Transcript Document

The
PARIS PACT
A Consultative Mechanism on the Illicit Drug Routes
from Central Asia to Europe.
UNODC Vienna, Division for Operations
September 2004
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The Paris Pact Initiative – Context and Background
The Ministerial Conference on Drug Routes from Central Asia to Europe, hosted by the
Government of France in May 2003 in Paris, united more than 50 countries and
organizations in their commitment for stronger action against Afghan heroin trafficking. A
concerted strategic approach was proposed: The Paris Pact. This proposal was endorsed
by the G 8 Evian Summit (June 2003) and the UN Security Council Consultations on
Afghanistan (17 June 2003).
UNODC has taken the lead in carrying forward this new Initiative. Since the summer of
2003, a two-pronged consultative mechanism has been working at operational and policy
levels:
Expert Roundtables identify action priorities for better border control, antitrafficking measures, and new forms of regional & international cooperation, and
recommend new action to the Policy Consultative Group.
From September 2003 to September 2004 UNODC has organized 4 expert roundtables,
with close OSCE involvement, along key heroin trafficking regions: Balkan Route
countries, I.R of Iran, Central Asia, the Russian Federation. In mid October 2004,
UNODC will host the annual Policy Consultative Group Meeting at the Vienna
International Centre. During this event, senior level policy makers from affected countries
and international organizations will review the expert proposals, agree on strategic
priorities, and recommend new action to be effected by respective Governments, in direct
cooperation with UNODC and all Paris Pact partners.
Trafficking of Afghan Opiates – Dimensions and Risks
The estimated Afghan
opium
production of
3,600 tons in 2003, is
causing severe trafficking
problems
and
related
threats in all neighbouring
countries, and in heroin
transit and consumption
regions further westward.
SEIZURES OF OPIATES IN 2001
000 Kilograms of opium seized
000 Kilograms of morphine
and heroin seized
Border control is the first
line of defense against
international
trafficking
and crime, and for this
reason current Paris Pact
action
focuses
on
improved border control.
* data for the year 2000
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Protection of Borders in All Affected Countries
Afghanistan alone has more than 5,000 Km of direct borders with its neighbours.
Most of these require the establishment and strengthening of border points, and
uncontrolled border regions need the creation of new control capacities.
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan 137 Km
Tajikistan
China
1,206 Km
76km
744 Km
936 Km
Iran
2,430 Km
Pakistan
Altogether, many thousands of kilometers of land and maritime borders in Central
Asian countries, CIS, Pakistan, I.R. of Iran, Turkey, and all those countries along the
Balkan and Silk routes, and Black Sea and Mediterranean coastlines, are being
strengthened, as an international response to Afghan opiates trafficking and related
organized crime. Donor assistance and technical cooperation of, inter-alia, the
European Commission, European countries, the United States, and other interested
providers is growing steadily. UNODC’s programmes in the regions have stepped up
significantly as of 2003, a trend that is expected to grow further.
To ensure the best impact of these interventions and to avoid overlap and duplication
of effort, Paris Pact activity in 2003 and 2004 focused on Afganistan’s neighbours,
Central Asia and Iran, and on key trafficking routes involving European and CIS
countries along Balkan and Silk Routes.
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Drug Trafficking in the Balkan Region (Expert Roundtable, September 2003)
Countries along the Balkan Route, and those connecting through maritime ports in the
Black Sea and the Mediterranean, have been traditional heroin trafficking countries. The
proportions and increasing amounts of heroin seizures in Balkan countries reflect the
importance of this region. The Balkan Route Expert Roundtable concluded that
established heroin routes remain highly active, and that recent shifts involve the
vulnerable countries still recovering from crisis and conflict.
Land border crossings of Bulgaria -Turkey,
Bulgaria -Serbia and Montenegro, and Bulgaria Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and in
Albania require attention. Current facilities and
operational capacity on these crucial points need
to improve for better control of commercial trucks
and other traffic.
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Heroin seizures
10
Metric tons
A noticeable return of heroin trafficking to the
traditional Balkan Route:Istanbul-Sofia-BelgradeZagreb-Ljubljana-Western Europe, less prominent
during the crisis time, is shadowing the return of
licit trade routes to this shortest and most
economical transit route.
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4
2
0
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Central Asia and Transcaucasus
Balkan route
Western Europe (excluding Balkan route)
Trafficking in maritime containers is an emerging problem, as evidenced by several recent
heroin and cocaine seizures in commercial containers. Sea containers enter the Balkans
either through seaports or via lorry arriving further south In Piraeus or Thessalonica. A
number of Black Sea Ports are key entry points, and need upgrades of search and
interdiction capacities. The same is needed for key Adriatic ports.
Entry routes
Exit routes
Acute trafficking
points
Bilateral
assistance
UNODC
assistance
Assistance
required
Other
needs
in
Balkan
countries
include
a
further
harmonization
of
legislation for better
information exchange
and direct operational
cooperation,
strong
measures to counter
corruption, and proactive
control
of
precursors to combat
illicit manufacture of
drugs.
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Drug Trafficking through the Islamic Republic of Iran
(Expert Roundtable, October 2003)
The Islamic Republic of Iran makes a significant contribution to the interdiction of opiates
trafficking westward, through Central Asia, and their onward transport to Europe. Annual
seizures amounted to more than 26 tons in 2003, or 25% of global seizures. The
investment in drug law enforcement by the Islamic Republic of Iran has been enormous.
Violent confrontations between drug traffickers and Iranian authorities have seen a tragic
death toll of more than 3,000 officers who have been killed in the line of duty. The Expert
Roundtable identified areas in which coordination between Iranian law enforcement
bodies would further improve their effectiveness. Closer inter-agency communication,
improved agency procedures to support national and regional reporting and analysis was
seen as part of a the future response. Continued and new assistance to the capacity
building of Iranian law enforcement agencies should focus on the understanding for, and
application of new enforcement techniques.
LEGEND
- Entry routes
- Exit routes
- Bilateral assistance
- UNODC assistance
- Priorities identified
A comprehensive study of the licit flow of trade goods between Afghanistan and its
neighbours & trading partners (land, sea and air) was called for, to assess where
specifically illicit opiates routed shadowed trade routes. New effective control structures
should then be applied there.
More direct operational cooperation between I.R.of Iran, Pakistan and the Gulf States,
and the deployment of law enforcement liaison officers to neighbouring States or key
trading partners were proposed. This would greatly assist the establishment of
operational cooperation, and in the identification and subsequent delivery of bi-lateral
assistance opportunities.
To curb growing trafficking through the Persian Gulf,
operational maritime control structures along the Makran coast into the Islamic Republic
of Iran are needed.
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Central Asia, CIS Countries and the Russian Federation (Expert Roundtables 2004)
The direct access to Afghanistan from its northern provinces with its growing opium
production levels, have turned Central Asia into the key trafficking region between the West
& Central Asia regions and European countries. Central Asia reported opiate seizures of
6.9 tons in 2003, accounting for 13% of global heroin seizures, and up from 5% in the late
1990s.
The volume of Afghan opiates trafficked through Central Asia, according to expert
estimates presented at the Roundtable in Moscow in June 2004, amounted to more than
40 tons in 2003. Of these, most entered the Russian Federation and roughly 27 million
tons, according to the same estimates, were trafficked further west into European
countries.
RUSSIA
Available - 39.6 MT
Seized – 2.6 MT (Seizures rate – 6.5%)
Domestic consumption – 10 MT
Outgoing – 27.0 MT
39.6.MT AVAILABLE FOR RUSSIA
FROM CENTRAL ASIA
TURKMENISTAN
NO DATA
AVAILABLE
UZBEKISTAN
Seized – 0.36 MT
Seizures rate – 0.8%
KAZAKHSTAN
Seized – 0.9 MT
Seizures rate – 2.2%
KYRGYZSTAN
Seized – 0.1 MT
Seizures rate – 0.2%
41.MT AVAILABLE FOR CENTRAL ASIA
TAJIKISTAN
Available - 46.8 MT
Seized – 5.8 MT (Seizures rate – 12%)
Outgoing – 41.0 MT
In Central Asia, Drug Control Agencies (DCA) created in Tajikistan and, recently, in
Kyrgyzstan have been key to largely improved enforcement results at national levels,
notably in Tajikistan. Due to the effectiveness of the DCA’s, successes were not limited to
national results, but extended across the region.
Law enforcement authorities,
nevertheless, need to respond with appropriate strategies to growing trade and increased
commercial ties throughout the region, through the strengthening / expansion of existing,
and the creation of new border points, so as to ensure proper control capacities.
Experts identified specific areas where the infrastructure and facilities of border points
required upgrading in terms of new and increasingly sophisticated control equipment.
Priority borders and crossings in need of more human resources, expertise and training
were also identified. The creation of mobile law enforcement units, such as those to be
established by Tajik authorities, should be considered for other locations, as it provides
authorities with more flexibility to respond to changing modus operandi and routes of
traffickers.
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For Central Asia, experts strongly recommended to focus new and tougher measures on
the illicit traffic of precursors through Central Asia to Afghanistan. Closing down the supply
of raw materials and chemicals to clandestine heroin production laboratories in the border
regions of Afghanistan, was considered a priority.
The Expert Roundtable also confirmed the need for the establishment of the Central Asian
Information and Coordination Centre (CARICC) under the umbrella of UNODC. This
agency was an important and much needed new step in the region, as it would create the
operational platform for the timely and secure circulation of information gathered on
trafficking routes and organizations operating in Central Asia, and allow the elaboration of
strategic analysis and operational planning for the region as a whole.
All experts expressed strong support for the continuation and expansion of ongoing
national and sub regional assistance and cooperation initiatives from donors and
international organizations, including EC, WCO, OSCE, IOM, and UNODC. However, an
improved coordination of bi-lateral and multi-lateral assistance was called for.
Afghan Opiates Routes via the Russian Federation
The Expert Roundtable on the
illicit opiates trafficking through
the
Russian
Federation,
noted
changes
in
the
operations, sophistication, and
modus operandi of traffickers,
including larger consignments
(up to 300 kg of heroin). In
response to law enforcement
measures, traffickers used
different routes, both for entry
into Russia and further routing
within Russia.
Drug profits
formed the link between
trafficking,
corruption
and
terrorism.
Tyumen
St.Petersburg
Moscow
Kazan
Yekaterinburg
Chelyabinsk
Samara
Omsk
Novosibirsk
Barnaul
Saratov
Astrakhan
Russian Federation: Opiates Seizures (kg) 1998-2003:
3,500,000
3,248,814
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
2,185,529
1,803,716
1,506,966
1,500,000
984,384
1,000,000
500,000
2,232,280
695,085
979,024
842,163
851,143
445,254
192,841
0
1998
1999
2000
Opium
2001
Heroin
2002
2003
The more than 60,000 km long
border
of
the
Russian
Federation,
still
porous
between CIS countries, needs
to be the focus of new law
drug
law
enforcement
strategies.
The
Expert
Roundtable identified specific
areas in need of upgraded
equipment and training in
modern
interdiction
techniques, particularly in the
7,600 km long border regions
with Kazakhstan.
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Experts noted that law enforcement authorities from the Russian Federation could
support Central Asian countries in their increased precursor control operations, through
direct bilateral support, as well as through increasing regional initiatives.
The important role of the Russian border guards in the strengthening of controls across
the Tajik-Afghan was recognized, and the need flagged for international assistance in
supporting appropriate control measures along the Tajik-Afghan border, after the
withdrawal of the Russian border guards.
Overall, the Expert Roundtable confirmed the need for donor support for Russian law
enforcement training academies, so as to enable instructors to pass on new best
practice and approaches for effective drug and crime countermeasures.
Paris Pact Strategic Priorities and Targets for 2005
The Paris Pact initiative will further expand the collective and concerted delivery of
action against the drug threat originating from Afghanistan. Border management and
security issues of Central Asian and other neighbouring countries will remain high on
the agenda. Increased collaboration between UNODC and international organisations
mandated with border control will remain a key to reach ambitious targets and impact
significantly upon the performance of affected countries in the region.
In response to the call for better coordination and cooperation among donors, UNODC
will seek cooperation from Paris Pact partners in the implementation of a new
coordination mechanism for the region. This mechanism, to be fed with accurate
information by all parties, is to provide a full and accurate picture of assistance and
support requirements in key countries/areas, and of new assistance needs. This
Coordination Mechanism will facilitate focused strategic decision making at policy
levels, and open new avenues for partnerships between countries in the region and
assistance providers, as well as among donors.
For further information on the Paris Pact Initiative, please contact:
UNODC Vienna,
Partnership in Development Branch
Vienna International Centre
0043/1-26060/5725 or 4730
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