Date: Thursday 12 November 2026
Time: 17:00 GMT
Location: Allen & Overy Room, Pembroke College, Oxford, and online
Hosted by XCEPT and the University of Oxford’s Global Security Programme, this hybrid event presents new research on governance and illicit trade in Iraq.
Professor Annette Idler (Global Security Programme, University of Oxford) and Ashleigh Whelan (Roya Development Group) will share findings from two trafficking hubs: Sinjar, near the border with Syria, and Zurbatiyah, on the border with Iran. They look at how relations between armed groups, political parties, business elites and the state affect how resilient illicit trade is to enforcement.
The speakers will also discuss what this means for policy responses that aim to reduce illicit trade without harming livelihoods and stability.
The event draws on the XCEPT project Contested cross-border spaces, illicit flows, and order in the contemporary world and comes alongside the newly published policy brief Fragmented authority, intertwined supply chains: Governance and illicit trade in Iraq.
Speakers
- Annette Idler, Global Security Programme, University of Oxford
- Ashleigh Whelan, Roya Development Group