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.
When I last addressed this Council on counter-narcotics challenges and responses in Afghanistan last December, I highlighted the urgent need to step up international action.
In less than one hour, I will join the President of the General Assembly to launch the 2018 World Drug Report.
The findings indicate that total global opium production was up 65 per cent last year, to 10,500 tonnes, easily the highest estimate recorded by UNODC since we started monitoring.
Most of this opium originates in Afghanistan, where opium poppy cultivation and production have reached unprecedented highs.
This situation obviously has a high destabilizing potential for the country, the wider region and the international community.
Last month, UNODC released the socio-economic study complementing the annual Afghan Opium Survey. This study clearly underlines the multiple challenges to sustainable development, peace and security posed by opium.
The linkages with terrorism and other forms of crime have also been widely acknowledged, including by this Council.
These are problems that require long-term engagement and solutions to achieve results.
I am pleased to note that since December, we have seen some positive momentum with efforts to respond to this global threat. Nevertheless, many formidable challenges remain.
Once again, I would like to highlight the importance of shared responsibility and international cooperation to address the many security, safety, development and health challenges posed by this situation.
International community focus has unfortunately shifted away from the priority of counter-narcotics in recent years.
We cannot afford such inattention.
Moreover, sustained resources are needed to address the situation.
Against this context, UNODC, has pursued efforts to advocate for renewed awareness and support, and reinforce regional and inter-regional dialogue and responses to opiate trafficking.
UNODC and the Afghan Ministry of Counter-Narcotics have worked together to reinvigorate Afghan commitment on this issue, also in the broader context of the peacebuilding Kabul Process.
This includes UNODC support to the inter-ministerial working group, led by the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics, on the development of a counter-narcotics strategy with a strong regional cooperation component.
Furthermore, UNODC, in close coordination with the Government of Afghanistan, has developed the "Strategic Action to Respond to the Global Threats of Opiates", or SARTO, to step up regional and inter-regional responses to counter opium cultivation and production increases, and address related threats of crime, terrorism and corruption.
Our efforts focus on four identified priorities: the need for a revitalized, strong Afghan lead in counter-narcotics action; the importance of comprehensive, balanced approaches, from the health sector to law enforcement, under the principle of shared responsibility, and in line with the recommendations of the UN General Assembly special session on drugs; the need to target the nexus between drugs, crime and terrorism as a spoiler of the peace process; and the need to support Member States, especially in Central and West Asia, to set up mechanisms contributing to prevention of conflict and destabilization related to the opiate threat, and to the action of international terrorist groups based in the region and beyond.
The strategy seeks to further enhance effective inter-agency coordination with UNAMA and the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia.
For maximum effectiveness and efficiency, the strategy also aims to plug into existing coordination and governance mechanisms, such as: the Paris Pact Initiative; the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process on Regional Security and Cooperation for a Secure and Stable Afghanistan; the Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan; the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure; and the Afghan Joint Coordination and Monitoring Body, among others.
The Paris Pact Consultative group meeting recently held in Vienna noted these strategic and policy developments.
UNODC remains fully engaged in supporting Afghanistan and neighbouring countries to pursue comprehensive counter-narcotics action, in line with the SDGs and the UNGASS outcome document.
This includes alternative development; regional and inter-regional cooperation to disrupt illicit trafficking of drugs and precursors, as well as intercept financial flows; law enforcement capacity building; and scaling up drug use prevention and treatment services.
Looking ahead, the Geneva International Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan in November represents an opportunity to highlight the importance of counter-narcotics responses.
I hope we can count on the assistance of this Council to bring attention to the many threats posed by opiates, to Afghanistan, the wider region and beyond, and the need for urgent and determined international action.
Thank you.