Opening Remarks of the
Executive Director
to the
Sixth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the
Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Vienna 18 June 2001
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is, as always, a pleasure to see you and to have the opportunity to make some remarks on development since the Commission last met. I will start with programme maters and move on to addressing management issues and the steps that I am taking to implement the recommendations contained in the reports of the Board of Auditors and the OIOS.
Before I proceed to programme developments, let me also mention that we have just completed our annual seminar with all our field Representatives. It was a great pleasure to be able to stay with the group during the three-day period of a retreat that we organized outside Vienna.
Now I will mention some recent programme developments.
Let us first turn to Latin America and the Caribbean. I will give only a few headlines.
Turning to Africa, you will recall that we gave a special presentation last March on plans and programmes in the region. Your positive reaction has confirmed that we are on the right track.
The Africa Section is finalizing a discussion paper on the ODCCP strategy for Africa. The paper will include a five-year programme framework. It will be presented to African partners, donors and the UN agencies for inputs and comments, in an effort to achieve the broadest possible ownership. I am confident that we can put the strategy into motion before the end of the year.
We do not intend to sit still during the planning stage. Since the March Commission session, three new projects with budgets totaling three million dollars have been finalized and are ready to start. Two more projects are awaiting funding confirmation.
All these projects are based on strong partnerships. For example, one important project is based on full cost-sharing by the Government. It targets national drug control policy-making, improved law enforcement action and other related measures.
A prevention project covering three West African countries will be conducted together with UNFPA, aimed at inserting drug abuse prevention into education schemes for youth.
Last month, I visited Africa and met with the Presidents of Nigeria and Togo. In Nigeria, we agreed to help upgrade the law enforcement training academy. We also discussed a number of crime-related problems faced by the country, especially financial fraud, corruption and asset recovery.
Moving now to Afghanistan, a ten-day donor assessment mission took place in late April/early May. Arranged at the request of donors, the purpose was to examine the impact of the ban on poppy cultivation issued by the Taliban last July to address the issue of opium stockpiles and to assess the sustainability of the ban, the possible displacement of cultivation and the potential for assistance to former poppy-growing areas.
The mission traveled extensively in the main poppy-growing areas and found that the ban had been successfully implemented. No displacement was found. In the absence of any measures by the Taliban to address the consequences of the ban, other than an appeal for international assistance, the mission was concerned that sustainability could prove over time to be problematic, especially in the east of the country. Small farmers, particularly sharecroppers and itinerant farm labourers, were especially hard hit by the economic impact of the ban.
The mission called on humanitarian aid agencies to engage more in the affected areas in the short to medium term. UNDCP was encouraged to continue its monitoring of poppy cultivation and to conduct advocacy with the Taliban. UNDCP has been asked by one donor to draw up a new project for Nangarhar Province to help sustain the ban on cultivation. Work should begin next month, at a cost of some one point five million dollars for the current year.
I should add that the Security Council decided in December to establish a committee of experts to make recommendations on how to monitor the arms embargo against the Taliban and the closure of terrorist training camps in Taliban-held areas. That committee began its work in March and undertook a series of fact-finding missions in the region. This included consultations with UNDCP representatives on drug-related issues. The recommendations of the committee were presented to the Security Council on 22 May.
Moving on to programme headlines in East and South East Asia,
We were very pleased to cooperate with the authorities of the Russian Federation in organizing a two-day international conference in St. Petersburg earlier this month on "Illegal Economy and Money Laundering". Around one hundred thirty experts from 40 countries attended the Conference, and I shared the podium with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Gryzlov, and the Governor of St. Petersburg.
The Conference gave an opportunity to the Russian authorities to highlight the measures they are taking to address the problems they are facing. Participants were also able to describe actual problems they are encountering when they address money laundering.
Turning to a global issue with close links to drug abuse, we have been actively involved in the lead-up to the General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, which takes place later this month. Activities include a special feature in the June issue of our UPDATE publication, the circulation of an op-ed piece for selected newspapers, a special prevention post cart - these are very popular with young people - two targeted radio public service announcements featuring professional athletes and musicians, a video shot by UNTV in Brazil, and an exhibit in the Secretariat building in New York. I will attend the Special Session personally and participate in round table sessions.
I welcome this opportunity to discuss programme developments with the governing body, and I am looking forward to receiving your feedback.
As you know, the OIOS has now completed its review of UNDCP and CICP, and the related reports have been issued and made available to the Member States. The regular triennial review reports were presented to the Committee for Programme and Coordination in New York last week. The Deputy Executive Director, Francis Maertens, represented ODCCP during the meeting of the Committee, and he will speak in more detail on this subject later this morning.
The third OIOS report, on management and administration, has been issued as a General Assembly document, and copies were circulated to Permanent Missions. Presuming that you have had the opportunity to read the report, I will not comment on its contents but move straight to the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report.
First of all, I would like to assure you that I will do everything possible to implement all the recommendations thoroughly and transparently.
I will also use this opportunity to carry out an overhaul of the structure of ODCCP.
I already mentioned to the Commission in March that work had begun on some of these changes, in anticipation of the OIOS report, and I confirm that this work is proceeding at a steady pace. At the same time, I have to say that this reform effort will take some time, and that an appropriate deadline for its conclusion will be towards the end of this year.
In order to ensure the comprehensiveness of the exercise, I have also established ad advisory team headed by the Deputy Director-General, Steinar Bjornsson, to oversee the change process and monitor progress in implementing the OIOS recommendations.
In addition, I expect from the advisory team a proposal for a new organizational chart, and for the strengthening of the evaluation function.
Starting in September, I will provide OIOS and the Member States with regular reports on these issues.
I would like to reiterate that I am fully committed to all these changes, and look forward to your support in this process.
Finally, I take this opportunity to encourage all of you to attend the next meeting of Member States, on the 5th of July. I would like to propose that we concentrate that day on the emerging strategy for Africa and on developments in Afghanistan, and that we look at demand reduction, in particular the Global Assessment Programme.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for giving me the floor.
