UN SECURITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 8 THEMATIC DEBATE ON

UNCLAS STATE 125208

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UNSC XA XY UNCND UNIDCP SNAR
SUBJECT: UN SECURITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 8 THEMATIC DEBATE ON
DRUG TRAFFICKING


1. This is an action request. USUN may draw from the
statement in paragraph 2 for the UN Security Council thematic
debate on Drug Trafficking in West Africa on December 8. USUN
is also instructed to join consensus on the UN Security
Council Presidential Statement (PRST) on Drug Trafficking to
be adopted December 8 (para 3). USUN should refer any
further substantive changes on the PRST to the Department
prior to joining consensus for adoption. Additionally, USUN
should draw from the draft letter in paragraph 5 in replying
to the Burkinabe on their invitation to Secretary Clinton to
the debate. End action request.


2. Begin statement:

Thank you Mr. President.

The United States would like to thank Burkina Faso for its
leadership in drawing attention to the threat to
international peace and security posed by drug trafficking,
particularly in the context of West Africa. Minister Yoda,
welcome back to the Chamber and let me take this opportunity
to thank you and your delegation for providing an important
voice over the last two years in this body. We appreciate
the update from Executive Director Costa, as well, and look
forward to future briefings from UNODC.

Mr. President, let me begin by emphasizing that drug
trafficking is truly an international problem that has
serious consequences for the development of societies.
Illicit activities of violent criminal networks increasingly
cross borders and affect our mutual security and economic
health. Enterprising illicit actors are smuggling billions
of dollars of illegal goods into our jurisdictions and
weakening the rule of law, democracy and economic development
efforts globally. Transnational drug enterprises are just
that ) enterprises. They are constantly in search of higher
profits and new business opportunities and they are closely
linked to other transnational crime groups. Cutting-edge
organizations, their weapons and other
equipment*communications, encryption and surveillance*are
often better than the equipment available to law enforcement
officials charged with bringing them to justice.

Fighting transnational drug trafficking is not something that
any one government can do alone. We must work together
closely at the bilateral, sub-regional, regional and global
level.

Narco-trafficking in West Africa is a serious and growing
threat. It has the potential to destabilize an already
unstable region with a history punctuated by civil wars and
coups. It robs populations of legitimate sources of economic
activity and development, as well as tears apart the social
fabric.

West Africa has become a major trafficking route for cocaine
from South America to Europe. Cocaine transiting West Africa
is typically moved from Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, or
Brazil via maritime and air routes. Mr. President, the
international community has seen how being a source or
transit state for drug trafficking is detrimental to a
country,s development and public health. Though initially
most transit states in Africa do not have markets for illegal
drug consumption, eventually illegal drug abuse takes root
and spreads. It is estimated that the wholesale value of
cocaine entering Europe from West Africa is $1.8
billion*with perhaps $450 million going to traffickers.
These illicit profits far exceed the resources regional
governments have to combat trafficking. The wholesale value
of only a few months of trans-shipped cocaine can eclipse a
country,s GDP, such as that of Guinea-Bissau. Situations
like these threaten good governance and local and regional
stability.

Mr. President, taking effective measures against
narco-trafficking requires increased donor assistance and
clearer demonstration of concrete political will by regional
governments. Capable, reliable and transparent institutions
are the key to success. Drug traffickers thrive in
permissive environments marked by porous borders and weak
state authority. And weak governance and corruption often
creates de facto impunity for drug traffickers.

In this regard, the United States welcomes the Political
Declaration and Action Plan adopted by West African leaders a
year ago and the recently launched West African Crime
Initiative, which brings together the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS),the UN and the International
Police Organization (INTERPOL). We would like to thank the
Government of Senegal for hosting a ministerial-level
conference to advance implementation of regional and national
counternarcotics efforts across West Africa.

The United States also welcomes UNODC,s technical assistance
activities that will strengthen the institutional capacity of
countries in the region to combat the menace of international
narco-trafficking. UNODC,s regional program for West
Africa will represent a strategic roadmap for the
organization,s activities. Furthermore, we applaud the
results of the donors meeting UNODC co-hosted with the
Government of Austria in Vienna on December 3 that raised
more than 15 million Euro to help ECOWAS reduce the region's
vulnerability to drugs and crime. As the Special
Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for
West Africa, Said Djinnit, said at that meeting, criminal
networks are "changing their modus operandi and becoming
better equipped and more sophisticated.8 The United States
recognizes this threat, hence our strong support of the
ECOWAS plan and our ongoing coordination with UNODC,
particularly in Guinea-Bissau.

Mr. President, for our part, the United States is partnering,
bilaterally and multilaterally, to combat the scourge of drug
trafficking. Specifically, we are seeking ways to support
Member States, efforts to accede to and implement the three
UN drug conventions, as well as the UN Convention on
Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention Against
Corruption ) all of which provide the international legal
framework and tools to confront this threat. Implementing
the conventions and applying these tools will have tremendous
impact, and act as a force multiplier. In all, the United
States provides assistance for counternarcotics and law
enforcement criminal justice capacity building in more than
90 partner countries.

The United States has already devoted over $13 million to
addressing this challenge in West Africa and is working to
secure additional future funding for bilateral and regional
programs. For example, the United States is working with the
Government of Ghana to further develop an elite
counternarcotics law enforcement capacity that will be able
to investigate drug trafficking organizations and support
high level prosecutions. In Guinea-Bissau, we have supported
UNODC and will have a judicial advisor in place in the new
year to strengthen accountability structures in the judicial
system.

Our discussion today focuses on West Africa, but there are
growing threats in other parts of the world. In Haiti, the
net flow of drugs has grown recently, and the government
lacks the capacity to counter these flows or fully adjudicate
the crimes. The UN and its Member States have invested
significantly in years of peacekeeping efforts in Haiti; we
should not let narcotrafficking undermine the real successes
that our efforts are beginning to yield. In Afghanistan, the
drug trade threatens political stability and economic growth
by funding insurgent activity, feeding corruption and
undermining the rule of law. While the United States
continues to provide funding to UNODC for counternarcotics
activities in Afghanistan, we urge others to provide
extra-budgetary contributions too. Over the next year, we
seek to provide $450 million in direct assistance for
Afghanistan counternarcotics.

Mr. President, let me be clear. We face enormous challenges
in countering the increasing power of transnational drug and
crime groups that are threatening our communities. The
United States is committed to combatting these threats by
dismantling criminal networks, developing law enforcement
capabilities, and helping to strengthen institutions and
governance. We are committed to working with Member States
and international partners to meet this challenge. Thank
you Mr. President.


3. Begin text of PRST on Drug trafficking as a threat to
international security:


1. The Security Council reaffirms its primary
responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and
security in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations.


2. The Security Council notes with concern the serious
threats posed in some cases by drug trafficking and related
transnational organized crime to international security in
different regions of the world, including in Africa. The
increasing link, in some cases, between drug trafficking and
the financing of terrorism, is also a source of growing
concern.


3. The Security Council stresses the importance of
strengthening transregional and international cooperation on
the basis of a common and shared responsibility to counter
the world drug problem and related criminal activities, and
in support of relevant national, subregional and regional
organizations and mechanisms, including with the view to
strengthening the rule of law.


4. The Security Council recognizes the importance of the
actions undertaken by the General Assembly, the Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC),the Commission On Narcotics Drugs,
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and
other relevant UN organs and agencies in facing numerous
security risks caused by drug trafficking in many countries
and regions, including in Africa. The Council encourages them
to undertake further actions in this regard.


5. The Security Council stresses the need to reinforce the
coordination of United Nations actions, including cooperation
with Interpol, in order to enhance the effectiveness of
international efforts in the fight against drug trafficking
at the national, regional and international levels to tackle
this global challenge in a more comprehensive manner in
accordance with the principle of common and shared
responsibility.


6. The Security Council reaffirms and commends in that
regard the important work of the UNODC in collaboration with
the United Nations relevant entities and emphasizes the need
for adequate capacities to support national efforts.


7. The Security Council invites the Secretary General to
consider mainstreaming the issue of drug trafficking as a
factor in conflict prevention strategies, conflict analysis,
integrated missions, assessment and planning and
peacebuilding support.


8. The Security Council encourages States to comply with
their obligations to combat drug trafficking and other forms
of transnational organized crime, to consider acceding to
relevant international conventions, in particular the 3
United Nations drug conventions and to investigate and
prosecute, as appropriate, persons and entities responsible
for drug trafficking and related crimes consistent with
international human rights and due process standards.


9. The Security Council recognizes the important
contribution of States, regional and subregional
organizations in tackling drug trafficking in all its
aspects, and encourages them to share best practices, as well
as information about illicit drug trafficking networks.


10. The Security Council also recognizes the important
contribution of civil society and other stakeholders in
tackling drug trafficking in a comprehensive manner.


11. The Security Council calls on the international
community and the United Nations system to strengthen their
cooperation with regional and subregional organizations, in
the fight against drug trafficking including in Africa.


12. The Security Council calls on the Secretary General to
provide, as appropriate, more information on drug trafficking
and related issues where it risks threatening or exacerbating
an existing threat to international peace and security.


4. Draft Reply Letter:

Thank you for your invitation to Secretary Clinton for the
December 8, 2009 UN Security Council Thematic Debate on Drug
Trafficking and the Threat to International Security.

The United States appreciates your initiative in raising
awareness on the challenge posed to the international
community by the increase in illicit cross-border and
cross-regional drug trafficking, and on the other hand to
strengthen solidarity and cooperation in tackling this menace
to international security.

The United States will be represented by Ambassador Rice who
will raise our concern for this global threat, with a
particular focus on West Africa. She will also highlight our
efforts to finalize the United States, Counternarcotics
Strategy in West Africa.
CLINTON