Director-General/Executive Director
معالي الأمين العام الدكتور محمد بن علي كومان،
السيد اللواء أحمد الزرقاني،
السيدة السفيرة Delphine Hournau-Pouezat،
أصحاب السعادة والمعالي، السيدات والسادة الكرام،
يسعدني ويشرفني أن أرحب بكم اليوم في هذا الحدث الجانبي الهام، والذي سيتناول نتائج تقرير مكتب الأمم المتحدة المعني بالمخدرات والجريمة حول تهديد الاتجار في المخدرات الاصطناعية في منطقة الشرق الأوسط، وهو التقرير الأول من نوعه.
وأود أن أتقدم بخالص الشكر إلى دولة العراق على تعاونها الوثيق مع المكتب في إعداد هذا التقرير، لتسليط الضوء على أحد أهم التهديدات المتصاعدة في المنطقة، وما يتطلبه هذا التهديد من تعاون وتنسيق إقليمي لمواجهته.
Excellencies,
As UNODC has warned in recent World Drug Reports, trafficking of synthetic drugs has become a growing concern across the Near and Middle East.
Seizures of amphetamine, mainly in the form of “captagon”, doubled from 2020, reaching a record high of 86 tons in 2021.
In Iraq alone, captagon seizures have increased by almost 3,380 per cent from 2019 to 2023. In 2023, over 4.1 tons of captagon tablets were seized in the country.
In parallel, increasing seizures indicate that methamphetamine trafficking is also rising.
Drug trafficking is intertwined with regional instability and a legacy of armed groups with cross-border affiliations.
To help tackle these growing and interconnected challenges, UNODC’s Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, working closely with the Research branch in Vienna, has taken a closer look at the complex drug trafficking dynamics in the region.
The new report, which will be released in the coming months, shows how drug trafficking operations are growing in scale and sophistication in Iraq and the region.
The report further details the patterns and flows of drug trafficking within Iraq, along three key internal corridors.
More specifically, our research has found that Iraq, which lies at the intersection of the world’s major trafficking routes, is at risk of becoming an increasingly important node in the drug trafficking ecosystem spanning the Near and Middle East.
Iraq is affected by the Balkan and Southern routes, traditionally used for opiates from Afghanistan going to Europe, but also for trafficking other types of drugs.
It is also affected by the flow of captagon from the Levant to the Arabian Peninsula.
Iraq has over 3,600 kilometres of land border with its neighbours. The challenging terrain coupled with a recent history of conflict, including the fight to defeat ISIL, has given rise to complex networks of different criminal actors trafficking drugs and other illicit commodities.
As trafficking increases, local production and local drug use are going up, posing new dangers to security and health.
In Iraq, public health authorities have reported that the number of people registered with drug use disorders has doubled from 2017 to 2021.
The Arab region’s population of some 473 million people are young, with children under 15 years of age accounting for around a third of people in 2023.
The 82 million young people aged 15 to 24 constituted just over 17 per cent of the population in 2023, and their numbers are expected to reach 108 million in 2050.
Increasing drug use threatens the vitality and future of this young and dynamic region. Urgent action to address drug trafficking challenges is clearly needed.
Effectively tackling such cross-border threats requires regional coordination, law enforcement, and criminal justice responses informed by data; balanced with evidence-based and health-centred demand reduction efforts; and owned by the governments and people of the region.
In this regard, I am pleased to see the Governments of Iraq and other countries in the Near and Middle East taking concrete steps to combat evolving drug challenges.
The government of Iraq has introduced a national drug law and counternarcotics strategy, and Iraqi institutions have been working with UNODC since 2019 on a range of projects, including border management at Baghdad International Airport and at land border crossings.
Iraq has also convened regional meetings to coordinate drug detection and disruption, most notably the first Baghdad International Drug Control Conference held in May 2023, bringing together nine countries.
UNODC is proud to stand with the countries of the region to combat the illicit drug market through coordinated responses.
UNODC supported the League of Arab States to launch the Arab Plan for the Prevention and Reduction of the Dangers of Drugs to Arab Societies in March 2023.
Our Office also signed an MoU with the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council last May.
And UNODC’s Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, with the UNODC Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council Region, has developed a Regional Framework for the Arab States for 2023 to 2028, which is supporting balanced approaches to drug control.
UNODC is well placed to step up support to the region to further harmonize responses, strengthen data collection and monitoring, and build capacities.
In closing, I would like to thank the Government of Iraq and the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council under the League of Arab States for their commitment and cooperation.
I am also grateful to the US and France for their financial support for this important research on drug threats in the Near and Middle East, which pose serious challenges in the region and also beyond, to all our societies.
I welcome the momentum we have seen in the Near and Middle East to work together to tackle common threats, and UNODC is ready to seize the opportunity with you to advance these efforts.
Thank you, and I wish you a productive discussion.
