UNDCP, INTERPOL AND WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION SET UP JOINT DATABASE ON GLOBAL DRUG SEIZURES
Press Release
SOC/NAR/803
UNDCP, INTERPOL AND WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION SET UP JOINT DATABASE ON GLOBAL DRUG SEIZURES
19990624 (Reissued as received.)VIENNA, 24 June (UN Information Service) -- A revolutionary joint database that will greatly increase overall knowledge of drug trafficking trends and routes worldwide was announced today by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the World Customs Organization (WCO).
The database, which combines vital information collected by each organization about global drug seizures, is a major breakthrough in efforts to more clearly understand the scale and dynamics of illicit drug trading. It already contains more than 10,000 records, which will be constantly updated by the three agencies as new information comes in.
The new initiative -- the first of its kind -- means the three agencies can now communicate regularly and jointly assess global trends in drug trafficking. The database allows them to analyse the latest information about drug trafficking and pass on their results -- through the publications of each organization -- to governments and other decision-makers working on drug enforcement strategies.
Several years of exhaustive and technically complex work by the three main bodies combatting illicit drug trading went into this sophisticated new international tool. Interpol designed the computer software needed to match information and eliminate duplication or ambiguity about reported seizures and will manage the database, but each partner will have full access to it.
In its latest annual "Customs and Drugs" report, the WCO stressed that drug trafficking was a major ingredient of transnational crime, threatening the social well-being of communities around the world. It urged law enforcers to form strong partnerships at both the national and international levels.
The new database should serve as a springboard for law enforcers to more closely and effectively cooperate, help them develop more comprehensive operational strategies and boost information sharing as well as training, which will benefit the entire global community.
* *** *