Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09UNVIEVIENNA217
2009-05-08 15:14:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
UNVIE
Cable title:  

"Harm Reduction" Debate Politicizing INCB Elections?

Tags:  PGOV SNAR KCRM UNODC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9885
RR RUEHDBU RUEHKW RUEHMA RUEHSK
DE RUEHUNV #0217/01 1281514
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081514Z MAY 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9435
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1639
RUCNNAR/VIENNA NARCOTICS COLLECTIVE
RUCNCRI/VIENNA CRIME COLLECTIVE
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0042
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 UNVIE VIENNA 000217 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

INL FOR A/S JOHNSON
WHITE HOUSE FOR ONDCP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM UNODC

SUBJECT: "Harm Reduction" Debate Politicizing INCB Elections?

REF: A) 02/18/09 Davis Email to Pala,B) UNVIE Vienna 110

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SUMMARY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 UNVIE VIENNA 000217

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

INL FOR A/S JOHNSON
WHITE HOUSE FOR ONDCP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM UNODC

SUBJECT: "Harm Reduction" Debate Politicizing INCB Elections?

REF: A) 02/18/09 Davis Email to Pala,B) UNVIE Vienna 110

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a meeting on May 6, Koli Kouame Secretary of
the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB),expressed dismay
over what he described as the NGO efforts to politicize the election
of Board members. More specifically, Kouame believes the
International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) is attempting to
influence the outcome of the INCB's May 18 elections in New York by
using candidates' positions on "harm reduction" as a litmus test to
"modernize" and "bring new skills and perspectives" to the Board.
Kouame is concerned that INCB's mandate to monitor compliance with
the international drug control conventions could be undermined from
the inside if IDPC efforts succeed in inserting new Board members
favorable to their cause. Furthermore, Kouame hopes the U.S. will
support the re-election of the sole U.S. Board member, (retired)
Ambassador Melvin Levitsky, whom Kouame praised for protecting the
international drug control regime, as defined in the drug
conventions. In a subsequent phone conversation with missionoff,
Ambassador Levitsky seconded many of the concerns Kouame raised. He
expressed a desire to have a Board whose foremost priority is to
protect the drug conventions. END SUMMARY.

--------------
INCB May Elections in NY
--------------


2. (SBU) On May 6 missionoff met with Koli Kouame, Secretary of the
INCB, to discuss the upcoming election of six board members at the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on May 18. Five
government-backed candidates will be elected and one person will be
chosen from the WHO field of candidates. (Note: The Board
comprises thirteen members. Ten are chosen from government-backed
candidacies and three are reserved for candidates from the WHO.
Members serve five year terms and are free to run for re-election.
Terms begin one year after election; thus the six winners from this
year's pool will begin their term in May, 2010. Members serve in
the personal capacities and are expected to be independent. End
note.)

--------------
Harm Reduction: a Litmus Test for NGO support
--------------


3. (SBU) Kouame expressed concern over the manner in which NGOs and

certain member states are coordinating with each other on which
candidates to support. Kouame handed missionoff emails that he said
he received from a "New York colleague." The emails, from Mike
Trace of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC),are
addressed to a number of Vienna-based delegations, including Brazil,
Bulgaria, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, and the UK. Trace
lists the candidates he believes will "modernize" the Board and
bring "new skills and perspectives," and therefore the addressees
should support. He also lists candidates whom addressees should
oppose, and still others on whom he has acquired insufficient
information to make an assessment. (Note: The IDPC is an NGO
consortium which seeks to advance "more humane approaches to drug
control." Among other positions, IDPC is an outspoken proponent of
"harm reduction"-a controversial term that could include
prescription heroin, drug injection rooms and the legalization of
drug abuse. Mike Trace is the former UK Deputy Drug "Czar" and
current Co-Director of the Beckley Foundation, another pro-harm
reduction organization that questions the validity of the current
drug control regime. Scanned copies of the emails, and their
assessments of the various candidates, will be forwarded to INL/PC.
End note.)


4. (SBU) The assessments divide the candidates into three
categories: i) those who should be supported; ii) those who should
be opposed; and iii)"other candidates" without sufficient evidence
for assessment. The emails assert that an unnamed "human rights
agency" conducted the assessment. Kouame was alarmed by the tone of
some of the assessments. For example, current Board member Tatyana
Dmitrieva, a Russian national up for re-election, is accused of not
being truly independent of the Russian government. (Note: Russia
is a vociferous opponent of "harm reduction" measures, including
medication-assisted therapies like methadone. End note.) Even
worse, the assessment implicates Dmitrieva in possible human rights
abuses at a psychiatric institute.


5. (SBU) The assessment also finds objectionable Colombian national
Camilo Uribe Granja, another current Board member up for

UNVIE VIEN 00000217 002 OF 003


re-election, because in his role as director of a U.S. Embassy
Bogota study on the health impact of herbicide spraying campaigns
where he apparently concluded that there was no valid evidence of
adverse health consequences. Uribe is also maligned as a proponent
of Colombia's drug legislation which criminalizes possession for
personal consumption, and requires compulsory treatment of drug
users. Of the other four candidates deemed objectionable, their
opposition to "harm reduction" is highlighted.


6. (SBU) On the other hand, the assessment urge support for
candidates like Kamil Kalina of Czech Republic, because, "according
to NGO sources he is a supporter of harm reduction." (Note:
Kalina, a psychotherapist, is the Chair of the EU horizontal group
on drug issues in Brussels. During the 2008-2009 UNGASS
negotiations in Vienna, Kalina came across as a pragmatist,
attempting repeatedly to steer the EU to accept the exclusion of the
term "harm reduction" in the recent 2009 UNGASS Political
Declaration, Ref A and B. Such efforts by Kalina and the Mission
were unable to sway the "harm reduction" lobby in the EU. In the
end, the EU was split on this issue. End note.) In addition,
Poland's Janusz Sieroslawski is also a "good" candidate because,
"according to local NGO contacts, [he] supports sound public health
and human rights-based approaches to drug policy."

--------------
"Politicization" of INCB Lamented
--------------


7. (SBU) While Kouame acknowledged that there has always been
lobbying for candidates, he found disturbing what he called
"borderline character assassinations" in the current campaigns, and
the mysterious sources that were supplying such information to Trace
and the member states. He claimed not to have seen anything so
explicitly political as the assessments of candidates in these
emails, lamenting that in the past decade drug issues have become
more political and less technical. Indeed, the term "harm
reduction" is opposed by a great number of member states precisely
because it is so vague and politically-loaded. However, this issue
seems to preoccupy the email authors.


8. (SBU) Kouame also alleged that the usual horse-trading is going
on. He claimed that India recently announced the withdrawal of
Krishna Verma ("assessed" as objectionable due in part to his
opposition to "harm reduction") as the government candidate, in
exchange for support for Rajat Ray for one of the three WHO seats.
Ray was "assessed" as a clear supporter of "harm reduction").
India, Kouame argued, wants an Indian national on the board, and is
willing to drop their objectionable candidate if it means shoring up
support for their WHO candidate.

--------------
Balance of Board, Integrity
of Conventions in Danger
--------------


9. (SBU) Kouame stressed that the next few years are critical for
the INCB. The international drug control regime has been under
assault, he alleged, starting in the late 1980's, and increasingly
so in the past ten years. He is concerned that with the election of
six members this year (plus another in September to replace the
retiring Mexican board member),the dynamics of the INCB could
dramatically shift towards positions he considers insufficiently
dedicated to the primacy of the drugs conventions. Kouame noted
that while INCB President Hamid Ghodse (encumbering a WHO seat) and
retired U.S. Ambassador Melvin Levitsky (encumbering a
government-backed position) will continue to push for strong
interpretations of the conventions, they will be outnumbered if
Trace and his allies are successful in having their candidates
elected.


10. (SBU) Kouame asserted that what the INCB needs most urgently
are strong international lawyers and law enforcement officials for
the Board, who understand the obligations of the conventions and the
effectiveness of their implementation on the local and national
stage. In his view, there are currently too many doctors and
scientists on the Board. Kouame also expressed a hope that the U.S.
will re-nominate Ambassador Levitsky when his term ends in 2012.

--------------
A USG Plan?
--------------


11. (SBU) In a subsequent telephone conversation, Ambassador
Levitsky concurred that the past several years have seen a marked
increase in the politicization of the INCB elections. In his view,

UNVIE VIEN 00000217 003 OF 003


the "harm reduction" advocates do not dare attack the conventions,
so they have been trying to whittle them down with new
interpretations emanating from the Board. Without going into
specifics, Ambassador Levitsky expressed hope that all members of
the INCB, current and future, would focus on protecting the primacy
of conventions. He also hoped that the USG and other member states
would take these assessments seriously and would examine the records
and qualifications of the candidates, in order to develop a
considered position on the candidates. With regard to whether he
would run for re-election, Ambassador Levitsky dismissed any
speculation, saying it was too early to worry.

--------------
Comment
--------------


12. (SBU) The NGO assessments clearly focus on the candidates' "harm
reduction" and law enforcement approaches to drug users, paying
scant attention to their educational and professional
qualifications. Such politicizing approach is telling of ongoing
and coordinated attempts to re-shape international drug policy we
also saw during the United Nations General Assembly Special Session.
Mission agrees with Kouame that the proper way to change the
international drug control regime is to amend the conventions.
Instead, the NGOs and the European countries that support them, are
trying to side-step this process. They failed in their attempt to
insert "harm reduction" in the 2009 UN Political Declaration on
fighting drugs. Now, it appears, they are trying, through the INCB
elections, to subvert the international drug control regime from the
inside out. END COMMENT.

PYATT