The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has the broad mission of making the world safer from crime, drugs, and terrorism. It has three programmatic pillars: field-based technical cooperation projects to enhance the capacity of member states to counteract illicit drugs and crime; targeted research and analytical work to increase knowledge and understanding of drugs and crime; and normative work to assist states in the ratification and implementation of relevant international treaties and to develop domestic legislation on drugs, crime and terrorism.

As part of its focus on crime prevention and criminal justice reform, UNODC has investigated the oversight of civilian private security services by state authorities. In 2009, UNODC established an ad hoc open-ended intergovernmental expert group to study civilian private security services. Experts from academia and the private sector were also invited to become members of that group. The group has met twice: at a planning meeting in Abu Dhabi, from 10 to 11 May 2010 and on 12 - 14 October 2011, in Vienna, Austria.