South Asia: Regional experts examine emerging trends in drug trafficking; call for cooperation on capacity-building, information exchange and interdictions

New Delhi, India/21 Sep 2022: South Asia continues to face a multitude of drug related challenges that are exacerbated, in part, by its geographical location between the two main illicit opiates producing and trafficking regions of the world, namely the Golden Triangle and the Golden Crescent. The COVID-19 pandemic and socio-political developments around the world have further aggravated the problem.

Against that backdrop, South Asia remains a target for traffickers smuggling illicitly produced opiates from Afghanistan to Europe and North America along the “alternate” southern route. In addition, coastal States in South Asia are vulnerable to maritime trafficking as a result of their exposure to trafficking routes across the Indian Ocean.

A rising shift from trafficking in narcotic drugs to trafficking in synthetic drugs, including amphetamine type stimulants, and chemical precursors is reported. Access to drugs has also become simpler than ever with online sales, and major drug trade on the dark web has now exceeded some US $315 million annually. Rapid technological innovations, combined with the agility and adaptability of drug traffickers who are using online platforms to sell drugs and other substances, are likely to increase the availability of illicit drugs to the end consumers’ doorsteps maintaining end to end anonymity.

Addressing these emerging challenges requires a comprehensive understanding and urgent collective response from the governments, and particularly from the the law enforcement, and health agencies.

Reflecting on these aspects, UNODC convened a regional expert group meeting on strengthening policy and programmatic responses to the drug problem in South Asia. Senior officials from BIMSTEC, law enforcement agencies, narcotics control, police and health from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka actively participated in the discussions. The consultation aimed at examining emerging areas of concern vis-à-vis drug trafficking and possible responses.

Setting the context of the EGM, Mr. Tullio Santini, Regional Representative, a.i., of UNODC Regional Office for South Asia, in his Welcome Address, advocated the promotion of a comprehensive, balanced, rights-based and gender-responsive approach to tackle the drugs problem. “Drugs pose a serious challenge to health and safety of people. Addressing this challenge requires a balanced, evidence-based approach, and global cooperation,” he said.

Opening the consultation, the Chief Guest, Chairperson of India’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), Mr. Priyank Kanoongo highlighted UNODC’s role in developing a comprehensive response to the drugs challenge, especially in the context of young people. Responding to prevalence of drug use among children, NCPCR developed a joint action plan in consultation with UNODC, government agencies, law enforcement, health and other stakeholder groups, targeting 272 vulnerable districts in India,” he said.

Representatives and experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and BIMSTEC delivered very comprehensive presentations on various aspects of the drug problem, challenges, limitations and possible responses. Participants reflected on ways to promote comprehensive counter-narcotics programmes and mainstream drug issues in the national development agendas, including in social welfare, health and education.

The EGM concurred that for effective operational responses to reduce supply, it was imperative to focus on all aspects of counter-narcotics capacity building, including intelligence-led investigations, effective interdictions, tackling the darknet, leveraged supply-chain, eradication programmes, integrated border management, financial intelligence units, and law enforcement as well as prosecutorial capacities, to effectively disrupt criminal networks.

Discussions also focused on ways to strengthen regional and international cooperation to stop precursor chemicals from being diverted and trafficked to manufacture heroin and other synthetic drugs. The EGM emphasised the need to build the interdiction capacities of key countries along trafficking routes, with an eye to enhancing long-term effectiveness rather than focusing on immediate seizures.

The Group deliberated on capacity building to intercept illicit financial flows, supporting effective prosecution as well as asset confiscation and recovery. Participants extended support to the launch of a massive offensive on health challenges linked to trafficking in drugs, including HIV and hepatitis C, the initiation of awareness building campaigns, and promoting alternatives to imprisonment for drug-related offences of a minor nature, to lessen the burden on the criminal justice system and uphold the human rights of people in prison settings.

Highlighting the very high importance of this regional EGM, Dr. Suruchi Pant, Deputy Representative of UNODC Regional Office for South Asia, said, “The outcome and recommendations from this meeting would help us to craft suitable policy and programmatic responses to the drugs problem in South Asia. These findings and recommendations would feed into UNODC’s upcoming Regional Programme for South Asia.”

Under the aegis of its new upcoming Regional Programme for South Asia, UNODC stands ready to partner with South Asian countries to promote regional cooperation in order to counter the drug problem.

This activity contributes to SDG 3, 5 and 16: https://sdg-tracker.org/