BBeehhiinndd tthhee ooppiiuumm ttrraaggeeddyy

Afghanistan

Issue 3, April - June 2007

perspectives

During the past few decades, the international community has mademuch progress in tackling the global drug problem. Coca cultiva-tion has stabilized in the Andean region and the once infamousGolden Triangle—Laos, Myanmar and Thailand—is now practi-cally opium-free.

But serious challenges remain. The most urgent is the recentboom in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, where approxi-mately 90 per cent of the world’s opium is currently produced.Through the arresting images of photojournalist and UNODCGoodwill Ambassador Alessandro Scotti, this issue of Perspectivesaims to give readers a close look at different aspects of the opiumtrade. In an interview, UNODC Representative in AfghanistanChristina Oguz offers hope that the situation can and will improve.

In Afghanistan and elsewhere, the link between drugs, crimeand terrorism is obvious. The drugs trade, a billion-dollar business,attracts criminal and terrorist groups which have the power todestroy lives and communities and to weaken States. Respondingto this threat to peace and security requires concerted action basedon the principle of shared responsibility. Drug producing, transitand consumer countries are all in it together.

The Commission on Narcotic Drugs is instrumental in definingcommon priorities and strategies to counter the global drug prob-lem. As the central policy-making body within the United Nationssystem dealing with drug-related matters, the Commission analy-ses the world drug situation and develops proposals to strengthenthe international drug control system. Perspectives presents a retro-spective of the Commission’s achievements after its fiftieth sessionin Vienna in March. We also examine the role which specialist lab-oratories, including UNODC’s, play in drug control efforts.

Colombian musician César López has demonstrated that artists,musicians and ordinary citizens can help to fight violence. Tiredof terrorism, crime and violence in his home country, López hascreated the escopetarra, a unique instrument of peace—a guitar madefrom an AK 47 assault rifle. You can read about his work withUNODC in Colombia, campaigning for an end to violence.

Get ready to listen to a different tune!

Norha RestrepoEditor

perspectives 2 Issue 3, April-June 2007

EditorNorha Restrepo

Assistant editorRaggie Johansen

Layout and designNancy Cao

ProductionMelitta Borovansky-König

DistributionMarie-Therese Kiriaky

Contact informationAdvocacy SectionUnited Nations Office on Drugs and CrimeVienna International CentreP.O. Box 5001400 Vienna Austria

Tel.: (+43-1) 26060 4141Fax: (+43-1) 26060 5850E-mail: perspectives@unodc.org

Website: www.unodc.org/newsletter

The opinions expressed in the arti-cles are not necessarily those ofUNODC.

This publication has not been for-mally edited.

Printed in Slovakia

Cover: Afghan woman smokes heroinunder her burka. Photo: Alessandro Scotti

Editorialperspectives

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3 Contents

Editorial

50th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs A closer look at what this UNODC governing body has achievedso far

Laboratory science: More than just drug controlUNODC shares its expertise with laboratories worldwide

Special feature on Afghanistan8 Photo survey by UNODC Goodwill Ambassador

Photojournalist Alessandro Scotti’s impressions of thecountry and its people

14 Interview with the UNODC RepresentativeChristina Oguz is optimistic about Afghanistan’s future

16 The Security Council and AfghanistanUNODC Executive Director briefs the Security Councilon opium cultivation

17 Facts on opium poppy cultivation

Escopetarra: Instrument of peaceColombian musician César López raises awareness about gun-related violence

The Global Initiative to Fight Human TraffickingUNODC calls for a comprehensive response to this crime

Drug Abuse Prevention CenterA Japanese NGO and its young ambassadors reaffirm their supportfor UNODC

Financial Crime CongressFinding solutions to the increase in Internet-based crime and fraud

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Contents

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“Labs generally have low visibility,” says BarbaraRemberg, acting Chief of the UNODC Laboratory andScientific Section. “For example, if there’s a large drugseizure somewhere, law enforcement and customs offi-cials get lots of recognition and publicity. But there was

a lab behind it to make sure that the seized material wasindeed an illegal drug and not simply flour or sugar.”

The main purpose of the UNODC Laboratory andScientific Section is to assist Member States in devel-oping drug laboratory capacity and expertise, particu-larly at the national level. Its staff train scientists, runquality control programmes, develop internationallyrecognized analytical methods and guidelines and pro-vide drug reference samples as well as laboratoryequipment.

The recent session of the Commission on NarcoticDrugs, the key United Nations policy-making organ ondrug-related issues, recognized the importance of labo-ratory expertise and expressed concern over the differ-ences in technical sophistication between MemberStates’ laboratory and scientific services. TheCommission urged UNODC and countries with moreadvanced facilities to assist those with fewer resources.

perspectives 4 XXXX2007

A laboratory technican prepares a field test kit for preliminary identification of drugs. UNODC has distributed around 10,000 such kits worldwide

Laboratory science: More than just drug controlFor more than 50 years, laboratoryexpertise has played a critical rolein United Nations drug controlefforts. The role of laboratories inmodern society, however, is muchbroader than drug control. Althoughthey impact on areas such as lawenforcement, criminal justice andhealth care, their contribution is seldom recognized.

SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT

By Raggie Johansen

Having an up-to-date, properly equipped laboratorystaffed by professionals takes a lot of resources. It isexpensive to set up and maintain, and demands contin-uous investment in equipment, staff development anddrug samples for training. As the results of this are usu-ally not seen immediately, many resource-strappedcountries prioritize other tasks.

However, as Remberg explains, lack of laboratorycapacity can impact profoundly on a society. For exam-ple, if the police cannot identify drugs found ondetainees, prosecutions become difficult. And if emer-gency room doctors, particularly in countries wheremany rely on poorly funded public hospitals, have noway of knowing which drug a patient has been abusing,they will have trouble giving proper treatment.

In his opening statement to the CND, ThomasSchweich, United States Principal Deputy AssistantSecretary of State for International Narcotics and LawEnforcement Affairs, asked: “How can we stay on topof regulating newly-created chemical substances?” Andit is, indeed, a challenge to stay abreast of rapidly chang-ing drugs in today’s global market.

Drug precursor chemicals also keep evolving.Sandeep Chawla, Chief of UNODC’s Policy Analysisand Research Branch, explains that precursors are read-ily available chemicals for use in a range of industries.At the same time, they are crucial for producing illicit

drugs. For example, potassium permanganate is usedworldwide as a disinfectant and for water purification,among other purposes. However, it is also used illicitlyto turn coca plant material into cocaine. Therefore, itis important to ensure that dozens of precursor chemi-cals do not end up in the hands of criminals.

High-quality drug analysis facilities and expertiseform part of the answer to Schweich’s question, as leg-islators and policymakers depend on laboratories to pro-vide them with accurate information on the productionmethods, precursor chemicals and composition of newdrugs. Only through consistent investments in scientif-ic capacity can countries ensure that national policy andlegislation keep up with the rapid developments in illic-it drug manufacturing.

Over the years, UNODC has assisted 175 laborato-ries in 120 countries, and trained almost 800 drug ana-lysts. It also provides, for a nominal fee, drug andprecursor field test kits for quick and simple preliminaryidentification by police officers. These kits can be tai-lored to the drug situation in the recipient’s region.Around 10,000 kits have been distributed so far.

UNODC’s quality assurance programme gives labo-ratories an opportunity to continually review their per-formance. Using their standard procedures, participatingfacilities analyse UNODC-provided drug and precursorsamples, and send their results back to Vienna.

“Labs from all over the world participate in thisscheme,” Remberg says. “Once we receive the results,we prepare a detailed report comparing their analyticfindings, anonymously of course, so that the labs knowwhere they stand.”

Having successfully provided drug analysis expertisefor years, the UNODC Laboratory and ScientificSection is currently expanding its work by moving intoforensics, aiming to assist Member States to use labora-tory science in the fight against crime.

5 Scientific Support

A laboratory technican prepares drug samples for analysis

The staff of the UNODC Laboratory and Scientific SectionAll Photos: Melitta Borovansky-König

perspectives 6 Issue 3, April-June 2007

An opium farmer in north-eastAfghanistan is thankful for the harvest.In 2006, cultivation in his provinceincreased by 77 per cent.

7 Afghanistan

The world’s top opium producer is struggling tocontain its drug problem. The flow of

opiates from Afghanistan to Western marketsis also affecting countries along the

drug-trafficking routes. The trail leaves behindincreased crime, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS.

This special feature takes a closer lookat the situation.

Afghanistan

Afghan soldiers prepare to walk for five days to theborder with Tajikistan, where they will participate incounter-narcotics operations. The border between thesecountries is roughly 1,200 kilometers long.

perspectives 8 Issue 3, April-June 2007

9 Afghanistan

Two addicts get ready to injectheroin. Most of the 10 million heroin abusers worldwide live inAsia, primarily in the countriesaround Afghanistan and Myanmar.

perspectives 10 Issue 3, Issue 3, Issue 3, April-June 2007

A patient lies in bedin the ward reservedfor drug addicts at apsychiatric hospitalin Kabul. About200,000 people inthe country abuseopiates.

An Afghan poppy farmerblows opium smoke intohis hungry child’s face topacify him.

11 Afghanistan

perspectives 12 Issue 3, April-June 2007

Christina Oguz: “To work inAfghanistan, you need to be an optimist.”

INTERVIEW

What are the main reasons for the increase in opium culti-vation? The southern part of Afghanistan is a traditional opiumcultivation area, where security is very poor, where therule of law doesn’t really exist and where the govern-ment is very weak. A map of opium cultivation and amap of security put on top of each other look almostthe same. We should also remember that it is veryprofitable. Farmers can get about 10 times more perhectare if they cultivate opium compared to somethingelse.

If opium poppy is so lucrative, how can you possibly encour-age farmers to grow something else?Afghanistan is more or less divided into two parts. Inthe south, about 80 per cent of the farmers cultivateopium. The rest of the country has a better security sit-uation and village council campaigns informing farmersthat it’s actually against Islam to cultivate—that it’sHaram. This has been a success in those parts ofAfghanistan, but it has not been such a success in thesouth. In the south you have poor security, but you alsohave the social norm that it is OK to cultivate. So Ithink you need to look for two different solutions. Mysuggestion would be to invest in the provinces and dis-tricts that are opium-free. In this way, you can create areal alternative. But for the south you need another solu-tion, which has to do with creating security, with extend-ing the rule of law, with targeting the big traffickers.

I am quite optimistic about Afghanistan. Eventhough we have seen an increase last year and this year,we have to accept that there will be ups and downs. As

the international community, we have to realize that itis a long-term commitment. If we look at other coun-tries that have been major producers of opium, it hastaken them maybe 20–25 years to become opium-free.

What does the average Afghan think about the opium trade? Some farmers in Afghanistan cultivate opium becausethey are poor. They don’t have access to land, so theyneed credit. They can lease land on the condition thatthey also cultivate opium or they can get credit againstthe future harvest of opium. Then there are farmers whohave a lot of other assets as well. They may have goodirrigation, a lot of land, all sorts of assets. For them, it’ssimply that they make a very good profit. But it alsobrings with it a lot of insecurity.

When the opium is harvested, what actually happens to it?Is it processed into heroin? Is it exported?Afghanistan produces more and more heroin. Before,they mainly produced opium and then sold it to Pakistanor Iran for manufacturing morphine and heroin. Nowwe see more and more heroin being produced within thecountry. In the south of Afghanistan, it’s mainly what iscalled brown heroin. It’s not as refined as the white pow-der that they are able to manufacture in the north, butit means that they have the technology and the chemi-cals needed for transforming opium into heroin. And thisis crucial because these chemicals are not produced inAfghanistan; they come from other countries.

Opium can be cultivated legally in some countries; why notin Afghanistan? It’s one of the poorest countries in the world.Surely it could benefit from this?I don’t believe in this idea at all—not as things are now.The main reason is that if a Government producesopium for legal purposes, it must be able to ensure thatit is not diverted. With the situation in Afghanistan asit is now, this is totally impossible. The Governmentcan never, ever make sure that opium is not diverted. Itdoesn’t have these resources.

You come from Sweden, one of the most affluent countries inthe world. How did you cope with the culture shock?I don’t think that the culture issues are the biggest orthe most difficult part for us who come from outside. Ithink it’s the fact that you can’t lead a normal life. You

By Louise Potterton

UNODCRepresentative in AfghanistanChristina Oguztalks about drugsand crime andlife in a countrydevastated byopium, povertyand war.

13 Afghanistan

can’t walk the streets, for example. There are very fewplaces you can visit because it can be dangerous. I thinkyou cope with it because there is no choice. In normalcircumstances you would always compare your life tosomebody else’s and say ‘I would like to have this’ or ‘Iwish I had that’. There are no such things inAfghanistan.

How does UNODC work on drug control projects in a coun-try with such a big drug problem?Our task is to help the Afghan Government build itsown capacity. We train the country’s anti-narcoticpolice, judges, prosecutors and doctors. Perhaps

UNODC is better known for the opium surveys, wherewe estimate the cultivation, the hectares and also theyield. Originally, this was done by international experts,but we have now trained the Afghans to do it them-selves. And I expect that in one or two years we’ll justreview the reports.

We hear a lot about Afghanistan exporting opium and pro-ducing heroin, but what about drug addiction?Afghanistan has a sizeable drug abuse problem, but it isa bit difficult to estimate. Opium addiction is mainly arural problem, and it has very much to do with the lackof health facilities. People in remote areas—where thereare no doctors, no medicines—resort to whatever theyhave. And they sometimes use it for their children. Theparents will smoke opium and then blow the smoke intothe mouth of the baby to pacify it. Then they get addict-ed to it. Heroin addiction is most widely spread amongmales in the cities. Very often they become addicted asrefugees in Iran or Pakistan. And the third problem isa mixture of total lack of control of pharmaceutical drugs

and no knowledge, no awareness, of the risks of depend-ence. So people treat themselves and become addicted.

What is UNODC doing in Afghanistan to help addicts?We have built what we call demand reduction actionteams in six provinces. But it’s a drop in the ocean. Sowe have started to discuss with the Minister of PublicHealth the building up of the treatment system. Wewould like to help them build it into the primary healthsystem. We would train the nurses and midwives todiagnose addiction, to see whether or not they can dosomething themselves, or whether they need to referpatients to a doctor. By building it into the primary

health care system, you can have less expensive inter-ventions and save the more expensive ones for the hero-in addicts.

You’ve only been based in Afghanistan for a few months, butyou obviously know a lot about the country. Do you feel thatUNODC is improving the situation?To work in Afghanistan, you need to be an optimist.You also need to be a pragmatic and realistic personbecause the success stories are not big in Afghanistan.We are walking in the right direction. I can see that wehave actually been able to help our colleagues inAfghanistan: the judges, prosecutors, policemen, nursesand doctors who work with these issues. Not many yet,but every change starts with a very little step in the rightdirection.

Louise Potterton is UNODC’s radio consultant.

Listen to this and other radio interviews atwww.unodc.org/multimedia_radio.html.

We are walking in the right direction. I can see that we haveactually been able to help our colleagues in Afghanistan: the judges,

prosecutors, policemen, nurses and doctors who work with these issues.“

Drug seizures Afghan border police activitiesOpium poppy farmer

“Most of the Afghan opium is exported either to Iranor Pakistan,” Mr. Costa said, calling for strengthenedrelations among the three countries to stem illicit drugtrafficking.

Mr. Costa, who briefed the Security Council onUNODC’s latest report on opium cultivation inAfghanistan, called corruption the “major lubricant”facilitating both the cultivation and trading of opium.

He welcomed a new Council initiative—under whichmajor traffickers could have their assets seized, bebanned from travel and face arrest—to prevent bur-geoning cartels from becoming worldwide entities. “Wecount on that as a very important step to nip the emerg-ing drug cartels in the bud,” he added.

He also called for greater efforts to promote devel-opment in Afghanistan to present farmers currentlyengaged in opium production with an alternative.

The UNODC Afghanistan Opium Winter Assessmenthighlighted the divergent regional trends between thecentre-north and the south of the country.

While six of the centre-north provinces have beencertified as drug-free, “the situation is out of control inthe southern part of the country,” Mr. Costa said.

The expansive southern region, roughly half the sizeof France, has 100,000 hectares of land under illicit drugcultivation and currently has the largest concentrationof narcotics in the world, he said.

The Security Council and Afghanistan

In a resolution adopted unanimously on 23 March, theSecurity Council urged the Afghan Government and theinternational community to do more to implement theAfghanistan Compact, a five-year UN-backed blueprintlaunched early last year which sets benchmarks for cer-tain security, governance and development goals.

The resolution stresses the importance of meetingthe benchmarks, particularly those focused on “thecross-cutting issue of counter-narcotics,” and calls foraccelerated reform in the justice sector.

The resolution called on the Government to imple-ment all the elements of its National Drug ControlStrategy, including garnering regional support againstillicit trafficking and money-laundering linked to theindustry.

Source: United Nations News Centre

UNODC chief calls for actionagainst drug cartels

perspectives 14 Issue 3, April-June 2007

AFGHANISTAN AT THE SECURITY COUNCIL

Corruption must be stamped outand borders strengthened to runemerging Afghan drug cartels out ofbusiness, particularly in Afghanistan,Pakistan and Iran, UNODC ExecutiveDirector Antonio Maria Costa toldreporters at UN Headquarters inMarch.

The Security Council meets to review the situation inAfghanistan. UN Photo/Ryan Brown

UNODC Executive Director Costa briefs the media at UNHeadquarters. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

15 Afghanistan

Reasons Percentage

Believed to be against Islam 24%Respect for decisions taken by village elders or Shura 20%Observance of poppy cultivation ban 18%Fear of eradication 16%Fear of other forms of law enforcement (e.g. imprisonment) 9%Provision of assistance 3%Lack of water 2%Low sale price of opium 2%Low demand for opium 1%High cost of inputs (seed, fertilizers, labour, etc) 1%Unfavourable weather 1%Lack of experience 1%Not traditional 1%Fear of addiction 1%

Reasons for non-cultivation of opium poppy in 2007

Afghanistan Opium Rapid Assessment Survey, 2007: Expected opium poppy cultivation trends (by province)

The number of responses received for each of the above reasons was consistentwith those given in 2006 (Afghanistan Annual Opium Survey 2006 Report, UNODC)

OPIUM POPPY CULTIVATIONFACTS

Adult literacy: 28.1 per cent

Life expectancy: 46.4 years

Per capita GDP: USD 800(2004 estimate)

Population: 28.6 million

Official languages: Pashto and Dari

Head of State: President Hamid Karzai (since 2002)

Sources: UNDP Human Development Report 2006; CIA World Factbook

For more information on Afghanistan, please visit: www.unodc.org/afgwww.paris-pact.netwww.denarcoticis.info

Escopetarraperspectives 16 Issue 3, April-June 2007

Musician César López workswith UNODC to raise awarenessabout violence and firearms.Photo: Nación Sana

Instrument of peace17 Colombia

The instrument that Colombianmusician César López plays at anti-violence events comes from the for-mer German Democratic Republic.Dropped from an airplane as part ofa consignment of weapons smuggledto leftist guerrillas hiding in theColombian jungle, it later fell intothe hands of right-wing paramili-taries.

Both illegal armed groups usedthe AK-47 as an instrument of war.López transformed it into an instru-ment of peace.

He came up with the idea to con-vert a weapon into a guitar after wit-nessing the aftermath of a bloodyterrorist attack in February 2003. Inthe attack, attributed to theRevolutionary Armed Forces ofColombia (FARC), a car bomb at anexclusive club in Bogota killed 36people and injured 170.

López and his friends reacted tothe violence in the only way theyknew how: they played music. Aspeace activists and artists, they want-ed to show their support for the vic-tims and call for an end to thebloodshed. While performing closeto the ruined club, López noticedthat a soldier held his rifle in thesame way he held his guitar. Thefirst escopetarra was produced a fewmonths later.

The rifles are provided by theColombian authorities. Once the fir-ing components are removed, luthi-er Alberto Paredes—an expert inmaking guitars—adds the pieces thatforever change the object of deathinto one of hope—an electric guitar.

In Spanish, the word for shotgunis escopeta and the word for guitar isguitarra. Together, they become apowerful symbol of peace. For CésarLópez, the escopetarra represents theunion between humanity’s ugliestinvention and one of the most beau-tiful. He created the instrument to

encourage people to think aboutwhat the country is going throughand what they can do to change thiscollective reality.

The escopetarras are made withrifles that often bear chilling markslisting the number of people theyhave killed. Initially, López workedwith shotguns previously owned byguerrillas, paramilitary groups andorganized criminals. Now, he usesassault rifles that paramilitary fight-

ers turned in when they demobi-lized.

“The fact that a weapon is trans-formed in such a radical way speaksof the possibility the whole planethas to change, even if it seemsabsurd,” López told Perspectives in anonline interview from his home inBogota.

The instruments are given toprominent musicians to help thembring attention to the cause of end-

By Norha Restrepo

Based on the design below, rifles are transformed into electric guitars at arenowned luthier's workshop. Photo: UNODC Colombia

ing violence and curbing the spreadof small arms and light weapons.

Artists are the perfect recipientsof such a symbolic instrument,López says. “They are the activeconscience of a culture and the mostpowerful tool to transform thevision and stand of human beings.”

Artists with a cause

Each escopetarra is donated to aninternational artist, an institution oran individual working for peace.

Colombian superstar Juanes wasthe first musician to receive theinstrument. Juanes, a GrammyAward winner, is famous worldwidefor hits such as “La camisa negra”

and “A Dios le pido”. In his albums,he talks about the injustice of war,the fear of violence and his dreamto live in peace.

When he saw the escopetarra,Juanes could not believe his eyes orhis ears, for the instrument lookedlike a rifle but sounded like a guitar.“It’s a very powerful symbol,” hesaid at a press conference in 2003.“I wish all weapons in Colombia andthe world were like this one.”

Argentinian musician Fito Páezwas presented with a rifle-guitar in2004.

An escopetarra was donated to theUnited Nations permanent exhibitionon disarmament in New York and tothe United Nations Office at Vienna.Other recipients to date include

musicians Manu Chao (France),Miguel Botafogo (Argentina) andBob Geldof (Ireland).

Since 2006, López has beenworking with UNODC on a ‘NoViolence’ campaign. Through theOffice, César has received the fundsand the 17 assault rifles needed tocontinue producing escopetarras.

“These weapons that have causedso much pain, harm and death, willbe resurrected as instruments of love,life and creativity,” said ColombianVice-President Francisco SantosCalderón.

Disarming souls

César López, 33, started playingmusic at the age of 12. As the yearswent by, music became his profes-sion and a way of life. “I’m a musi-cian because I cannot do anythingelse in life,” he writes.

Over the years, he has studiedpiano, percussion and composition.He has also been a member of rockbands and chamber music groups.With fellow musicians, López hasrecorded 10 albums.

In his blog, López writes that hehas never “lost the appetite, thecuriosity or the faith” to keep doingwhat he does. Although he still feelshappy to play, compose, record andgive concerts, he believes an artist’sresponsibility goes beyond merelyproviding entertainment. That iswhy he has been developing creativeprojects aimed at giving ex-combat-ants, young people caught up in vio-lence and victims a chance to sharetheir stories.

As part of the ‘No Violence’campaign, López and other musi-cians have travelled to communitiesafflicted by violence to collect testi-monials on video that are nowshown at interactive concerts enti-tled Resistance. While an orchestraplays classical and electronic music

perspectives 18 XXXX2007

The escopetarra campaign calls oncitizens to denounce violence.

with instruments such as theescopetarra, stories shown on screenfocus on peaceful resistance to vio-lence. The audience is encouragedto participate.

The campaigners have alsoplayed in prisons, schools and uni-versities. UNODC supports theirwork with young people, particular-ly with those linked to conflict andgangs. “Music and art show themthat there are alternatives to vio-lence,” says UNODC AssociateExpert Stefan Liller, who has par-ticipated in several events.

López says his meetings withmany young men who belonged toarmed groups or street gangs havehad a profound effect on him. “Mostof them have deep scars in their skinand soul,” he says. “They need to gothrough a difficult process to stopbeing firearms themselves.”

This is where the escopetarra canhelp. Seeing a weapon transformedinto a musical instrument can givehope to those who have only knownviolence that change is possible.

Some of the young men Lópezmet are now members of hisExperimental Group of Recon-

ciliation, a hip-hop band. Two werein the ranks of the FARC, onejoined the paramilitaries, and anoth-er was in a street gang. Their bandand the music they create give theman opportunity to heal by sharingtheir feelings.

Most of the gun-related violencein Colombia and around the worldis committed by young men.

According to López, “guns have aninevitable glamour that we havelearned from movies such as Ramboand Mortal Combat.” That does notstop him from trying to strip gunsof their power to destroy lives.

To learn more, visit ww.cesarlopez.organd www.escopetarra.org.

19 Colombia

Colombia’s armed conflict has raged for over four decades,causing thousands of civilian casualties and the dis-placement of more than 2 million people. Leftist guerrillasare fighting the Government and right-wing paramilitariesare fighting the guerrillas. The civilian population,particularly in rural areas, are caught in the line of fire.

Organized crime also fuels violence. Colombia is theworld’s top producer of coca and cocaine, an illegalbusiness that is worth billions of dollars. According to theGovernment, drug money is a significant source of financingfor armed groups in the country. Moreover, drug traffickersare also involved in arms trafficking, money-laundering,extortion and other crimes. Since the drug cartels were

dismantled in the 1990s, traffickers have been workingmore closely with international terrorist and criminalnetworks.

A recent UNODC report entitled Violence, Crime andIllegal Arms Trafficking in Colombia found that violence wasnot indiscriminate but highly selective. As Sandro Calvani,UNODC Representative in Colombia, noted, “The idea of aculture of violence can then be discarded.”

UNODC is custodian of the United Nations Conventionagainst Transnational Organized Crime and its threeprotocols, including the Protocol against the IllicitManufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Partsand Components and Ammunition.

UP IN ARMS

Musician and activist Bob Geldof(right) examines the escopetarra hereceived in Cartagena, Colombia.Photo: UNODC Colombia

FACTS

The United NationsOffice on Drugs andCrime, together withother United Nationsagencies, Governments,and NGOs, launched the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking(UN.GIFT) in London on 26 March.

The launch coincided with both thetwo hundredth anniversary of theabolition of the trans-Atlantic slavetrade and the bicentennial of theabolition of the slave trade in theBritish Empire.

The Global Initiative is designedto motivate Governments, inspireinternational institutions, empowercivil society, strengthen corporateresponsibility, build regionalalliances, galvanize internationalmedia support and mobilizeresources to prevent and fight thecrime of human trafficking.

A series of events throughout theworld will culminate in Vienna withan International Conference againstHuman Trafficking from 27 - 29November 2007.

A global problem

Some 2.5 million people throughoutthe world are at any given timerecruited, entrapped, transportedand exploited—a process calledhuman trafficking—according toestimates of international experts.Many believe this number repre-sents the tip of a much greater ice-berg.

Trafficking in persons, whetherfor sexual exploitation or forcedlabour, affects virtually every regionof the world. UNODC reports thatpersons from 127 countries becomeexploited in 137 nations.

“Slavery is a booming internationaltrade, less obvious than two hundredyears ago for sure, but all aroundus,” said UNODC ExecutiveDirector Antonio Maria Costa.“Perhaps we simply prefer to closeour eyes to it, as many law-abidingcitizens buy the products and theservices produced on the cheap byslaves.”

Human trafficking has becomebig business. The United Nationsand other experts estimate the totalmarket value of illicit human traf-ficking at $32 billion—about $10billion is derived from the initial“sale” of individuals, with theremainder representing the estimat-ed profits from the activities orgoods produced by the victims ofthis barbaric crime.

Most victims of this modern-dayslavery are women and young girls,many of whom are forced into pros-titution or otherwise exploited sexu-ally. Trafficked men are found infields, mines and quarries, or inother dirty and dangerous workingconditions. Boys and girls are traf-ficked into conditions of childlabour, within a diverse group of

industries, such as textiles, fishing oragriculture.

A 2006 UNODC report called“Trafficking in Persons: GlobalPatterns” identifies Albania, Belarus,Bulgaria, China, Moldova, Nigeria,Thailand and Ukraine among thecountries that are the greatest sourcesof trafficked persons. Belgium,Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, theNetherlands, Thailand, Turkey andthe United States are cited as themost common destinations.

Goal is to End HumanTrafficking

The ultimate goal of the GlobalInitiative is to end human traffick-ing. The strategy for achieving thisstarts with efforts to increase publicawareness of the problem. The ini-tiative aims to harness and synergizethese efforts, get others to jointhem, and set in motion a broad-based global movement that willattract the political will andresources needed to stop humantrafficking. UNODC is the facilita-tor of the process, channelling exist-ing efforts into a cohesiveframework rather than re-inventingthe wheel.

“The international communityhas been discussing this issue for tenyears, so we have an idea whatshould be done,” Mr. Costa said.

“We have to decrease the num-ber of victims by preventing traf-ficking, we have to increase thenumber of victims who are rescuedand supported, and we have toincrease the number of traffickerswho are convicted. We have thetools to do this but we do not havethe political will, large-scale publicawareness or the resources to makeit happen.”

For more information on human trafficking and the Global Initiative,please visit http://www.unodc.org/trafficking_human_beings.html

perspectives 20 XXXX2007

UNODC launches Global Initiative to FightHuman Trafficking

Brothel in Pnom Penh, CambodiaPhoto: Mattia Insolera

The growth in Internet use hasunleashed a new breed of cyber-space criminals. Financial and high-tech crimes, such as currencycounterfeiting, money-laundering,intellectual property crime, pay-ment card fraud, computer virusattacks and cyber-terrorism, are onthe rise.

The Global Financial CrimeCongress, organized by Interpol andUNODC, took place from 17-20April 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand. Itfocused on the latest developments,technologies and strategies used tocombat financial crime and toenhance cooperation among lawenforcement authorities and the pri-vate sector.

“National economies every-where, and certainly in the develop-ing world, suffer damage caused by

the infiltration of criminal proceeds,including the ill-gotten gains fromcorruption and those funds destinedfor use in terrorist activities,” saidUNODC Executive DirectorAntonio Maria Costa in a messageto the Congress.

“Tracing, seizing and confiscat-ing these funds is of the highest pri-ority in order to cut off the lifebloodof the underlying crime, and toplough those assets back into much-needed development.”

Currency counterfeiting andmoney-laundering have the poten-tial to destabilize nationaleconomies and threaten global secu-rity as they are key ways in whichterrorists and other criminalsfinance their activities and concealtheir profits.

At the Congress, experts from

law enforcement, customs, acade-mia, private industry and multilater-al organizations learned abouttraining initiatives by UNODC tar-geting different areas of financialcrime. Participants were also briefedon Interpol’s Money-LaunderingAutomated Search System, its latestmoney-laundering/terrorism financ-ing initiative.

New technologies have openedup many possibilities for cyber-criminals, for example ‘phishing’, orsending bogus e-mail from seeming-ly reputable sources such as banks topersuade people to reveal accountnumbers, PIN codes and credit carddetails. Interpol is working withsoftware companies, Internet serviceproviders, central banks and otherbodies to thwart criminals and pro-tect consumers.

Japanese students renewed their support for UNODCdrug control efforts by making a donation of around$170,000. Continuing a 13-year tradition, six youngpeople presented the money to Deputy Director-General, UNOV, Franz Baumann.

The “Young Civic Ambassadors” aged 14 to 17 rep-resent the Tokyo-based Drug Abuse Prevention Center(DAPC), which has raised more than $4 million forUNODC in recent years.

This year’s young ambassadors were Saki Fujita,Junko Mizuki, Masataka Mizunashi, Yuma Tasaki, MeiWakabayashi and Rie Watanabe. The Director ofDAPC, Shunzo Abe, accompanied them during theirvisit to the Vienna International Centre.

Since 1994, DAPC has been raising funds for anti-drugefforts. Every year six to eight of the most active partici-pants are nominated Young Civic Ambassadors and invit-ed to Vienna to present their contribution to UNODC.DAPC plans to continue this fund-raising campaign insupport of the goals set by the 1998 UN General AssemblySpecial Session on the world drug problem.

“Effective drug control goes beyond States. It mustinvolve civil society, especially young people, in the

fight,” said Mr. Baumann. “This is exactly the directionwe want to go.”

The DAPC has raised money to provide more than400 grants to NGOs in some 90 developing countries.“Your money—equal to the contribution of some majordonor countries—helps us to support other NGOs andcreate a multiplier effect,” said Mr. Baumann.

21 Events

Japanese students support UNODC by raisingmoney for drug control

Global congress tackles financial and Internet fraud

The DAPC delegation meets with Mr. Baumann at UNODCHeadquarters in Vienna. Photo: Jun Yoshino

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