Bangkok Post
Perspective
Drug enforcement agencies maintain that at the present time the methamphetamine and heroin found in Thailand are produced entirely outside the country, writes MAXMILIAN WECHSLER
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was set up in 1997 primarily to address international illicit drugs and crime issues. Although the UNODC is not empowered to conduct surveillance or make arrests, its benefits and results are well documented. Not only does the organisation play a major part in fighting drug trafficking and abuse, it is involved in related issues such as the spread of HIV through intravenous drug use, as well as other types of transnational crimes and international terrorism.
In a series of interviews, Akira Fujino, Representative of the UNODC's Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok since January 2004, outlined the functions and activities of his organisation.
The UNODC field office in Thailand was upgraded to the level of regional centre in 1992 to cover China and the countries of Southeast Asia where there had been no UNODC Offices, and today is responsible for overseeing the organisation's operations in over 30 countries.
"The UNODC has country offices in Lao PDR, in Myanmar and in Vietnam. The Regional Centre in Bangkok also provides advisory services through these country offices, and then we have project or programme offices in Cambodia, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and in Indonesia." Mr Fujino said.
"In the huge geographical region we cover the challenges lying before us are enormous, as a lot of developments are taking place: new patterns of illicit drug manufacture and diversified routes of trafficking. As a result the abuse patterns change as well."
Mr Fujino remarked that the abuse of illicit drugs has increased around the world during past years, and the countries in East Asia are following the trend. The most at-risk groups include ethnic minorities, fishermen, street children, prisoners, commercial sex workers and unemployed youth.
Mr Fujino stressed that injecting drugs remains the leading cause of HIV transmission in many countries in the region, and there are many other serious consequences of drug abuse and trafficking: an upsurge of crime, violence and corruption; adverse effects on health; the destruction of individuals, families and communities; and the undermining of political, cultural, social and economic structures.
"Patterns of illicit drug production, manufacture, trafficking and abuse in East Asia and the Pacific are changing," noted Mr Fujino. "While abuse of opiates, such as heroin, continues to be of serious concern, abuse of ATS (amphetamine-type stimulants), especially methamphetamines, is increasing as the clandestine manufacturers of these substances is spreading out.
"In Thailand, there used to be numerous illicit methamphetamine manufacturing labs, but today such synthesis does not take place because of control of the chemical precursors exercised by Thailand at both the international and regional levels, as well as law enforcement efforts. Therefore the traffickers went to Myanmar, for instance," said Mr Fujino.
Both Thai and foreign drug enforcement agencies maintain that at the present time the methamphetamine and heroin found in Thailand are produced entirely outside the country.
However, the latest UNODC's report, released in October 2007, says that illicit opium poppy cultivation, while mostly eradicated in Thailand, actually increased by 31% between 2006 and 2007, from 157 hectares (ha) to 205 ha. As a result, the potential production of opium went up by 25%, from 2.4 metric tons to 3.2 in the same period and the number of households involved in opium cultivation increased by 23%, from 1,300 in 2006 to 1,600 in 2007.
"As for surveillance and monitoring of illicit opium poppy cultivation, we have two layers. Satellite image reading is not a simple task. Things change constantly. Against those findings we have surveyors on the ground to double check. We believe that our method provides the most realistic picture".
In Thailand opium poppy is still grown mainly in Chiang Mai, Tak and Chiang Rai provinces. Some is also cultivated in Mae Hong Son, Nan, Lampang, Phayao, Phrae, Phetchabun and Phitsanulok provinces.
Mr Fujino was quick to point out that in comparison with the other two "Golden Triangle" countries of Laos and Myanmar, the area of cultivation and the opium output for Thailand remains "very small".
In Laos cultivation dropped 40% between 2006 and 2007, from 2,500 ha to 1,500 ha. This is very good news for that country's eradication programme. In 1998 an estimated 26,837 ha was cultivated.
As for Myanmar, the second leading opium poppy cultivation and heroin manufacture centre in the world, though far behind Afghanistan, cultivation increased by 29%, from 21,500 ha in 2006 to 27,700 ha, in 2007 according to the UNODC report. The 2008 report is anxiously awaited in the anti-narcotics law enforcement community.
Commenting on the poppy cultivation increases in both Myanmar and Thailand, Mr Fujino said that the UNODC has yet to determine what might be behind it.
"Altogether, if we look at Southeast Asia since 2000, the area of cultivation was reduced each year until 2006."
Mr Fujino remarked that due to policies of the royal development institutions and consecutive Thai governments, Thailand is the first country in the world considered to have successfully implemented an opium poppy eradication programme, despite the persistence of small cultivation areas. He pointed out that in 1984 the area under cultivation was about 5,777 ha.
Moreover, a concerted eradication drive over the past decade in Laos and Myanmar has slashed opium cultivation in this once notorious region to the point that Southeast Asia now produces only 5% of the world's deadliest drug - the rest comes from Afghanistan.
Real-time Information Exchange
"We are getting good cooperation from all countries in East Asia and the Pacific region," said Mr Fujino.
One example: A cross-border project which established Border Liaison Offices (BLO) where around 500 border officers are posted in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, i.e., China, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Among other things, this fosters more inter-regional trust among drug enforcement agencies, which means a greater exchange of real-time operational information.
As of 2007, a total of 69 BLO had been established, and more than 500 cases were broken, with large seizures of drugs and precursors and the arrest of numerous traffickers.
"Of course, countries like Thailand are more advanced compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, and there are different levels of success, but all governments are committed and focused on fighting drugs.
Mr. Fujino pointed out that poppy eradication depends on sustainable alternative development.
"This is exactly what was successful here in Thailand. Without this, two things can happen: either the farmers will have to go back to growing opium poppy, which we can't accept, or families will disappear because of poverty - a humanitarian disaster which we can't accept either.
"What is necessary is that the farmers receive assistance for an alternative means of livelihood. This is the real issue, in Myanmar as well as Laos."
Mr Fujino repeatedly expressed concern about the spread of ATS in East Asia and the Pacific, and in Southeast Asia in particular, despite an intensified campaign against their abuse.
"Over the past years the nature of drug abuse in Southeast Asia has seen a number of dynamic shifts. Two of the most critical changes to affect the region have been the emergence of ATS and the high rates of HIV among drug abusers, especially those injecting drugs.
Reiterating that according to the best information available Thailand itself is not a producer of methamphetamine, Mr. Fujino said that nonetheless the number of clandestine drug laboratories manufacturing methamphetamines has increased in the region. He attributed this to a lack of resources faced by some governments.
Mr Fujino said HIV is a major concern of UNODC globally.
"We now have a very large HIV prevention programme in connection with drug abuse. We have significant concerns about HIV transmission within prisons. Our programme works with governments to introduce comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care services within prison settings." The regional HIV team was established in 2006 and is based in Bangkok, with five fulltime staff.
Mr Fujino said the UNODC doesn't "do cases".
"We do not have law enforcement capabilities. We raise the capacity of law enforcement agencies and provide an enabling environment. For instance, through the ASEAN and China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs (ACCORD) mechanism we have initiated a regional joint initiative on ATS, facilitating joint law enforcement operations. Then we have held a number of close sessions in which the law enforcement investigators gather to share and to investigate possibilities for joint operations possibilities," Mr. Fujino said.
ACCORD member countries shared operational intelligence, and a list of target cases - including ongoing transnational ATS-related cases, drug syndicates and fugitives - was drawn up and made a priority.
The UNODC also works to support drug data information systems, increase capacity for treatment and rehabilitation, reduce HIV/Aids vulnerability, facilitate regional initiatives in addressing synthetic drugs and precursors control, assist communities in achieving sustainable alternative development, forge partnerships against the threats of transnational terrorism, organised crime, corruption, and money laundering, and support victims of human trafficking.
Since its inception in 1998, the UNODC's regional "Computer-based Training" (CBT) has been continuously adapted and expanded to meet the needs of the law enforcement community. CBT, which consists of standardised interactive and self-paced training modules, provides learning experience on a one-on-one basis. The programmes have progressively moved from a drug perspective to a broader coverage and now embrace issues related to crime and corruption, following the expanding UNODC mandate.
The UNODC now has a battery of 76 CBT modules, including one on human trafficking, delivered in 16 languages to 52 countries. These modules are being implemented in 300 training centres around the world. Of them, 94 are located in East Asia and the Pacific. The significant impact of CBT was recognised in February 2007, when the programme received the UN21 Award from the United Nations Secretary-General, in the categories of "substantial programmes and individual productivity".
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was set up in 1997 primarily to address international illicit drugs and crime issues. Although the UNODC is not empowered to conduct surveillance or make arrests, its benefits and results are well documented. Not only does the organisation play a major part in fighting drug trafficking and abuse, it is involved in related issues such as the spread of HIV through intravenous drug use, as well as other types of transnational crimes and international terrorism.
In a series of interviews, Akira Fujino, Representative of the UNODC's Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok since January 2004, outlined the functions and activities of his organisation.
The UNODC field office in Thailand was upgraded to the level of regional centre in 1992 to cover China and the countries of Southeast Asia where there had been no UNODC Offices, and today is responsible for overseeing the organisation's operations in over 30 countries.
"The UNODC has country offices in Lao PDR, in Myanmar and in Vietnam. The Regional Centre in Bangkok also provides advisory services through these country offices, and then we have project or programme offices in Cambodia, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and in Indonesia." Mr Fujino said.
"In the huge geographical region we cover the challenges lying before us are enormous, as a lot of developments are taking place: new patterns of illicit drug manufacture and diversified routes of trafficking. As a result the abuse patterns change as well."
Mr Fujino remarked that the abuse of illicit drugs has increased around the world during past years, and the countries in East Asia are following the trend. The most at-risk groups include ethnic minorities, fishermen, street children, prisoners, commercial sex workers and unemployed youth.
Mr Fujino stressed that injecting drugs remains the leading cause of HIV transmission in many countries in the region, and there are many other serious consequences of drug abuse and trafficking: an upsurge of crime, violence and corruption; adverse effects on health; the destruction of individuals, families and communities; and the undermining of political, cultural, social and economic structures.
"Patterns of illicit drug production, manufacture, trafficking and abuse in East Asia and the Pacific are changing," noted Mr Fujino. "While abuse of opiates, such as heroin, continues to be of serious concern, abuse of ATS (amphetamine-type stimulants), especially methamphetamines, is increasing as the clandestine manufacturers of these substances is spreading out.
"In Thailand, there used to be numerous illicit methamphetamine manufacturing labs, but today such synthesis does not take place because of control of the chemical precursors exercised by Thailand at both the international and regional levels, as well as law enforcement efforts. Therefore the traffickers went to Myanmar, for instance," said Mr Fujino.
Both Thai and foreign drug enforcement agencies maintain that at the present time the methamphetamine and heroin found in Thailand are produced entirely outside the country.
However, the latest UNODC's report, released in October 2007, says that illicit opium poppy cultivation, while mostly eradicated in Thailand, actually increased by 31% between 2006 and 2007, from 157 hectares (ha) to 205 ha. As a result, the potential production of opium went up by 25%, from 2.4 metric tons to 3.2 in the same period and the number of households involved in opium cultivation increased by 23%, from 1,300 in 2006 to 1,600 in 2007.
"As for surveillance and monitoring of illicit opium poppy cultivation, we have two layers. Satellite image reading is not a simple task. Things change constantly. Against those findings we have surveyors on the ground to double check. We believe that our method provides the most realistic picture".
In Thailand opium poppy is still grown mainly in Chiang Mai, Tak and Chiang Rai provinces. Some is also cultivated in Mae Hong Son, Nan, Lampang, Phayao, Phrae, Phetchabun and Phitsanulok provinces.
Mr Fujino was quick to point out that in comparison with the other two "Golden Triangle" countries of Laos and Myanmar, the area of cultivation and the opium output for Thailand remains "very small".
In Laos cultivation dropped 40% between 2006 and 2007, from 2,500 ha to 1,500 ha. This is very good news for that country's eradication programme. In 1998 an estimated 26,837 ha was cultivated.
As for Myanmar, the second leading opium poppy cultivation and heroin manufacture centre in the world, though far behind Afghanistan, cultivation increased by 29%, from 21,500 ha in 2006 to 27,700 ha, in 2007 according to the UNODC report. The 2008 report is anxiously awaited in the anti-narcotics law enforcement community.
Commenting on the poppy cultivation increases in both Myanmar and Thailand, Mr Fujino said that the UNODC has yet to determine what might be behind it.
"Altogether, if we look at Southeast Asia since 2000, the area of cultivation was reduced each year until 2006."
Mr Fujino remarked that due to policies of the royal development institutions and consecutive Thai governments, Thailand is the first country in the world considered to have successfully implemented an opium poppy eradication programme, despite the persistence of small cultivation areas. He pointed out that in 1984 the area under cultivation was about 5,777 ha.
Moreover, a concerted eradication drive over the past decade in Laos and Myanmar has slashed opium cultivation in this once notorious region to the point that Southeast Asia now produces only 5% of the world's deadliest drug - the rest comes from Afghanistan.
Real-time Information Exchange
"We are getting good cooperation from all countries in East Asia and the Pacific region," said Mr Fujino.
One example: A cross-border project which established Border Liaison Offices (BLO) where around 500 border officers are posted in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, i.e., China, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Among other things, this fosters more inter-regional trust among drug enforcement agencies, which means a greater exchange of real-time operational information.
As of 2007, a total of 69 BLO had been established, and more than 500 cases were broken, with large seizures of drugs and precursors and the arrest of numerous traffickers.
"Of course, countries like Thailand are more advanced compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, and there are different levels of success, but all governments are committed and focused on fighting drugs.
Mr. Fujino pointed out that poppy eradication depends on sustainable alternative development.
"This is exactly what was successful here in Thailand. Without this, two things can happen: either the farmers will have to go back to growing opium poppy, which we can't accept, or families will disappear because of poverty - a humanitarian disaster which we can't accept either.
"What is necessary is that the farmers receive assistance for an alternative means of livelihood. This is the real issue, in Myanmar as well as Laos."
Mr Fujino repeatedly expressed concern about the spread of ATS in East Asia and the Pacific, and in Southeast Asia in particular, despite an intensified campaign against their abuse.
"Over the past years the nature of drug abuse in Southeast Asia has seen a number of dynamic shifts. Two of the most critical changes to affect the region have been the emergence of ATS and the high rates of HIV among drug abusers, especially those injecting drugs.
Reiterating that according to the best information available Thailand itself is not a producer of methamphetamine, Mr. Fujino said that nonetheless the number of clandestine drug laboratories manufacturing methamphetamines has increased in the region. He attributed this to a lack of resources faced by some governments.
Mr Fujino said HIV is a major concern of UNODC globally.
"We now have a very large HIV prevention programme in connection with drug abuse. We have significant concerns about HIV transmission within prisons. Our programme works with governments to introduce comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care services within prison settings." The regional HIV team was established in 2006 and is based in Bangkok, with five fulltime staff.
Mr Fujino said the UNODC doesn't "do cases".
"We do not have law enforcement capabilities. We raise the capacity of law enforcement agencies and provide an enabling environment. For instance, through the ASEAN and China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs (ACCORD) mechanism we have initiated a regional joint initiative on ATS, facilitating joint law enforcement operations. Then we have held a number of close sessions in which the law enforcement investigators gather to share and to investigate possibilities for joint operations possibilities," Mr. Fujino said.
ACCORD member countries shared operational intelligence, and a list of target cases - including ongoing transnational ATS-related cases, drug syndicates and fugitives - was drawn up and made a priority.
The UNODC also works to support drug data information systems, increase capacity for treatment and rehabilitation, reduce HIV/Aids vulnerability, facilitate regional initiatives in addressing synthetic drugs and precursors control, assist communities in achieving sustainable alternative development, forge partnerships against the threats of transnational terrorism, organised crime, corruption, and money laundering, and support victims of human trafficking.
Since its inception in 1998, the UNODC's regional "Computer-based Training" (CBT) has been continuously adapted and expanded to meet the needs of the law enforcement community. CBT, which consists of standardised interactive and self-paced training modules, provides learning experience on a one-on-one basis. The programmes have progressively moved from a drug perspective to a broader coverage and now embrace issues related to crime and corruption, following the expanding UNODC mandate.
The UNODC now has a battery of 76 CBT modules, including one on human trafficking, delivered in 16 languages to 52 countries. These modules are being implemented in 300 training centres around the world. Of them, 94 are located in East Asia and the Pacific. The significant impact of CBT was recognised in February 2007, when the programme received the UN21 Award from the United Nations Secretary-General, in the categories of "substantial programmes and individual productivity".
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