BRIEFING BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OFFICE FOR DRUG CONTROL AND CRIME PREVENTION

Press Briefing

BRIEFING BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF OFFICE FOR DRUG CONTROL AND CRIME PREVENTION

Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, based in Vienna, this afternoon briefed correspondents about activities undertaken by the Office since the special session of the General Assembly on the World Drug Problem held in June 1998.

Mr. Arlacchi noted the significant drop in coca cultivation in South America and in cocaine production worldwide. There was an overall reduction of 25 per cent in coca cultivation in South America, with Peru recording 55 per cent in three years, and Bolivia 20 per cent. "This has never happened before. These are really historical changes", he said, adding, "I like to think that the special session and the emphasis we are putting on alternative development had played a role in producing for the first time good news in this area."

Events held since the session included a conference which took place in Brussels to raise funds for the implementation of an alternative development plan in Peru. It had been organized jointly by the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), and the Peruvian Government. A total of $270 million had been committed by Member States for the Peruvian plan to eliminate illicit coca cultivation in 10 years.

An important follow-up to the special session, he said, was an agreement between the UNDCP and the European Space Agency to undertake a satellite monitoring of all illicit cultivation of opium, coca and cannabis worldwide. The UNDCP would be provided with the resulting data with the Programme and the countries monitored becoming the co-owners of the information. Mr. Arlacchi described the project as an important achievement.

A number of other projects had been prepared to implement the commitments made by Member States at the special session to substantially reduce demand for narcotics in the next 10 years, he said. A donor conference was to be held in Vienna next month to discuss them.

Another important follow-up to the special session was an action plan for Latin American countries to concretely implement their commitment to eliminate illicit coca cultivation in the next 10 years. Discussions were going on with both donor and recipient countries on the effective implementation of the plan.

Responding to questions, Mr. Arlacchi said that it was the first time that such projects, like the proposed satellite monitoring, had been elaborated. He could not think of examples of multilateral projects in this area. Illegal crops could not be effectively eliminated without precise data on their cultivation. He said previously there had been only ground surveys and aerial photographic surveys by different sources and that they had been undertaken in an

uncoordinated manner. The planned satellite monitoring would make the UNDCP the centre for gathering and dissemination of all the data worldwide. The project would also contribute to the reduction of conflicting interpretation of data by different countries which sometimes became a political problem, he added.

Who would pay for the cost of the satellite monitoring? Would it be the United Nations? a correspondent asked. Mr. Arlacchi said it would be in the form of donor funding. The European Commission had already expressed interest and commitment, while the European Space Agency itself would partially fund it. The rest of the money would be raised through donor-funding channels.

Observing that the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy of the United States, General Barry R. McCaffrey, had characterized the flow of illicit drugs from Colombia through Haiti and the Dominican Republic, among other Caribbean countries, as "a very serious situation", a correspondent asked whether the UNDCP had carried out a study of that situation, or whether General McCaffrey should be believed.

Mr. Arlacchi said his office had a number of ongoing projects there and that "a lot of money" had been invested in the Caribbean plan of action, along with contributions by the United States and the European Union, among other major donors. He shared the view of General McCaffrey about the seriousness of the drug trafficking problem in the Caribbean. He observed that although the Caribbean drug trade was oriented towards the United States, about 50 per cent of it entered European countries, as well. It was a global problem, he said.

Asked when the Latin American project would take off, Mr. Arlacchi said it would be undertaken in three countries -- Peru, Colombia and Bolivia -- and it was aimed at eliminating coca production within the target goal of 10 years. The UNDCP contribution had been calculated at about 10 per cent. As he had already stated, it had mobilized substantial resources for the Peruvian plan. A donor conference, planned for Bolivia, would take place in New York. Mr. Arlacchi said he would travel to Colombia in two weeks for talks with President Andrés Pastrana on the implementation of the long-term plan for the country.

Noting that 10-year and five-year plans to get rid of illicit drug trafficking had been talked about and yet "the drugs seem to never go away", a correspondent asked how Mr. Arlacchi could be optimistic that "finally these might work". What was different about those plans?

Mr. Arlacchi said there had been no action plan at the beginning of the decade. The plans existing then had been domestic efforts to reduce cultivation among other actions. The special session had been the first such global effort translated into concrete projects with specific time frames. It had been the first opportunity to mobilize international effort to tackle the

Arlacchi Briefing - 3 - 19 February 1999

problem. For a variety of reasons, it had been impossible, in the past, to reach general agreements as had been attained at the special session last June. "This is a historic opportunity", he added.

Asked whether he had received financial support during his talks at Headquarters, Mr. Arlacchi said his discussions with the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) had been extremely positive. The UNDCP was a growing organization. Its budget had increased 35 per cent last year, and the forecast for the next two years had been discussed. He hoped "to do even better", he said.

He told a questioner that about 10 to 15 per cent of UNDCP's resources had been invested in the Balkan countries. It was thinking of opening an office in Turkey soon. The UNDCP was also working to renew a project in Albania, and was cooperating in an European Union project to counter drug trafficking and organized crime in the Balkan region.

In response to a further question, he said that he had been invited by the President of Colombia to visit the country to discuss the beginning of a plan for alternative development. But he would first visit Washington next week to participate in an international conference on corruption being organized by United States Vice-President Al Gore. He would meet with General McCaffrey and State Department officials to discuss in depth the Colombian situation, which he described as the most problematic in Latin America.

He said that, because of the linkage between narco-traffickers and the guerrilla groups in Colombia, the United Nations hoped to contribute to the strategy embarked upon by the President of Colombia and the peace process there.

Asked whether his agency had plans for the farmers who made a living from coca cultivation, he said that was part of the alternative development project planned. He added that half a million farmers were involved in the cultivation of the drugs. The only solution in the long term was alternative development, and that required mobilization of resources and expertise. That was what the UNDCP was doing. Its programmes and other bilateral projects were offering concrete alternatives through cultivation of cash crops ranging from coffee to rubber trees.

He said the programmes were better than those put in place 10 years ago for several reasons, including the decrease in coca prices of more than 50 per cent in the world market. In addition, he referred to the increasing confidence of the international community in the concept of alternative development due to UNDCP's efforts. The agency had concrete alternatives to offer, he said, adding that the programmes were working.

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