Statement of Pino Arlacchi,
Under-Secretary-General,
Executive Director,
to the
Operational Segment of the
Forty-fourth Session of the
Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Vienna 26 March 2001
Good afternoon.
The operational segment is a time for UNDCP to receive guidance from the Commission. So I will limit my opening remarks to a few issues that I would like to bring to your attention to supplement the reports we have provided you.
Let us start with Africa.
The African continent is increasingly used for the transit of illicit drugs. The abuse of drugs often as a spillover from this traffic has become a matter of concern in a growing number of countries.
I intend to appeal to all UN agencies to take the drug issue into consideration in their cooperation with African countries. Public health, HIV prevention, child and adolescent health, education and post-conflict rehabilitation come to mind as areas with clear links to the drug problem.
The UNDCP programme portfolio for Africa has expanded, but the resources to carry it out have not yet followed to an adequate extent. The Commission has called for increased assistance to Africa, and we stand ready to move forward if the needed resources are made available. I have asked my colleagues to present to the Commission later on our programme and projects in the African region.
I recently met in Morocco with the Prime Minister and other senior officials. I was encouraged by their willingness to work with the international community in addressing the problem of cannabis cultivation in the north of the country as part of a strategy that includes action on related crime issues. We will pursue these discussions with the Moroccan authorities, in consultation with other interested countries.
Turning to East and South East Asia, I would like to offer a few observations on subregional cooperation. Over ten years ago we began working under an arrangement initially involving three countries China, Myanmar and Thailand. The formula proved to be effective. Other countries soon joined through a Memorandum of Understanding, which has become the basis for coordinated and joint programming.
One of several valuable products of this cooperation has been an innovative approach to law enforcement training through the use of CD-ROM modules. This low-cost methodology has attracted attention among law enforcement specialists, and we will hold a meeting in Bangkok next month to elaborate strategies for dissemination of the system outside the immediate region.
Regional cooperation was further enhanced in Asia and the Pacific through the adoption last October by the ASEAN countries and China of a common strategy in pursuit of a drug-free society by the year 2015. One of the central themes of this initiative is the need for action against production, traffic and consumption of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS). This reinforces the ATS strategies emerging from other initiatives within the region, including regional meetings hosted by Japan. We look forward to working with the Asia/Pacific governments in the implementation of these ATS strategies, including action to control precursor chemicals.
The ATS issue poses new challenges. Demand reduction for ATS usually concerns different target groups, often with different motivations. Action against supply cannot rely on proven methodologies like alternative development. One fact remains unchanged, however. Any successful approach will need to target both demand and supply, on the basis of a carefully articulated strategy.
You have heard a number of references in the past days to the achievements in the Andean region. There is a net reduction of some twenty per cent in the area under coca bush cultivation since the early 1990s. Bolivia is nearing complete success in eliminating illicit cultivation, and Peru continues to move forward. The issue is one of high priority for the Government of Colombia as well.
This brings me to an issue I raised with you last week. By the time of the Special Session, there was a consensus on the importance of a balanced approach to drug control, addressing both supply and demand. The concept of shared responsibility among all countries was the key to that consensus.
In the area of measures to reduce supply, the international community can point to very concrete achievements. One country after another has succeeded in reducing or ending illicit cultivation of opium poppy and coca bush. A pattern is emerging that shows a clear possibility of success on a global level.
UNDCP has been part of your effort to put in place this successful supply reduction strategy. It includes alternative development. It also includes the 1988 Convention and now the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
This possible breakthrough on supply reduction will not be achieved, however, if there does not soon emerge a parallel pattern in the reduction of demand. The abuse of drugs the demand is a worldwide problem. The examples I cited above underline this fact. ATS in East and South East Asia, heroin in South West and Central Asia, new outbreaks of abuse in Africa, along with the more highly publicized drug problems in Western Europe and North America.
On the demand side, the way ahead is not yet fully clear. But we should not fall into the trap of saying that demand is too complex to address that its causes are so numerous that no real strategy is possible. There are enough cases of success around the world to disprove this.
You assigned targets for reducing demand. In the same way that we worked together over the years to develop a strong strategy to reduce supply, we need to turn more proactive on the demand issue.
We have some basic tools already available, including the Guiding Principles and the Plan of Action emerging from the Special Session. We need to convert these into a strong reality on the ground. Much of this will be done by you at the national level. Yet there is a need for the services of UNDCP as well.
I renew the request I made at the opening session, inviting you as our governing body to give us a reinforced mandate for work in the area of demand reduction. This in turn will call for resources.
I would like to offer a few comments on the question of resources. As requested at an intersessional meeting on 14 March, we have prepared and circulated a note on possible guidelines for the use of general purpose funds. You have this note in Conference Room Paper 4.
These guidelines have been anchored in the reality of our financial situation. The Fund of UNDCP must support the network of field offices. The Fund must also cover the additional costs it generates at headquarters for support services and relevant management. These field and headquarters costs constitute the support budget that the Commission approves.
At your request, we reduced the uncommitted fund balance over a period of years. The details of that process have been regularly reported to you.
We now find ourselves in the following situation. General purpose income remains static and may even decline. This trend is not limited to UNDCP but can be perceived in other funds and programmes of the UN system. For the current biennium, we must use over ninety per cent of general purpose income to finance the approved support budget. The details of this are given in the note we have circulated.
What remains is used for programming. Now that the fund balance has been reduced, we can anticipate no more than four to five million dollars in general purpose funds available each biennium for commitment to programmes. This means two to two point five million dollars per year.
We have proposed in the note a possible way to set priorities for the use of general purpose funds. But it is important to keep in mind the volume of funds under discussion. We are talking about well under five percent of the overall resources of the Fund.
It is my hope that your discussion of guidelines can also address this fact. You will hear more about the proposed guidelines in tomorrows presentation on the budget.
The Member States of the United Nations are the stakeholders in UNDCP, and the Commission acts as governing body over the Fund. With the institution of intersessional meetings, the level of communication between Governments and the Programme increased. This has been beneficial from the point of view of our Programme.
We have also seen an increase in informal exchanges and technical briefings. I now meet periodically on an informal basis both with the Ambassadors of major donor countries and with those representing other interested Governments, in particular the middle level donors and recipient countries.
I have sensed that the time may be ripe to reflect on ways to go one step further and consider possible ways that these consultations could become more of a trilateral arrangement involving donors, recipients and UNDCP. I would welcome your views in this regard.
As my closing point, I would like to bring to your attention a process of change we began six months ago in the management arrangements of UNDCP. The changes are intended to follow up on earlier steps that successfully decentralized management responsibility from the headquarters to the field.
The steps now being taken at the headquarters are based on a similar process of delegation of authority at all levels of the Programme. I will mention a few of the steps involved, adding to my comments at the opening session last week.
Two Deputy positions have been instituted, one for ODCCP (the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention) and one for the United Nations Office at Vienna.
Within UNDCP, we are filling three positions of Division Director. Broadly stated, they will cover Operations, External Relations and Legal Affairs.
Proposals for the use of resources from the Fund of UNDCP are now subject to scrutiny by a new Programme and Project Committee, consisting of the three Directors and the Director of the Crime Centre.
Machinery has been established to advise on policy and to ensure coordination and synergy. A Directors Meeting brings together the three UNDCP Division Directors, the Director of the Crime Centre and the UN/Vienna Directors on a regular basis.
Beyond this new management machinery, we have also reached the operational stage in an important new tool for financial management. On 15 March, after one year of preparatory work, we began using the new Programme and Financial Information Management System, known as ProFi.
This system integrates the whole project cycle from planning and fund-raising to expenditures. It minimizes the time and effort required for budget revisions and issuance of allotments. Headquarters and field offices are linked through use of the Internet, so all staff have access to the same set of unique data. Reliable data on the financial status of projects are for the first time available to managers and administrators in real time. They are also available to Member States through our website for Permanent Missions.
At the same time as we improve the way in which our work is managed, we are conscious of the need to maintain and improve the quality of the projects themselves. Objective evaluation is an essential part of this.
During the year 2000, twenty-nine evaluations were carried out, covering thirty-one projects. In nearly all these cases twenty-seven out of the thirty-one projects, the evaluators were independent experts, external to UNDCP. The exceptions were small projects for which the expense of an outside evaluation cannot be justified.
In the single year of 2000, we were able to evaluate nearly as many projects as during the two previous years combined. This higher rate of evaluation will continue. The 2001 evaluation plan also includes three large regional programme evaluations of our work in specific thematic areas.
Summaries of evaluation findings are posted on the special website for Permanent Missions, along with a statement of evaluation policy and procedures.
Mr. Chairman, our objective is to serve the international community and to serve it better. This requires a combination of high quality programmes and efficient management, along with the most current technology and the talents of a motivated and expert staff. It also requires accountability to you, the stakeholders in the Programme. We are committed to undertake our work in a manner characterized by the highest professional standards and the fullest transparency.
I thank you for the support and guidance you provide.