Opening remarks by
Pino Arlacchi
Under-Secretary-General
Executive Director
to the
Sixth Asia-Pacific Operational Drug Enforcement Conference
ADEC-VI
Tokyo
30 January 2001
Honoured Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to be in Tokyo again in what is becoming a January tradition. I extend my thanks to the Government for inviting me again tothese important events.
We have much to be positive about right now in the worldwide fight against drug traffic and related crime. At the same time, there remain major problems that we must face with redoubled energy.
Let us turn first to some of the positive developments. In a number of countries the growth of drug abuse has slowed considerably. In some cases it has stabilized or even reversed. Heroin use is down in the United Statesand parts of Western Europe. Cocaine use is down in the United States and continues to be very small in Asia. We also note in many countries that the age of initial drug use is rising, certainly a positive sign. Young people are being persuaded not to become involved in drug abuse. This is part of the growing evidence that good demand reduction policies pay off.
We are also seeing some reversal of trends in the production of drugs. The total area worldwide under illicit opium poppy cultivation is now at its lowest level since 1988. In the year 2000, global production was four thousand eight hundred tonnes -- a decrease of seventeen per cent from 1999.
Ninety per cent of illicit poppy cultivation is now concentrated in two countries, Afghanistan and Myanmar. This is a much improved basis for strategic planning than was the case twenty five years ago, when any strategy against illicit cultivation had to address as many as eight countries stretching from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
Much the same scenario can be found for coca cultivation and cocaine. Illegal cultivation has nearly ended in Bolivia and has in recent years decreased dramatically in Peru. Two-thirds of the cultivation is now in Colombia. In 1999 we saw the first decrease in many years in the total amount of coca leaf production in the three countries, down nearly eight percent from the relatively stable plateau that had been reached in the early 1990s and seventeen per cent below the 1990 figure.
We know beyond any doubt that alternative development works. It is possible to put pressure on supply without putting undue hardship on farmers. You first proved this here in Asia.
It will work in Myanmar, where the last large concentration of poppy remains in the region, if the resources are made available. In fact, we can already see a downward trend in production in Myanmar, with a decrease of around fifty per cent since 1996.
Parallel to these encouraging results on production and consumption,we are also seeing an increase in the global seizures of heroin and cocaine. At a time when production may actually be starting to decrease, the continuation of the upward trend in seizures is testimony to the increasing effectiveness of law enforcement agencies.
Taken together, the entire package of results shows progress on all fronts -- production, trafficking, demand. The balanced approach works.
But I would be misleading you if I told you that all trends are positive. There remain many worrisome developments as well. In general terms,drug abuse and traffic have spread to virtually every country of the world. Developing countries are now facing major problems of drug abuse. Trafficking routes now span the globe.
Heroin use is increasing in nearly every country in Asia. Southwest and Central Asia are particularly hard hit. Cocaine use is increasing in most of Western Europe and South America.
The consumption of amphetamine-type stimulants has increased throughout the 1990s in Europe, with some stabilization only at the very end of the decade. The pattern of increase is the same here in Asia when methamphetamine is considered. About half of all users of amphetamines worldwide are in Asia, mostly in East and South East Asia. In several countries of the region, methamphetamine abuse already exceeds that ofopiates.
Many challenges remain on the traffic side as well. Drug traffickers continue to find new routes. We have a clear example of this in the recent seizure of 350 kilos of heroin in Fiji. Traffickers took advantage of the internal situation in that country to make it into a transit point to Australia.
Just like legitimate businessmen, traffickers have modern communications technology at their disposal. And they have the resources to use this technology to improve their efficiency more quickly than we can. This is a gap that we must close.
On the demand side, despite progress in finding successful approaches to the treatment of addiction, the availability of treatment is far below theneed. The proof is now emerging that increased investment in preventionand treatment leads to decreases in abuse rates. But there remain many who doubt the wisdom of the balanced approach, and until they are convinced, the resources will not be forthcoming.
There is still much work to be done on all fronts. And I think we are better equipped than ever before to do it. Just a few examples will illustrate this.
At the global level, the three drug control conventions have now been joined by the Palermo Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Signed in December by a record one hundred twenty-four governments, this new instrument criminalizes several forms of organized crime, including money laundering. It eliminates bank secrecy related to the proceeds of transnational organized crime. And it criminalizes the simple participation in an organized criminal group.
The consensus that permitted rapid conclusion of the Palermo Convention was already in evidence in 1998 at the Special Session of the General Assembly on drug problems. The Political Declaration not only stated that efforts should be enhanced to fight drug production, and drug abuse. It set targets and deadlines. National strategies are to be in place by 2003. Drug abuse is to be cut by fifty percent by 2008. Illegal cultivation isto be eliminated by the same year.
The global consensus has remained in force at the regional level as well. Last October in Bangkok, the ASEAN countries and China adopted the ACCORD Plan of Action, setting targets and deadlines for themselves,as well as a monitoring system to measure progress.
It is worth recalling that it is the Asian region which pioneered the Memorandum of Understanding approach in cooperation with the United Nations. Now replicated in other regions, the MOU has become a means for ensuring concerted action on shared problems.
Also at the regional level, we have in the case of ESCAP the UNregional commission that is by far the most active in drug control. Of special note is ESCAP's assistance in promoting partnerships with the private sector to support enhanced human security.
This region has an impressive degree of political consensus around the drug issue. And it has a wealth of practical experience in developing successful strategies. These are great advantages in addressing the remaining problems.
In the case of ATS, the political consensus is in place. The concerted regional strategy is still to be completed and launched.
In the case of alternative development, with the success in Thailand and Viet Nam and the launch of a solid strategy in Lao PDR, only Myanmar remains. The region can itself play the central role in finding a way to transfer the success to Myanmar.
There remain a number of countries in the Asia/Pacific region that are vulnerable to drug trafficking. They need support and assistance from within the region.
There are offshore financial havens in the region. They also need the support of the rest of the region in making the political decision to meet international standards. They will then need assistance to implement those decisions.
Now that the Palermo Convention has been signed, the challenge is to reach as quickly as possible the forty ratifications needed for it to come into force. This region can take the lead. Each of you can help by ensuring thatyour Ministers bring it to the attention of your respective Cabinets and Parliaments as soon as possible.
We at UNDCP and in the Centre for International Crime Prevention,which work together as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention,are prepared to help you meet all these challenges. Our work is facilitated by the strong political will within the region and by the great amount of expertise that is available in your own countries.
This meeting itself is a fine example of regional cooperation. Experts from throughout the region are sitting together to share information, plan their common strategies and forge close working links. I salute and thank the National Police Agency of Japan for hosting the meeting and wish you every success.