Director General/Executive Director
Mr. President,
Members of the Security Council,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for this opportunity to brief the Security Council.
As the Secretary-General's statement to the recent Geneva Afghanistan Conference highlighted, renewed efforts by the international community, along with regional support and engagement, are needed to overcome serious challenges of insecurity, poverty and the rule of law.
Illicit opium and the criminal economy are among these urgent challenges, as recognized in the Geneva Communiqué, which calls "for increased efforts to fight corruption and illicit narcotics".
According to this year's Afghanistan Opium Survey, the overall area under cultivation remains the second highest measured since the beginning of systematic opium poppy monitoring and recording in 1994.
The area under cultivation fell by 20 percent compared with the record level of 2017, accompanied by a drop in opium yield, but both can be attributed to the devasting drought that Afghanistan has suffered.
Eradication remained insignificant, falling to 400 hectares in four provinces, compared to 750 hectares in 14 provinces in 2017.
As a result, more than 5,000 tons of opium are potentially available for heroin production in and outside of Afghanistan. This means more than 600 tons of heroin of export quality.
Continuing high levels of supply have brought prices down to rock bottom.
The farm-gate value of opium decreased by 56 percent compared to 2017, but at 604 million dollars still represents nearly three per cent of the country' GDP.
High levels of opiate supply mean there are a lot of drugs that will go to different destinations, at a cheaper price.
Moreover, Afghanistan remains an important source country of hashish.
This year's World Drug Report found that Afghanistan had reported 22 percent of the global total of hashish seized in 2016.
Afghanistan is the first victim of this overproduction of drugs, which contributes to high rates of drug use in the country.
Up to 200 tons of raw opium are consumed annually. A report by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics estimated adult drug use at more than double the global use rate.
This poses a grave threat to public health and safety and hinders peacebuilding, economic growth and stability.
Balanced responses to drug supply and demand are thus critical to supporting Afghanistan's efforts to achieve progress in combatting corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing.
The Afghan government has taken steps to increase resilience to illicit financial flows and foster good governance.
Measures encompass banking regulation; the national procurement agency; the digitalization of many processes, including land titling and asset declaration; the anti-corruption law and strategy, the High Council for rule of law and anti-corruption and the Anti-Corruption Justice Centre; the new Penal Code; and the law on anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime continues to provide support in all our mandate areas, including to address the Geneva Mutual Accountability Framework priority area on "anti-corruption, governance, rule of law, and human rights".
UNODC is seeking to step up strategic responses, in line with the peacebuilding and conflict prevention priorities of UNAMA.
This includes strengthening interconnectivity between country, regional and inter-regional action to facilitate alternative development activities and access to international markets.
Our Office in Kabul is supporting the Afghan Government in identifying common targets under a regional counter-narcotics strategy, which should be fully plugged in with existing coordination mechanisms.
I hope that we will be able to further strengthen progress, including through implementation of the UNGASS outcome document, at the forthcoming ministerial segment at the March 2019 session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
As ever, UNODC remains committed to supporting Afghanistan and the international community to address these shared challenges.
Thank you.