ROLE OF JUSTICE SYSTEMS IN COMBATING ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFIC TO BE REVIEWED BY INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD

28 October 1996

Press Release
SOC/NAR/747

ROLE OF JUSTICE SYSTEMS IN COMBATING ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFIC TO BE REVIEWED BY INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD

19961028 Meeting from 31 October - 15 November, Board Will Prepare Recommendations for National Justice Systems

VIENNA, 28 October (UN Information Service) -- The role of criminal justice systems in the global fight against drug trafficking will be reviewed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) during its sixty-first session, which begins here on 31 October behind closed doors. The Board, an independent body whose 13 members serve in their individual capacities, is charged with monitoring States' compliance with international drug control treaties.

Based on its examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the many national criminal justice systems around the world, the Board is expected to make recommendations to encourage progress in the work of national justice systems and in international judicial cooperation. That effort is required under the terms of the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. The current review will be the main focus of the Board's report for 1996, to be issued early next year.

The Board -- which also regularly reviews States' adherence to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, its 1972 Protocol and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances -- reports annually to the Economic and Social Council through the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Its 1996 report is to be completed at the current session, which ends on 15 November. That report will also review world drug abuse and trafficking, as well as measures taken by governments throughout the world to combat those problems. The Board also recommends actions to be taken nationally and internationally to improve controls.

Since the issuance of its 1995 report last February, the Board has sent investigative missions to the following countries: China, El Salvador, Estonia, Hungary, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Moldova, Slovak Republic, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Zambia.

The Board's current session will be preceded by a three-day meeting of its Standing Committee on Estimates, which proposes limits to be set

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by the Board on the amounts of narcotic drugs needed by countries for medical and scientific purposes. The Board will review current trends in the supply of opiate raw materials and the demand for opiates, with a view to ensuring their availability for legitimate purposes. A recent Board survey found that despite a 10-year effort by the World Health Organization (WHO), many countries had done little or nothing to remove obstacles to the legitimate use of such opiates, thus leaving patients to suffer needlessly from under-treated pain.

Members of the Board are: Sirad Atmodjo (Indonesia), Dr. Edward Armenakovich Babayan (Russian Federation), Dr. Hamid Ghodse (Iran), Dil Jan Khan (Pakistan), Antonio Lourenco Martins (Portugal), Gottfried Machata (Austria), Mohamed A. Mansour (Egypt), Dr. Bunsom Martin (Thailand), Herbert Okun (United States), Dr. Alfredo Pemjean (Chile), Dr. Manuel Quijano (Mexico), Oskar Schroeder (Germany) and Elba Torres Graterol (Venezuela).

In view of the special character of its deliberations, the proceedings of the Board are confidential.

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