International Conference on Enhancing Security and Stability in Central Asia:
An Integrated Approach to Counter Drugs, Organized Crime and Terrorism
Welcoming Statement by:
Mr. Pino Arlacchi
Under-Secretary-General
Executive Director of ODCCP
Tashkent
19 October 2000
Your Excellency, distinguished President Karimov,
Your Excellency, Madam Minister Ferrero-Waldner,
Your Excellencies, Heads of Delegations,
Esteemed Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am very pleased to address today the International Conference on Enhancing Security and Stability in Central Asia. During these two days, the Conference is to discuss possibilities for achieving an integrated approach to counter the threat of drugs, organized crime and terrorism which is unfortunately emerging in the Region.
As you know, the Conference is jointly organized by the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
I wish to, first of all, extend my sincere thanks to H.E. President Karimov and the Government of Uzbekistan for the kind hospitality which made this important forum possible.
The Central Asian region is among the top priority target areas for our activities mandated by the international community. Practically all countries of Central Asia are severely exposed to a high risk due to the large-scale opium production in Afghanistan.
It is not my first visit to the Region. Last time, I participated in the Ministerial Meeting organized a year ago under the Memorandum of Understanding on Drug Control Cooperation in Central Asia and met many of you there. Since then, the factors that make the situation in Afghanistan so intractable have remained largely unchanged, and the concern we all share has not diminished.
The armed conflict in Afghanistan continues, despite repeated demands by the UN Security Council that the parties, in particular the Taleban, stop fighting and resume negotiations under UN auspices.
There is a real danger that Afghan territory is being used as a base to destabilize other countries in the region. Some Central Asian states are disturbed by incidents involving the entry of extremists and terrorists from the territory of Afghanistan into their countries. There are also extensive reports of further deterioration of the humanitarian and human rights situation in Afghanistan.
The trafficking of narcotics from Afghanistan and the other criminal and terrorist activity that it fuels, pose a corrosive challenge to the governments in the region - - a challenge we cannot afford to ignore.
That makes it all the more important that the Central Asian countries continue to pursue their initiatives to counter drugs, organized crime and terrorism, and it is our duty to facilitate and support these initiatives as far as we can.
For a number of years, we have been carrying out our annual opium poppy surveys in Afghanistan.
Last years survey findings were alarming - - opium production was estimated at a record level of 4,600 metric tones, or some 75% of the worlds supply, with 91 thousand hectares under cultivation. This presented a doubling in production and a large increase in acreage compared to 1998.
For this year, I can report that there was a slight decrease in the number of hectares under opium poppy cultivation to 82 thousand hectares. This 10% decrease was welcome news. But it makes only a small dent in the massive increase recorded last year.
We estimate the opium production in Afghanistan this year at 3, 275 tones - - a 28% decrease which was mainly due to the severe drought in the country.
However, there were significant decreases in three of the four districts in which we are implementing our pilot alternative development programme. All three met their targets of a 50% reduction in land under opium poppy cultivation, and there was a small reduction in the fourth district.
The above results re-confirm my strong belief that the problem of illicit opium poppy cultivation should be ultimately tackled in the main source country which is Afghanistan.
So far, the ODCCPs activities inside Afghanistan are confined, for obvious reasons, to the annual poppy surveys and our pilot alternative development programme which help us to accumulate a sound basis of knowledge and experience for an expanded programme of alternative development assistance - - when the general conditions become ripe and there is sufficient international support for implementation of such a programme.
In the meantime, in order to contain the flow of drugs, the spread of crime and terrorism from Afghanistan, an important element in our strategy is to strengthen the control capacities of all countries around Afghanistan.
In Central Asia, the countries directly neighbouring on Afghanistan are Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are also exposed to Afghan drugs, the Afghan-based organized crime and terrorism. Our initial technical assistance programmes have already been launched in all five countries of Central Asia. We are helping to develop the capacity of border forces and law enforcement authorities to interdict shipments of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals which are used to manufacture those drugs in Afghanistan. We are also promoting regional cooperation between the national law enforcement agencies.
ODCCP is pleased that the Regional Action Plan, which was recently elaborated under the "6 + 2" cooperation mechanism, emerged from a process that began with the Technical Meeting hosted by ODCCP last May in Vienna.
The Action Plan contains sound proposals for improving drug control measures in the region, as we believe in the usefulness of a mixture of national and regional approaches to more efficiently counter the emerging threat. ODCCP is prepared to further contribute to the "6 + 2" cooperation process.
There are also other mechanisms for cooperation which are already well in place in Central Asia:
Furthermore, we are encouraged that our efforts to counter the threat of drugs, organized crime and terrorism to the Region enjoy attention and support at the global, international level:
Action is already underway in all five Central Asian states and in other affected countries. But we need to expand this work. I will cite the example of Tajikistan.
Tomorrow, I will travel to Dushanbe to inaugurate the new Drug Control Agency which has been set up with some ODCCP's assistance. The Agency has quickly become operational. Even prior to its formal inauguration, the Agency has already seized impressive amounts of drugs and arrested 115 traffickers.
The combined effort of all law enforcement agencies operating in Tajikistan has resulted in nearly1.3 tonnes of heroin seized this year. That is similar to the amount seized annually in the entire United States.
The impressive level of drug seizures in Tajikistan has been achieved by effective cooperation between the National Drug Control Agency and the Russian border guards patrolling the Tajik-Afghan border.
This underlines the advantages of investing in law enforcement and other control measures close to the source of illicit drug crops. For instance, the currently increased difficulties of smuggling across the Afghan-Tajik border have already resulted in a fall in prices of illicit drugs on the Afghan side of the border. The impact of this success could be seen almost immediately, and the traffickers began to avoid this route.
However, our objective should be to make unattractive every route used for the traffic in drugs, spread of organized crime and terrorism. The enforcement agencies of Central Asian countries know how to do it.
But they lack the resources and equipment needed to become truly operational and to recruit and train their forces. ODCCP is endeavouring to assist them in addressing these targets, and I am strongly inviting the entire international community to also increase assistance to Central Asian countries in this field.
The Tajikistan example is an interesting one. It combined a strong political commitment President Rakhmonov himself signed the protocol with me for UN assistance in creating the new agency. The cooperation of a few donors enabled us to respond quickly with the initial funding. On the Tajik Government side, the necessary orders were given to move quickly through the planning stage and to go operational, with the minimum of bureaucracy and procedure.
This example highlights the challenge we face. We need to move decisively to convert our good intentions into results on the ground.
I am convinced that the leaders of the Central Asian countries share this view. They know that the stakes are very high for them.
I am convinced that the effort can intensify at the national level and that the frameworks which exist for cooperation between countries, both within the region and outside, can become instruments for practical, day-to-day collaboration.
I am less convinced that the international community has fully understood. I will be blunt and point out that I am thinking primarily of the international donor community. This is not a situation of business as usual. If we do not convert the last ten years of talk into concerted action, we may find that the price to pay later on is a much higher one one that goes well beyond monetary terms.
All of us have the common goal of human development. But if criminal groups prevail, aided and abetted by drug trafficking and resorting to terrorism as a business tactic, then human development becomes impossible.
In looking at the draft declaration and the proposed priorities for cooperation that will be discussed and, I hope, endorsed by the Central Asian States at this Conference, I am encouraged by the action-oriented language.
I call on all who are present from organizations and governments around the world to take the same approach as the Central Asian Governments and make a commitment to move forward. We at ODCCP are ready to play our part.
The memoranda, the agreements, the resolutions, the declarations, the frameworks, the plans, the project proposals everything is in place. LET US NOW ACT.
Thank you.