press conference by executive director of United Nations office on drugs, crime

Antonio María Costa, Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said at Headquarters this afternoon that Afghanistan was dangerously close to being destroyed by opium, according to the 2006 Opium Survey.

Mr. Costa told correspondents at a press conference where he presented the results of the Survey that it showed opium cultivation in Afghanistan as having risen to 165,000 hectares, a 59 per cent increase over 2005, while total tonnage had reached an unprecedented 6,100.  The largest cultivation had taken place in the South, notably in the Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where governance had collapsed largely due to a growing insurgency and rampant corruption.  In north-eastern provinces such as Badakhstan, increased opium cultivation could be attributed to warlords and greedy officials.

He called for immediate political, strategic and health measures, stressing that first, security and the rule of law must be improved.  “Bullets rule or bribes rule.  We do have a dramatic situation which needs to be confronted”, he added.  In addition, farmers must receive development assistance, which to date had not been so generous by international standards in post-conflict situations.  Of course, they would be assisted on condition that they abstained from cultivating opium.

Describing corruption as a “major lubricant” in the opium industry, he said that the more district and provincial leaders committed themselves to opium-free activity and corruption-free governance, the more they would deserve development assistance.  The criminal justice system would also have to be involved.  As prosecutors had been trained and courthouses and maximum-security prisons built, it was imperative that the Afghan Government begin to arrest notorious drug traffickers and halt money-laundering, including major funding slated for terrorists.  Coalition members whose forces were deployed where most of the Afghan opium crop was consumed must do more to reduce addiction and control the use of opium, which caused 100,000 deaths a year.

In response to a question about measures imposed on financial institutions to reduce money-laundering, he said some progress had been made but more steps were needed.  Income derived from illicit drug trafficking was laundered in too many financial centres, offshore havens, banks and corporations.

Asked what on-the-ground actions could be taken to stop the staggering amount of opium produced from reaching the end-user, he said there was a need for more work to promote the values of the anti-opium strategy and reduce demand in the West.

Regarding compensation for farmers who willingly gave up their crops, he said they would not be compensated following the destruction of their crops.  A previous programme that had provided compensation had failed because such a policy only served as insurance for the farmers and, as such, was a recipe for disaster.  Compensation would have to come in the logic or context of development.

When asked how opium farmers could be given incentives to grow alternative crops, he cited the vital need to change the risk-reward balance, noting that, as things stood, the rewards from poppy cultivation far outweighed the risks.

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For information media • not an official record