Director-General
9 June 2014
I am pleased to be here to discuss "The Future of the Middle East and Emerging Global Challenges."
I believe that the title of this panel session is entirely appropriate.
After all, we cannot fully understand the threat of drugs and crime in one particular region without examining the global nature of these challenges and how they are interconnected.
Just one example: to appreciate the impact of the heroin threat in the Middle East, we must look to the production of opiates in Afghanistan and its illicit trafficking and consumption in the Gulf, Africa, Europe and elsewhere.
As a result, the local and regional crime problems of yesterday have become the global crime problems of today.
These challenges are now truly transnational stretching over national and regional borders and reaching deep into countries and fundamental institutions.
The proceeds generated by these crimes are quite simply enormous:
- the cocaine market: 85 billion US dollars;
- the illicit opiate market: 68 billion ;
- trafficking in human beings: 32 billion;
- ID theft/cybercrime: 1 billion; and
- wildlife crime: 10 billion US dollars.
UNODC estimates that, in total, the proceeds from all transnational organized crimes amount to a massive 870 billion US dollars annually, with illicit drugs worth some 320 billion.
Steep rises in Afghan opium production is one of the major challenges we are facing.
In 2013, opium cultivation in the country rose to the unprecedented level of 209 thousand hectares, and opium production increased by around 50 per cent, reaching 5,500 tons.
Opium from Afghanistan, however, is not simply undermining stability in this country and elsewhere, it is also a serious health issue.
Afghanistan suffers from the world's highest prevalence rate for opiate use, but neighbouring countries also face a growing health problem caused by large numbers of heroin users.
That is a huge problem, but not the only one we are facing in the area of illicit drugs.
There is an expanding illicit market for synthetic stimulants. In Asia, for example, the supply of methamphetamine has grown three-fold between 2008 and 2012.
Methamphetamine also appears to be replacing amphetamine, especially in the Baltics and Eastern Europe. However, amphetamine remains the main synthetic drug used in the Middle East.
Rises in consumption of NPS have also occurred, and in some parts of the world, their use may be outpacing cannabis and cocaine use among young people.
NPS is a concern in Israel where Israeli authorities identified 27 new NPS in the first part of 2012. At the same time, Israel remains among the top 25 nations in the world for cannabis seizures.
Although cocaine use appears to have fallen in North America, this fall has been offset by rises in other regions in Asia and Africa.
We are seeing terrible violence in Central America as a result of organized crime. There is a real need for the international community to help address this urgent problem.
Regarding international drug control policy, the H
igh-Level-Review of the implementation of the Political Declaration and Plan of Action, held in March, acknowledged the impact of drugs on sustainable development, as well as health.
In 2016, Member States will meet in New York for a Special Session of the UN General Assembly to continue the discussion on the world drug problem.
Treatment for drug use disorders, as well as activities to prevent drug use, and HIV/AIDS, form an essential element of UNODC's work in reducing demand. These services need to be effective and efficient, as well as science-based and in-line with fundamental human rights.
Maritime piracy also remains an urgent priority. Despite the
number of successful piracy attacks declining in the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean, there are concerns over piracy activity in the Gulf of Guinea.
To meet the changes in piracy trends and the many challenges of other maritime crimes, UNODC has created a maritime crime programme founded on the knowledge and experience of its successful counter-piracy programme.
Corruption, fuelled by the enormous proceeds I mentioned earlier, is a constant threat to vulnerable nations.
It is conservatively estimated that, each year, as much as 20 to 40 billion US dollars are stolen through corruption from developing nations. This represents around 40 per cent of the total for yearly international development assistance.
Human trafficking, involving billions of dollars in profits, continues to cause misery and suffering for millions of people.
UNODC's research shows there are some 460 trafficking flows crossing every region and that the number of detectable cases of slave labour has doubled from 18 to 36 per cent. Just as significantly, the number of child victims has risen by 7 per cent in recent years.
In addition, there are also a number of emerging crimes that deserve our full attention.
We have seen thousands of elephants and rhinos slaughtered and large portions of rich forests lost to illegal logging.
Wildlife and forest crime yield huge profits and the money used is either laundered or invested into other criminal activities.
As an example of how this crime has grown, we can look to South Africa. In 2007, just 13 rhinos were poached in the country, by 2013, this figure had leapt to around 1,000.
To fight wildlife and forest crime, UNODC recently announced the creation of a Global Programme for Combatting Wildlife and Forest Crime and we will conduct more detailed assessments of the threat.
Another part of the world, where there is a real need for the international community to concentrate its efforts is West Africa and the Sahel region.
West Africa is now both a transit and destination point for cocaine, and there are concerns about the impact of cocaine consumption on scarce and under-resourced public health services.
The region confronts l
ocal consumption of drugs, production of synthetic drugs, and the trafficking of small arms, oil, cigarettes, fraudulent medicines and other kinds of illicit commodities.
In the Sahel, UNODC has drafted a strategy for the region and we are working on judicial cooperation in Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Burkina Faso.
There are also growing fears over the connections between criminals and terrorist groups such as
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram
. All of this has had a destabilizing effect on development and security, affecting countries beyond this region.
Israel may also be a destination for Moroccan cannabis resin trafficked through the Sahel.
UNODC's response to these formidable global challenges is threefold: close partnerships, both within and outside the UN system; political commitment among Member States at the highest levels; and the delivery of integrated support through our regional programmes to nations including in the Middle East and North Africa.
In the Middle East, we are working with countries across a broad range of areas: reducing drug supply and drug demand; anti-corruption; curbing human trafficking; anti-money laundering initiatives, forensics and advising on criminal justice reforms.
UNODC is also creating better coordination, and greater information sharing through its "networking the networks" initiative, which links various bodies involved in tracking illicit drugs across the globe.
This work is complemented by the Global Container Control Programme, jointly run with the World Customs Organization. This programme targets hundreds of thousands of containers across the world using risk analysis. It is being expanded to a number of countries in the Middle East, as well as North Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen,
If we are to deliver enduring successes against drugs and crime, including in the Middle East, we must build greater connectivity and linkages between the various bodies engaged in sharing information and conducting joint operations against the criminals.
As part of this work, UNODC is developing regional programmes sensitive to the needs of regions, such as the Middle East, but, which are also part of an integrated response to global threats and challenges.
Thank you.