Mongolia INCSR Draft Submission

UNCLAS ULAANBAATAR 000318 STATE FOR EAP/CM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID SOCI MG SUBJECT: Mongolia INCSR Draft Submission ¶I. Summary (U) Although small in scale, the production, sales, trafficking and abuse of narcotics is on the rise. The primary narcotics of choice are hashish and cannabis. More impoverished people are apt to use commercially available inhalants and glues. In addition, many patients hospitalized for traumas or other painful conditions become addicted to morphine through prescriptions for excessive doses of the painkiller. Groups particularly vulnerable to narcotics include children and young adults from upper-middle class families as well as women employed or exploited in night clubs and underground brothels. Narcotics are most prevalent in Ulaanbaatar as well as cities border Russia and China, such as Darkhan and Zamyn-Uud respectively. (U) Mongolia is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. Although Mongolia launched the National Anti-Drug, Anti-Narcotics Program (NADANP) from 2005-2008, progress was very modest. Interagency cooperation increased and customs procedures for drug interdiction continue to improve. Nevertheless, capacity and budgeting remains insufficient for law enforcement and customs agencies. Officers by and large remain dedicated to fighting drug trafficking and abuse. Prevention and treatment programs for narcotics are poor. What therapy drug addicts do receive is generally based upon the therapies applied to abusers of alcohol. There are only two practicing doctors nationwide with specialization in narcotics addiction. Combined with the inaccessibility of appropriate treatment options, the lack of public awareness campaigns and the severe social stigma regarding drug use leads very few patients to check in voluntarily for treatment. As a result, more indicted criminals checked in for treatment in the Maanit Prison Hospital's treatment center than did free citizens at the National Psychopathology and Addictology Center in 2009 to date. II. Status of Country (U) The level of domestic narcotics production is believed to be low. The most common local source is naturally growing cannabis plants in the northern provinces. Blown on southerly winds, their spores incrementally approach the latitudes of Ulaanbaatar with each year. Another source is drug exporters residing in Russia and China. Smugglers use Mongolia both as a destination and as a transit route. III. Country Actions against Drugs in 2009 (U) Policy Initiatives: The National Council carried out the National Anti-Drug, Anti-Narcotics Program from 2005 to 2008. Led by the National Police, the goals of the council included the coordination of anti-drug policies among administrative bodies, legal reviews, studies of the circumstances of drug related crimes, prevention campaigns for minors and the supply of necessary equipment and trained staff to the drug identification labs. (U) As a result, a new law was implemented, providing for the monitoring of narcotic flows and the psychological assistance of addicts. In addition, cooperation between government law enforcement, intelligence, customs and border patrol agencies reportedly improved. Under the impetus of a new customs law in 2008, the Mongolian Customs General Administration (MCGA) is reforming its risk assessment techniques. With its nationwide network to gather and analyze data and information shared among agencies, the MCGA is implementing a risk management program beginning this year. The goal is to focus more effectively on suspicious customs declarations as recommended in World Customs Organization guidelines. This is in conjunction with an IT modernization project currently underway. The MCGA is also training dogs for drug sniffing and deploying the hounds to border crossings, airports and post offices. (U) Despite these improvements, the NADANP has lapsed and remains in limbo. Government-NGO coordination is insufficient. Then-Prime Minister Bayar announced an intergovernmental working group in February 2009 to continue anti-drug measures. The group failed to meet or set an agenda. NGOs and drug treatment specialists reported that even in the midst of NADANP they were given little opportunity to offer input in anti-drug policy. Despite the goal of supporting field studies, little remains known regarding drug related criminal activity, the quantity of drug production or the scale of narcotics abuse within Mongolia. (U) The government of Mongolia arranged a conference in June on National Anti-Drug Day, bringing together and emphasizing cooperation among government agencies and NGOs. Meanwhile, conference resolutions from the prior year saw little progress. Although a 2008 forum had similarly emphasized cooperation between government agencies and NGOs and increased funding for the latter, these policies did not materialize. NGOs reported continued isolation from policy discussions, and lost funding as budgets were cut amidst the international financial crisis. In addition, there was no progress made on the 2008 conference proposal to build the nation's first drug rehabilitation center. (U) Law Enforcement Efforts: Law enforcement success hinges on intelligence gathering by the MCGA, the Border Patrol and the General Intelligence Agency, and the apprehension and investigation of suspects by the National Police Agency (NPA). The NPA in turn divides these duties respectively between the Division Against Organized Crime within the Criminal Police Department and the State Investigation Department. Year to date the police have seized 125 ounces of cannabis, seven ounces of hashish and several amphetamine tablets. In the same period 40 cases were opened regarding drug offenses, through which 35 people were found guilty. In comparison, from 1998 to 2008, there were 215 people found guilty through 93 cases. Thirty foreigners were among those convicted in this period, including 15 Russians and 10 Chinese. (U) Drug traffickers tended to operate on an individual basis or in small groups. Fully fledged organized criminal enterprises have yet to take root. The Serious and Organized Crime Investigation Division reported no violent crimes by drug abusers. The offenses most correlated with drug trafficking included identity card forgery, larceny and illegal border crossing. Law enforcement officials report there is no evidence drug traffickers engage in money laundering within Mongolia. (U) Resources available to law enforcement are inadequate. Nationwide there are 60 police officers who work on drug cases related to minors, or one officer for every 15,000 children. Athough it is every police officer's duty to monitor secondary schools, it was unclear how effective the police were at monitoring. Only two children were referred to the National Psychopathology and Addictology Center year to date for narcotics abuse, and they were not provided with sustained treatment or counseling there. (U) Corruption: Although corruption is widespread in the public sector, there are no specific reports linking it to narcotics trafficking. However there are possibly improprieties done by pharmacists and/or doctors given the numerous cases of morphine abuse by their former patients. (U) The Independent Authority Against Corruption investigates public officials for misconduct. The Authority compels the country's top officials, including parliamentarians, Cabinet ministers and Supreme Court justices to declare their assets and income. Although they have indicted a number of officials on charges of corruption, none were narcotics related. The government does not encourage or facilitate illicit production of drugs or the laundering of the proceeds thereof. No senior government official is known to facilitate or encourage the production or distribution of illegal drugs or the laundering of the proceeds thereof. (U) Agreements and Treaties: Mongolia is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 UN Single Convention as amended by its 1972 Protocol, and the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Mongolia also is a party to the UN Convention Against Corruption and the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The United States and Mongolia have in force a customs mutual legal assistance agreement. (U) In December 2008, the MCGA signed a three-year technical cooperation agreement with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration. Dutch officials have since begun assisting their Mongolian counterparts with risk management techniques and other capacity-building measures. (U) Drug Flow/Transit: The MCGA surmises there to be two primary drug transit routes into or through Mongolia. The first brings narcotics from China into Mongolia. The second originates in Central Asia, and passes through Mongolia with ultimate destinations as far as Japan and South Korea. The predominant contraband is cannabis and hashish, both of which are also grown locally. In addition, foreign manufactured amphetamines, heroin, and cocaine have also been seized in recent years. Although morphine stocks are government regulated and reserved for medical use, this narcotic is occasionally prescribed excessively or inappropriately, leading to patient addiction. (U) Domestic Programs/Demand Reduction: The lack of studies regarding domestic narcotics consumption hinders progress in setting metrics for demand reduction programs. In 2009 for the first time the publicly sponsored National Psychopathology and Addictology Center published a booklet entitled The Distribution of Addicts. It focuses on alcohol abuse and touches only briefly on narcotics. Of note, it references a 2006 NGO that surveyed 1000 secondary school students in Zamyn-Uud, Darkhan and Ulaanbaatar. Of those, 410 admitted at least one instance of narcotic use, and 80 described themselves as addicts. (U) There is a dire lack of drug abuse prevention programs. The government made little effort to inform the public regarding the dangers of narcotics and the path to recovery. Public awareness initiatives of note included anti-drug advertisements broadcast on the occasion of National Anti-Drug Day. Besides this, government-funded NGO staff visited primary schools to inform students of the dangers of alcohol and narcotics. The primary source of increased narcotics awareness was the private media. They reported on a number of narcotics trafficking and abuse cases, some involving public figures. (U) Drug treatment programs are also lacking. Nationwide there are only two practicing doctors who have some specialization in narcotics abuse. Both are employed in the Ulaanbaatar-based National Psychopathology and Addictology Center. The only medical facility that specializes in addictions, the Center lacks the medical equipment to screen patients to determine what drugs are in their system. Furthermore, the treatment regimen is all but identical to that applied to alcohol abusers. The number of patients being treated at the center for narcotics abuse is generally under 10 at any given time. Only one new patient was admitted year to date in 2009. This low number of admits is likely a product not only of the inaccessibility of appropriate treatment options to wide swaths of population, but also the lack of public awareness campaigns and the severe social stigma regarding drug use. IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs (U) Bilateral Cooperation: U.S. Government assistance has included international visitor programs on transnational crime and counternarcotics, as well as training by several U.S. law-enforcement agencies. (U) The Road Ahead: The United States will continue to cooperate closely with Mongolia to assist with implementation of counternarcotics policies, including border protection, support for the Independent Authority Against Corruption, and training and assistance for the Mongolian police. HILL