NEW WAY NEEDED TO ASSIST CRIME VICTIMS WITH COMPENSATION, REHABILITATION, THIRD COMMITTEE TOLD IN THIRD DAY OF CRIME DEBATE
Press Release
GA/SHC/3362
NEW WAY NEEDED TO ASSIST CRIME VICTIMS WITH COMPENSATION, REHABILITATION, THIRD COMMITTEE TOLD IN THIRD DAY OF CRIME DEBATE
19961022 The halls of the United Nations echoed with a "pervasive mantra" on crime prevention, criminal justice and the treatment of offenders, but there had been a "deafening silence" about the victims of crime, the representative of the Philippines said this afternoon. She was addressing the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) as it continued its general debate on crime prevention and criminal justice, international drug control and the elaboration of an international convention against transnational crime.New ways must be found to help victims of crime, she continued. They needed restitution to restore their dignity and honour; compensation for the closure of trauma; and rehabilitation so that they could return to their homes and communities with a measure of self-worth. A training manual was needed for the police, immigration officers, welfare volunteers and others who first came into contact with crime victims so their trauma was not exacerbated.
Government action to address the health and social consequences of drug use was an important part of any drug strategy, according to the representative of Australia. In his country, a needle exchange programme for intravenous drug users was a simple and low-cost measure that contained HIV/AIDS infection. It was part of a comprehensive approach, which included community and school-based programmes and strong law enforcement.
The representative from Iran said that any convention against organized transnational crime should be based upon existing instruments, particularly the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs, which was the most important instrument yet adopted in the struggle against international crime.
According to the representative of China, the United Nations and the international community should provide financial resources and technical assistance to developing countries to help them control crime, which was essential for promoting stability and development in those countries.
Statements were also made by Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, Singapore, Pakistan, Viet Nam, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Sudan and India.
The Committee will meet again at 10 p.m., Wednesday, 23 October, to discuss programme planning, pursuant to a letter of the Chairperson of the Fifth Committee.
Committee Work Programme
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this afternoon to continue its examination of crime prevention and criminal justice, international drug control and the question of the elaboration of an international convention against organized transnational crime. (For background see Press Release GA/SHC/3357 of 18 October.)
Statements
OKSANA TOMOVA (Slovakia) said her Government has combated the abuse and trafficking of drugs by implementing legislative, administrative and institutional measures. The national programme against drugs, established in 1995, was the main policy instrument in Slovakia dedicated to the prevention of drug addiction, comprehensive care for drug-addicted individuals, prevention of drug manufacturing, transport and trafficking.
Slovakia supported the work of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme in the areas of prevention and education, she said. The Government also supported the Assembly resolutions concerning international drug control on international procedure in combating drug addiction and illicit production and trafficking. It planned to implement these measures on a national level. Despite ever-changing economic and political conditions, the drug phenomenon had shown an extraordinary ability to take advantage of circumstances and adapt. It is because of this situation that Slovakia supported the 1998 Assembly special session dedicated to drug issues.
VICTORIA SANDRU (Romania) said government efforts to strengthen national anti-crime legal machinery, develop preventive mechanisms and provide a more humane criminal justice system must be supported by increased international responsibility and cooperation. In order to cope with the new dimensions of organized crime, there should be an emphasis on strengthening the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme and on better coordination between the United Nations anti-crime structures and the entities dealing with human rights, international drug control and the specialized agencies.
She said Romania had developed bilateral, regional and multilateral links aimed at promoting joint policies, programmes and mechanisms for crime prevention and law enforcement. So far, there were 15 agreements with Central and Eastern European governments and with members of the European Union -- France, Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom, and other countries. The agreements also targeted international terrorism, trafficking in drugs, radioactive materials, weapons and ammunition, money laundering, illicit trafficking in women and children and other related criminal activities. In recent years, Romania had been used as a transit country for drug trafficking. A bill to fight drug trafficking and consumption would soon be introduced into
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the national parliament. Her Government had ratified all the relevant United Nations conventions and took an active part in international programmes aimed at strengthening the global fight against illicit drugs.
LI SAN GU (China) said the rapid development of transportation and information technology made it more difficult to avoid the threat of transnational crime. Enhanced international cooperation -- including judicial and technological cooperation -- was critical in effectively combating crime. The enhancement of developing countries' ability to prevent and control crime was essential for promoting stability and development of those countries. The United Nations and the international community should promote the provision of financial resources and technical assistance to developing countries.
The role of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice should be strengthened with sufficient funds for the implementation of crime prevention programmes and follow-up actions to the Ninth Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, she said. The Commission should use its limited resources on the most pressing issues, such as organized transnational crime, drug-related crime and juvenile delinquency. Action-oriented policies should be adopted with concrete follow-up measures, and specific projects to foster international cooperation must be implemented. China was ready to enhance cooperation with other countries in a practical and effective manner and, in a joint effort, curb the mounting threat of organized transnational crime.
TETYANA ZHMACHENKO (Ukraine), also on behalf of the Republic of Moldova, said that the sharp rise in drug-related crimes over the last five years had a negative effect on the development of national economies, especially those countries whose economies were in transition. She said that the special session of the United Nations proposed for 1998 would promote the necessary international coordination of joint measures needed to combat illicit drug trafficking.
Moldova and Ukraine were faced with the problem of becoming the countries of drug transit on the Asia-Europe drug route, she said. Both countries have made substantial efforts to combat drug trafficking by adopting domestic legislations. However, effective implementation of this programme involved the combined efforts of the government, public institutions and the international community. Ukraine considered crime prevention as a system of state and public measures aimed at eliminating its causes. Attention needed to be focused not only on the punishment of offenders but also on their rehabilitation.
RUTH LIMJUCO (Philippines) said trafficking in women and children was particularly repugnant to humanity. It robbed the victims of any sense of self-worth and subjected them to all kinds of violence. The Ninth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders had
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called for an updating of domestic legislation on domestic violence and the trafficking in human beings, training and raising of public awareness and supporting institutions and self-help groups for women subjected to violence. She then outlined her Government's efforts to deal with the problem, including the Child and Youth Relations Project, which trained police in the basic skills needed to deal with street children.
In the halls of the United Nations, there had been a "pervasive mantra" on crime prevention, criminal justice and the treatment of offenders. But what about the offended parties? What about the victims of crime? she asked. There had been a "deafening silence" on that subject. "We must find ways to help them." According to experts, crime victims needed restitution to restore their dignity and honour, compensation for the closure of trauma, and rehabilitation so that they could return to their homes and communities with a measure of self-worth.
According to the experts, victims of crime often suffered post-traumatic stress which was exacerbated by their treatment after the crime itself, she continued. Usually the victim's first contact after a crime was with police, immigration authorities, welfare volunteers, non-governmental organizations or lay people who did not have the expertise to deal with traumatized victims. Appropriate training was needed for those who usually first came into contact with victims. There had been studies and valuable research done by the United Nations and non-governmental organizations on the effects and proper handling of certain victims, including sexually abused refugees. The Crime Commission at its fifth session had considered the development of a manual on assistance to crime victims. The various research findings and studies could be used to produce a training manual in the major languages and even dialects that could be used by governments and institutions. The benefits of such a training manual would far outweigh the difficulties and costs of producing it.
BRUCE REID (Australia) said that elimination of illicit drugs remained the first and ultimate goal. However, it was obvious that illicit drugs would continue to reach drug users and thus a comprehensive demand reduction strategy was necessary. Government action to address the health and social consequences of drug use was a complementary and equally necessary component of such a strategy. In Australia, one of the most effective elements of this strategy was the introduction of needle exchanges for intravenous drug users. Australia's needle exchange programmes were a simple and relatively low-cost measure that had enabled the country to contain the level of HIV/AIDS infection among illicit drug users; the country's rate of HIV infection was significantly lower than in other countries of the region and the Government believed that the programmes had made an important contribution to that success.
Needle exchanges and other harm-minimization policies were not adopted in isolation, but formed part of a comprehensive strategy designed to address
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drug use, the delegate continued. Other elements of that strategy included broad-ranging community programmes aimed at preventing the uptake of illicit drug use, school-based drug programmes and a strong law-enforcement focus on drug traffickers. Illicit drug use remained a major problem in Australia, and the Government had just extended its National Drug Strategy for a further three-year period. The Government believed that its balanced approach had led to a major reduction in the health and social consequences of drug use.
There was growing international concern at the increase in the use of designer drugs such as ecstasy. Steps should be taken through legislation, as well as education, to contain synthetic drugs. A further sinister aspect of the illicit narcotics trade and with it, transnational crime, was the phenomenon of money laundering. The international standards against that practice established by the Financial Action Task Force should be put into place. Australia, in order to keep up its commitment to further international narcotics control, sought the support of member States in its bid for re- election to the Commission On Narcotic Drugs at the forthcoming session of the Economic and Social Council in May 1997.
MOHAMMAD S. AMIRKHIZI (Iran) said that a convention against organized transnational crime should be based upon existing instruments, particularly the 1988 United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs, which was the most important instrument yet adopted in the struggle against international crime. Furthermore, an information centre for maintaining and disseminating information on the activities of transnational organized crime was necessary. Iran called upon all countries to cooperate in providing information requested on criminal activity to the Crime Prevention Division for preparation of a comprehensive report reflecting criminal trends and developments.
During the past 17 years, Iran had suffered the consequences of blind terrorism that had claimed the lives of many innocent civilians, he said. The Government supported the elaboration and conclusion of bilateral and multilateral arrangements and agreements to forbid the use of national territory for terrorist activities. Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations should be condemned. However, an exact definition of terrorism which clearly differentiated it from the legitimate struggle for national liberation against foreign occupation would be indispensable in preventing the arbitrary labelling of certain acts as terrorism.
YIP WEI KIAT (Singapore) said that stringent national laws were the primary means to tackle the drug problem. International cooperation on drug control could not be a substitute for the strict enforcement of coordinated national programmes. However, he stressed that illicit drug trafficking was essentially an international problem and that drug enforcement agencies could not afford to work in isolation.
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The containment of the drug threat in Singapore had been made effective by the Central Narcotics Bureau's strategy to reduce both the demand and supply of drugs, he said. As a deterrent to drug supply, Singapore imposed a mandatory death penalty on anyone trafficking in more than 15 grams of heroin, 30 grams of cocaine, 200 grams of cannabis resin, 500 grams of cannabis, 1 kilogram of cannabis mixture or 1.2 kilograms of opium.
Efforts to reduce drug demand in Singapore can be seen in the Narcotics Bureau's regular country-wide operations to round up suspected drug abusers, he said. These addicts were committed to compulsory drug rehabilitation centres for a period of time ranging from six months to three years. After release, they underwent a two-year supervision during which they reported to police stations regularly for drug tests. Drug addiction was a behavioral not a medical problem and priority should be given to educating the public on the perils of drug abuse. The Bureau, for example, conducted talks and seminars for students and high-risk groups to deter them from experimenting with drugs.
FATEHYAB ALI KHAN (Pakistan) said that the growing gap between pledges and actions on the worldwide menace of drugs should be brought up "honestly" in the debate to evolve a credible policy on an issue that had too often been underestimated. The perceived dichotomy between producing and consuming States should be replaced by the principle of shared, collective responsibility. International cooperation should be further encouraged through legislative, judicial and administrative measures. Pakistan, whose drug problem could be traced to geopolitical events following the invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union in 1979, had taken steps to eradicate the production of opium, poppy and cannabis. It was also committed to eliminating the processing and trafficking of drugs, the treatment and rehabilitation of addicts and activating community intervention on drug abuse.
Pakistan's drug control master plan for demand reduction stated that the main responsibility to reduce drug abuse rested with the traditional consumer countries. It also emphasized the need for additional guidelines to implement regional and subregional strategies and national drug control programmes and the creation of legal frameworks to combat money laundering. Policies for rehabilitation were also necessary. Policies of crop substitution should be supplemented by social and economic measures furthering development. Strong partnerships should be forged with all actors of civil society, in accordance with the initiatives already taken by the United Nations Drug Control Programme.
PHAM BINH MINH (Viet Nam) said that the international community must address the problem of illicit drugs in a comprehensive and balanced way. The problem was demand-driven, he noted, and the prospects for success would depend on a greater undertaking by the major consumer centres to reduce the demand for the product. International cooperation on the basis of shared responsibility and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of
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States between producer countries and consumer countries constituted the most important facet of the effort to eradicate drug abuse and illicit traffic. The special session of the Assembly on drugs in 1998 would result in a renewed commitment to fight and eradicate illicit drug activity.
He stressed that Viet Nam was strongly committed to the fight against drug abuse which was on the rise in the country. Various laws were being formulated or improved, and a separate one on drug control was in the drafting process. To implement the provisions on drug control, the Government had set up a national programme on drug prevention and control consisting of 18 line ministries and branches. The objectives included reduction of abuse through education; prevention and control, treatment and rehabilitation; and strengthening cooperation with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in a regional programme. In cooperation with the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, Viet Nam had formulated a "Comprehensive Plan on Drug Control". At the regional level, it had officially entered the subregional framework of cooperation by signing a memorandum of understanding with China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. Together with the ASEAN countries, they had formulated the ASEAN Three-Year Plan of Action on drug abuse control.
MARTIN GARCIA MORITAN (Argentina) said international cooperation was extremely important in international drug control, between international bodies and among States. The Government was disheartened by the International Narcotics Control Board's (INCB) report which stated that due to a lack of resources the Board would not be able to carry out a number of activities in controlling psychotropic substances. The increased power and ability of drug trafficking organizations required a change of attitude by Member States if they were to shoulder their responsibility in countering the drug scourge. However, without the valid contribution of the INCB, States' hands were going to be tied. Therefore, all member countries should provide assistance to the INCB and the United Nations International Drug Control Programme.
Argentina would increase the control of illicit substances by adopting strict measures on production and trade of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, he said. The Government also expressed support for the holding of the General Assembly's special session in 1998.
FIKRET MAMEDALI PASHAYEV (Azerbaijan) said the presence of drug abuse, illicit trafficking in narcotics and organized crime caused adverse socio- economic effects, especially in newly independent States. And the problems of the illegal production, supply, demand and traffic of drugs were especially acute in Azerbaijan. Drug cultivation was widespread. Dozens of hectares were dedicated for cannabis production, and active narcotic syndicates operated out of Armenian occupied territories.
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The Azerbaijan Government supported the United Nations drug control and criminal prevention divisions and was in favour of further cooperation against organized crime, he said. It favoured efforts to consolidate and coordinate the various specialized United Nations agencies and other international organizations against transnational criminal organizations, especially those trafficking in illicit drugs. Azerbaijan law enforcement bodies were not always prepared for the activities of terrorist or transnational crime groups, so the Government supported the idea of the financial strengthening of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme and the Committee on Prevention of Crime and Criminal Justice.
SHAHIRA HASSAN WAHBI (Sudan) said international crime endangered the social fabric and resulted in huge human and social losses. Various international and regional conferences on crime had underscored the international community's desire to deal with the problem. The Naples Conference on Crime and the Ninth United Nations Conference on Crime Prevention had proposed strategies and action to help countries increase their potential to handle the growing effects from the spread of crime. Developing countries were vulnerable to the impact of organized crime and the international community should help them with resources, technical assistance and the exchange of information. She noted the efforts of the United Nations African Institute on Crime and said it should be given adequate resources to carry on its work.
She said her Government had taken a number of efforts on crime and criminal justice, including the convening of a legal conference to elaborate policies to enhance the legal system and rehabilitate criminals. It had signed all international conventions which dealt with money laundering and trafficking in humans. Sudanese law included provisions to deal with crimes against the environment. It welcomed the Polish initiative to elaborate a convention on transnational crime and would actively participate in discussions on the proposal. Sudan strongly supported submitting the draft to States to receive their comments so it could be adopted with the participation of all States and by consensus. The Commission on Crime Prevention should participate in the elaboration of the draft convention along with other relevant bodies such as the Sixth Committee (Legal), States and civil society. Linking the eradication of illicit drug use and trafficking with development should be considered. Her country was being used as a transit country, yet the Government had enacted many laws, including capital punishment, to deal with drug traffickers.
NAJMA HEPTULLA (India) said the scourge of narco-terrorism and narcotics-related money laundering represented one of the most significant threats to human civilization today, transcending national boundaries and blurring the distinction between the developing and the developed world. Certain imperatives had to be addressed. Demand reduction was one of them, and there was an urgent need to involve civil society through the non- governmental organizations who were experienced in working with governments. She cited poverty and marginalization as factors that encouraged illicit crop cultivation and which must be addressed. In addition, universal ratification of all existing conventions on drugs would make their provisions more effective in combating the menace.
India's narcotics problem was largely transit-related, arising from its
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proximity to the world's two major opiate-producing regions, she said. Trafficking was growing, as was the difficulty in detection and drug dependence in the north-eastern parts of the country bordering the south-east Asian producing region. India had enacted comprehensive legislation providing for a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in drug trafficking cases. In addition to supplementary provisions, the Government had created an agency to administer the law and coordinate enforcement. While India supported global efforts on the issue, it accorded high premium to bilateral and regional cooperation. India produced licit opium for medicinal and other purposes. Governments should restrict global production of opiate raw materials to levels corresponding to actual needs and refrain from any proliferation. India was pleased to co-sponsor the draft resolution on "International Action to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Production and Trafficking".
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