODC mandate areas, including drug control, addressing transnational organized crime, anti-corruption, terrorism prevention, border management, and crime prevention and criminal justice.


Prior to taking up his current position covering Indonesia, Malaysia and ASEAN, Mr. Van der Veen served as policy lead for terrorism prevention at UNODC Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, from 2018. He led UNODC’s partnership programme with countries in the Sahel based in Dakar, Senegal, from 2014 to 2018.


Prior, he worked in management positions for the UNODC Country Offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His first assignment with UNODC was with the International Narcotics Control Board at UNODC Headquarters from 2007 to 2009.


Before joining UNODC, Mr. Van der Veen worked for a civil society organization in support of the International Criminal Court, as journalist for a newspaper in the Netherlands, and as researcher on street children and prisoners in Mexico.


Mr. Van der Veen holds master’s degrees in European Studies and International Relations, as well as in Philosophy.

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