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