Interview: "Never forget the people we have to help"

By Preeta Bannerjee

Sumru Noyan, the most senior woman in UNODC for the last 12 years, stepped down in November 2006 as Director of Operations and Deputy Executive Director. A career diplomat, Ms Noyan holds the title of Ambassador in her native Turkey. After joining the foreign ministry in Ankara, she held a number of diplomatic postings, including in Belgrade, Paris and Düsseldorf, before joining UNODC.  

As Director of Operations, she was responsible for coordinating the activities of the 21 UNODC field offices around the world and the work of a team of specialist staff in Vienna covering everything from human trafficking to money-laundering and corruption. On the eve of her departure from the Office, she reflected on her experiences in an interview with Perspectives.

Helping put UNODC issues on the global agenda

Sumru Noyan raised international awareness on HIV/AIDS among injecting drug users and in prisons. In 1999, she worked to make UNODC the seventh co-sponsoring organization of UNAIDS. Since then, UNODC has grown to become the lead agency in the UNAIDS family on HIV/AIDS among injecting drug users and in prisons. "We started with a $140,000 programme, and now we have a programme worth around $100 million globally," she said.

UNODC is expanding its focus to finding ways to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons and in situations of human trafficking. "It is remarkable that we have managed to achieve such a large programme in less than 10 years. Now we have 40 field advisers worldwide, in Russia, the Baltic countries, Romania, Central and South-East Asia, as well as a programme in Costa Rica for HIV and prison issues."

"The problem is also that in many countries, people do not know what is happening in prisons. So UNODC helps to establish the facts. Law enforcement officers and prison guards have to be trained in how to treat people. Sometimes they do not even know that they should conduct HIV testing in prisons," Ms Noyan said.

In 2006, she helped bring about the creation of the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre (CARICC), an initiative that helps countries in the region, as well as Russia and Azerbaijan, share intelligence on the fight against illicit drugs. This takes on additional importance following the surge in opium production in Afghanistan in 2006.

"The region previously had no institutions to counter the grave threat of drug trafficking," Ms Noyan says. "Thanks to CARICC, countries will share information and assist each other. They will run it, not us." CARICC will be based in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Experiences from the field

Sumru Noyan said she tried hard throughout her UNODC career not to lose sight of the people whom the Office was set up to help. Her numerous field trips have left memories of some poignant moments.

"One story particularly opened my eyes to the tragedy of human trafficking, violence against women and prostitution," she recalled. "On the Myanmar-Thailand border, I saw several beautiful houses in a very poor village. I asked the chief of police, to whom did they belong? He told me that, every year, traffickers from neighbouring countries come to the village to pick up some of the most beautiful girls aged 10 to 15. They buy them from their families and take them away. After exploiting the girls for some years, they send them back home at the age of 18 to 19. The girls are rich now, they can feed their families and build these houses. But they also return with HIV/AIDS, morally and physically finished."

"In another country, I was faced with an unusually blatant case of corruption when I was taken to a mobile lab to see how opium had been seized. Accompanying me was an expert who was testing samples. He found that the seizures were not pure in quality. To my great surprise, a law enforcement officer took a kilo of opium from his pocket to demonstrate to us how pure opium should be! I knew then that we had an uphill battle on our hands."

Fighting for gender equality

Sumru Noyan worked hard to instil gender sensitivity in UNODC's field work.

"Women work twice as hard to gain recognition. I have tried to prepare the ground for qualified women to benefit from our programmes by creating livelihoods in small villages because, in many cases, it is women who support the family. We have established guidelines on gender mainstreaming in alternative development."

"Our programmes dealing with witness protection and victim support are really helping women," she added.

Ms Noyan is pleased that women now account for around 30 per cent of staff at the Turkish foreign service, compared with the tiny handful when she joined. But she believes much remains to be done both in national governments and in the United Nations as a whole.

"When I arrived at UNODC as Chief of Operations, I felt the men wanted a woman in the Office but not as a real colleague." She built good relations with her senior colleagues and always tried to ensure that competent women in UNODC were recognized and rewarded. 

Tasks and resources: a glaring disconnect

Ms Noyan is convinced that UNODC has a bright future ahead, with its key issues - drugs, crime and terrorism - commanding increasing attention at the top level in Member States.

But she believes that the Office, which relies on voluntary contributions for around 90 per cent of its annual budget, needs to be put on a much more secure footing as far as funding and resources are concerned.

"We have the biggest mandates in the world but not the resources," she says, "We deal with very dynamic issues, such as drug control, crime prevention, corruption and terrorism, but real support is not forthcoming."

A case in point: the UN Convention against Corruption came into force in December 2005. This is the first global, legally binding instrument against corruption, with innovative measures such as an obligation for countries to return stolen assets to their countries of origin.

"We have to explain to countries what this Convention is about and how to implement it. But how do we stamp out a massive problem like corruption without commensurate resources? We constantly have to go to donors and explain why we need experts and mentors." Ms Noyan believes this reflects a lack of political will on the part of some countries to put truly effective mechanisms in place to combat corruption globally.

She is pleased at the positive response to the Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, which came into force in 2003 thanks largely to tireless efforts by UNODC. "It was a real achievement that 124 countries signed it immediately, in December 2000, but the real challenge is implementing the Convention."

Summarizing the role of UNODC as a supplier of expertise to Member States, she said: "Our job is to help countries live up to their commitments. That is too important to forget."