Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 12:53:06 +0000
Subject: Additional comment UN Panel
Dear Marco & others,
One thing I didn't mention in my former message, but which might come in handy in this bureaucratic battle: as TNI we managed to reactivate our consultative ECOSOC status (cat.II), so in pressing on this issue, we could be added to the list of participating organizations with this official status. Still before the joint event was agreed to, we also had applied for a panel discussion, a joint event of TNI, WOLA and Accion Andina. I'll include below a summarized copy of what we sent to the NGO Committee early april. Officialy, we still haven't withdrawn this application - I wanted to be sure about the joint one coming together, and had to consult with Accion Andina and WOLA whether or not to fully integrate into the joint event (in which we as TNI take part as a member of ENCOD and the coalition; and Accion Adina as a member of the coalition). I guess in the current situation, it's better to leave it as it stands, to see whether they'll come up with a similar condition for our TNI/WOLA/AA panel as well. In any
case, if it's useful, the TNI status can be mentioned as well in the fight for the joint panel.
Martin
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Dear Mrs Eva Tongue,
We'd like to propose an activity within the context of NGO activities around the "Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly to Counter the World Drug Problem Together" in New York from 8 to 10 June.
In the activity we will specifically address the topics of "Crop erradication, Alternative Development and SCOPE", which could be the provisional title of the panel. It will be a joint event of the Transnational Institute (TNI, an Amsterdam based international NGO with ECOSOC consultative status, cat. II, officially enlisted as "Institute for Policy Studies - Transnational Institute"), Accion Andina and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
The three organisations mentioned are engaged in a longer term working relationship, addressing the issue of the impact of current anti-drug policies in Latin America. Over the past two years we have undertaken joint investigations in association with a network of Latin American researchers spread out over 15 countries of the continent. We have released several publications on issues like human rights violations connected to the War on Drugs, drug-linked corruption and military involvement in the illicit drugs industry, alternative development programmes in the Andean region, the implications for democracy of a military counterdrug mission, etc. Geared for the UN GASS, we're working on three specific documents with direct relevance to the UN GASS agenda item `crop erradication and alternative development'. We would like to present these documents as part of the NGO activities in New York, preferably inside the UN building:
(1) A preliminary report on the health and environmental impact of erradication through air spraying of drug crops, resulting from an ongoing field research in seven Latin American countries. The final report will be published in October this year.
(2) A preliminary report on the trends in the coca-cocaine market in the Amazon basin, comparing current developments with the goals of counterdrug interdiction operations in the region, and specifically evaluating the effectiveness of the operations aimed at breaking the coca-paste air-bridge Peru-Colombia.
(3) A critical assessment of the UNDCP's "Strategy for Coca and Opium Poppy Elimination", SCOPE, as it will be presented to the UN GASS by its director Pino Arlacchi.
What we propose is a panel presentation of the above closely interrelated topics, with a total duration of 1 -2 hours.
[follow details about potential speakers etc.]
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Martin Jelsma / Transnational Institute (TNI)
Paulus Potterstraat 20 / 1071 DA Amsterdam
tel: -3120 6626608 / fax -3120 6757176
http://www.worldcom.nl/tni/drugs
