OPENING STATEMENT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO THE 43rd SESSION OF THE COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS

Vienna, 6 March 2000

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

If I were to characterize this forty-third session of the Commission, I would concentrate on the word "implementation". At the heart of your work will be an examination of what has been done since the 20th special session. That event, now nearly two years behind us, has lived up to its potential as a watershed. It established an ambitious agenda. It is an agenda made very real by the inclusion of deadlines for action. You will spend much of your time over the next eight days assessing progress in carrying out that agenda.

Without prejudging the tenor of your debate, I offer some brief observations from my perspective. The inter-sessional meetings and your 42nd session have been production. The spirit which was established at the special session has remained in place. As a result, there is now clearer direction and focus in the common efforts.

This common "ownership" of the work has enabled the Commission to demonstrate flexibility by adopting new procedures. You have reorganized your work, and you are identifying ways in which to monitor your own progress towards the shared objectives.

On the other hand, the more substantive part of your work continues uninterrupted.

On the demand reduction side, the conversion of the Guiding Principles on Demand Reduction into reality remains a challenge to all Member States.

With regard to drug trafficking, the follow-up to the special session will again be at the centre of your discussions. Measures to promote judicial cooperation and to counter money-laundering take on particular importance at the international level.

I am pleased to report that work is advancing on the drafting of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. A final draft should be ready for approval in the autumn, and we anticipate signature before the end of the year. Although wider in scope, this new Convention will definitely reinforce the global efforts against drug trafficking and related crime.

The INCB will submit its annual report to you. The information and analysis it contains will enrich your debate on the normative aspects of your work.

In addition to its impact on your work, the special session has also in a sense galvanized UNDCP. It has caused us to give greater focus to our work. We have concentrated on designing strategies for meeting the various objectives. These strategies are now largely in place. I will mention a few of them, as well as some significant developments in global drug control.

Last March you passed a resolution endorsing the launch of a global monitoring system for illicit crops. In line with the spirit of the special session, you went beyond merely affirming the need for better data.

I am pleased to report to you that the illicit crop monitoring programme has now been launched. It's core strategy focuses on providing assistance to Member States to gather the needed information.

We have signed an agreement with the European Space Agency to ensure the availability of state-of-the-art technology. A joint UNDCP/ESA team then visited the six countries where 96 per cent of the illicit opium and 98 per cent of the coca are produced. We discussed with each Government the ways in which to establish or improve data-gathering systems.

A sub-programme was established for each country, to enhance the capacities to undertake the needed work. A single global sub-programme was designed to ensure standards and maintain the needed overview. Mr. Chairman, for the first time there exists a very real strategy to achieve this important objective. It is now up to the international community to provide the resources to permit full implementation.

We have also launched a global programme for the assessment of drug abuse. The principles are very much the same. Of course, the task is more complex because it must address all Member States. The system must of course also be fully compatible with existing reporting systems.

At the national level, the Programme will provide assistance to 25 governments in creating fully equipped and trained national assessment systems. Less intensive assistance will be available to other countries as well. The objective is a capacity to collect high-quality data on abuse to be used in policy formulation and programme design.

At the regional level the Programme will establish networks to share experience, coordinate training and identify trends. A samll capacity at the global level - some 13% of the total Programme budget - will establish the core indicators, collect information and act as a forum for technical discussions.

Member States must themselves take responsibility for the work. The assistance will be provided by UNDCP in form of a tool-kit, enabling each country to use those methodologies needed to reach the agreed standards. The long-term objective is to finally get a complete set of data on drug abuse - the basis for good planning at all levels.

Turning to the issue of drug trafficking, I would like to draw your attention to one situation. As you probably know, our analysis of the 1999 opium harvest in Afghanistan determined that the crop was more than double that of the previous year. More than 75 per cent of the world's illegal opium is now produced in that one country.

The restraints that exist on action inside Afghanistan are obvious. We have therefore concentrated on the creation of a security belt around the country. Success in this endeavour will require a combination of political and practical steps.

On the political level, I am very pleased to report to you that the Group of Six plus Two on Afghanistan held a high-level meeting in New York last week. The meeting was convened specifically to address the problem of opium and heroin production in Afghanistan and the threat this poses to the country's neighbours. The Group, which includes all countries that border Afghanistan, fully endorsed the security belt strategy. They also fully recognized the close link between the drug problem and peace and security in the region.

On the practical level, UNDCP is moving forward as rapidly as resources permit. Initial institution-building projects in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have been completed, and border control projects have been designed for these two countries. A large law enforcement project was launched last July in Pakistan, concentrating on the border zone with Iran. In Iran itself, a comprehensive drug control programme was also launched last July. In Tajikistan we are implementing border control projects and a project to help in the creation of a national drug control agency.

Until a couple of years ago, a number of important elements of information were missing in the case of Afghan opiates. On the basis of our work inside the country and in neighbouring countries, w are now accumulating a body of evidence on the structure of trafficking, stockpiling and marketing of Afghan opium and heroin. This places us in a unique position to propose strategies to counter the trafficking, both in the traditional and still very important routes through Pakistan and Iran and through the emerging new routes from the northern border of Afghanistan through Central Asia and Russia to Western Europe.

The security belt projects constitute an important set of undertakings, and I must report to you that we still remain far below target in obtaining the resources needed to carry out all the projects. The cost is in reality quite small when compared with the fact that this set of projects aims at interrupting the flow of more than 75 per cent of the world's heroine.

Turning to South East Asia, the source of most of the remaining illicit opium and heroin, I can point to a success story in the making. As you know, the President of Laos and I jointly announced last May the launch of a six-year sixty-million dollar programme to end the cultivation of opium poppy in Laos. With some 22 thousand hectares of poppy last year, Laos is the world's third largest producer after Afghanistan an Myanmar.

I met with the President of the World Bank in January. Our connection with the Bank is already well-established through cost-sharing arrangements with Governments in South America. We decided to expand our cooperation to Laos, and the Bank will join us in convening a group of possible donors for the six-year programme in that country.

I am also happy to report on major progress in South America. Coca cultivation in Peru decreased from a peak of 129,000 hectares in 1992 to 38,000 hectares in 1999.

Bolivia eliminated 14,000 hectares of illicit coca during last year alone, surpassing its own record from the previous year. This is a 78% decrease in only three years. The country began the new millennium with barely 10,000 hectares remaining. Income from illegal coca has fallen from 400 million dollars in 1995 to 86 million in 1999.

These figures speak for themselves and attest to a remarkable achievement on the part of the two Governments in honouring their commitments to the targets set by the special session.

The situation in Colombia remains complex. President Pastrana put forward last September a 7 billion dollar "Plan for Peace, Prosperity, and the Strengthening of the State". This plan is intended to overcome the socio-economic problems that plague the country and are so interwoven with the political violence. Action on the drug issue is included in the plan.

The Government will itself provide 4 billion dollars to implement the Plan, and the international community is being asked to provide the remaining 3 billion. The donor community is at present examining possible assistance to Colombia, and I strongly hope that a successful outcome will set the stage for the same kind of breakthrough that we have seen in Bolivia and Peru. Colombia has the potential to achieve such a breakthrough and deserves the support of the international community.

I would like to remind you of the commitment you made last year to provide greater support to drug control in Africa. We have been able to identify enough resources to permit the start of several projects in Southern Africa, but for the rest of the continent, the response to our proposals has been very limited. This is especially the case in West Africa. We are continuing to refine our proposals for Africa so as to ensure the most efficient structuring of our work, but we will not be able to move to the implementation stage without sufficient resources.

In conclusion, I will turn to an initiative that we recently began to take our global anti-money laundering programme one step further. At the end of this month, the Cayman Islands will host the first meeting under our Offshore Forum. Our strategy is one of constructive engagement. The initiative will target the application by offshore banking centres of a set of standards to ensure that their banking sectors are not used for criminal purposes. The Forum will provide advice and technical assistance to help these jurisdictions reach those standards. The work will of course be complementary to that of the Financial Action Task Force and other groups.

These are but a few of the efforts underway by Governments and by UNDCP to implement the decisions and commitments of the special session. I cite these examples as proof that success is possble in drug control. The special session need not become an international conference that produced golden words that turned to rust in the months and years that followed.

At the same time, these examples indicate some of the challenges that still confront us. The special session set our goals. As Governments and as UNDCP, we have all worked hard to put in place the strategies and methodologies to guide us in working towards these goals. The task in front of us now is to implement these strategies. Let us continue in the same way. Our determination will be rewarded.

I wish you well in your deliberations.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.