Director-General/Executive Director
9 September 2014
Minister,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for coming to this event of the UNODC Maritime Crime Programme.
Our aim today is to strengthen the collective response to address a growing problem, namely drug trafficking on the high seas of the Indian Ocean.
Cultivation and production of opium have reached record highs in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, we have seen a shift in trafficking patterns.
Criminal networks are increasingly moving heroin through the southern maritime route to Africa, and then overland to markets in Europe and elsewhere.
Combined Maritime Forces vessels have seized more than 4,200 kilos of heroin in the past 18 months. I believe we will hear more about these operations from Commodore Blount.
The numbers make clear the dangerous dimensions of the problem, and how much more work needs to be done.
More specifically, an inability to prosecute traffickers detected on the high seas remains a major challenge.
As we have seen, drug seizures alone have not deterred the criminals, who remain at large due to a lack of enforcement capacity.
If we want to contain the problem of heroin trafficking through the Indian Ocean, we need to explore options for prosecuting drug traffickers.
UNODC's Maritime Crime Programme represents the expansion of our successful Counter Piracy Programme.
Through this programme, we have developed, together with states in East Africa, a piracy prosecution model that helps to finish with maritime piracy in this region.
UNODC supports the development of transfer agreements and facilitates the suspect-transfer process in prosecuting states.
We provide support to national law enforcement and police to investigate piracy cases.
Furthermore, we assist prosecutors and the judiciary, including through legal review, capacity building and infrastructure.
We also help to build or renovate correctional facilities in line with international minimum standards.
The piracy prosecution model thus may offer some ideas for the successful prosecution of narcotics trafficking at sea.
We are currently developing programmes in Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Seychelles to explore possibilities for engagement, ranging from intelligence sharing and joint investigations to legal responses. We will discuss this in more detail later today.
UNODC has also launched the "networking the networks" initiative, which enables better operational cooperation between regional and international law enforcement structures, by providing a platform for inter-regional criminal intelligence sharing and coordinated multilateral operations.
Because, ladies and gentlemen, partnerships are absolutely vital if we are to succeed.
UNODC is committed to advancing these collective efforts, through our programmes on the ground, and by supporting States to address these challenges in forums such as the Crime Commission.
The usefulness for States of a dedicated coordination mechanism could also be explored. There is an interest in developing a "Western Indian Ocean Maritime Crime Forum", which could include the organization of a ministerial-level conference.
UNODC, as ever, stands ready to assist.
Excellencies,
We cannot allow a culture of impunity on the high seas to flourish.
I hope we can count on your help, including through your financial support and engagement in the Maritime Crime Programme, to strengthen the response to drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean.
Thank you.