Amity International Model United Nations

2015
Economic and Social Council

AGENDA
Combating illicit production and trafficking of drugs in Asia

Economic and Social Council

Letter from the Executive Board

Dear delegates,
On behalf of the Executive Board, I welcome you to the Economic And Social Council of
Amity International Model United Nations (AMIMUN '15). The agenda for the councils
discussion shall be Combating illicit production and trafficking of drugs in Asia.
The study guide merely provides an overview or an introduction to the agenda and therefore
it is requested of you all to use the guide as one of the means to your research. It will be
appreciated if you venture out to more sources while reading about the agenda.
It is often observed that we prepare a lot about the agenda but completely lose focus on the
committees mandate and the working mechanism of the United Nations. So I suggest you all
to start with the functioning of the United Nations in implementation of various policies and
utilise this knowledge in devising way to combat drugs.
Finally, while foreign policy is an important aspect of the discussion, please keep in mind that
foreign policy is highly dynamic and is influenced by the agenda being discussed in the
committee. I will leave you with the last suggestion to not rely on the stereotypes of foreign
policy which we presume at conferences and actually read your countrys perspectives and
relation in context of the Economic and Social Council and the Drug trafficking.
Looking forward to your participation at the conference!
Thank you
Keshav Gupta
President
Eklavya Malvai
Vice President
Shreya Gupta
Rappoteur

Economic and Social Council

Economic and Social Social

The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of the United Nations six main bodies.
Its annual sessions are held in New York and Geneva. ECOSOC deals with the worlds
economic, social environmental challenges. It coordinates the UNs work on these topics and
aims to enhance living conditions worldwide by issuing respective policy recommendations
to member states.
The functions and powers of the Economic and Social Council are stipulated in Chapter X of
the Charter of the United Nations. The complete text of the UN Charter is accessible at:
http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/index.html.
ECOSOC has 54 member Governments which are elected for three-year terms by the General
Assembly. Seats on the Council are allotted based on geographical representation with
fourteen allocated to African States, eleven to Asian States, six to Eastern European States,
ten to Latin American and Caribbean States, and thirteen to Western European and other
States. The current membership is posted at the ECOSOC Members page.
Due to its broad spectrum of responsibilities, about 70 % of the UNs human and financial
resources are managed by ECOSOC. To fulfill its tasks, ECOSOC employs a variety of
special agencies, functional and regional commissions. Each year, a third of ECOSOCs
members are newly elected by the General Assembly. Re-elections are not only allowed, but
also very common, and some states have been working in the committee continuously for
several decades. Resolutions passed by ECOSOC are not binding under international law.
They are merely recommendations to the respective states and to the GA.

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Agenda - Combating illicit production and trafficking of drugs in

Asia
The end of the Cold War may have heralded an end to certain tensions, but among other
unforeseen effects it also precipitated a significant increase in the flow of illegal drugs across
traditional national boundaries. International travel has become easier in an increasingly
borderless world, andalthough international drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) have
never respected national boundariesnewly globalized markets for drug production and
exportation, along with changing patterns of consumption in some societies, have had an
enormous impact on drug trafficking. In short, the global market for illicit drugs, and the
capacity of providers to deliver to this market, is expanding inexorably around the world.
The international community first took an interest in the Asian drug trade at the beginning of
the 20th century. The Shanghai Opium Commission in 1909 was the first attempt at
regulating drug trade in the region, as countries including the United States, Great Britain,
China, Japan, and Russia convened to discuss the growing trafficking of opium. Since then,
numerous measures have been adopted by individual countries and collectively to curb the
illegal drug trade. This has been especially true since the launch of the war on drugs. In
spite of these enhanced efforts, the global opiate market has nevertheless exhibited increased
growth since 1980. Data gathered by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) indicate global opium production increased by close to 80 percent between 1998
and 2009. The UNODC reports that nearly all of the worlds illicit opium and heroin
production is concentrated in Afghanistan, South-East Asia (mostly Myanmar) and Latin
America (Mexico and Colombia). Afghanistan stands out among this group, accounting for
around 90 percent of global illicit opium production in recent years. Upwards of 90 percent
of the global heroin and morphine production is provided by Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Clearly, the global opiate market has neither been eliminated nor significantly reduced since
1998.

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Issue in Central and East Asia

Central Asia
The region of Central Asia has dealt with transnational crime involving the illicit trafficking
of small arms, narcotics, and humans for many years. Of these, the illicit trafficking of
narcotics continues to be a systematic burgeoning problem. Through various treaties and
custom the international community has established many legal standards in the hope of
eradicating this magnifying drug menace and reducing this increasing global conundrum.
Afghanistan has dominated the worldwide opium market for more than a decade. In 2009, the
total quantity of opium produced in that country was 6,900 metric tons, accounting for 90 per
cent of global supply. Afghan heroin feeds a global market worth some $55 billion annually,
and most of the profits of the trade are made outside Afghanistan. Afghanistan and its
neighbours are affected by trafficking as the drugs are moved to their key destination markets
of Western Europe and the Russian Federation. About a third of the heroin produced in
Afghanistan is transported to Europe via the Balkan route, while a quarter is trafficked north
to Central Asia and the Russian Federation along the northern route. Afghan heroin is also
increasingly meeting a rapidly growing share of Asian demand. Approximately 15-20 metric
tons are estimated to be trafficked to China, while a further 35 metric tons are trafficked to
other South and South-East Asian countries. Some 35 metric tons are thought to be shipped to
Africa, while the remainder supplies markets in other parts of Asia, North America and
Oceania.

Focusing on Central Asia, the demand for respective seizures of illicit drugs primarily
concern opioids due to the regions proximity to Afghanistan, which has remained the global
leader in production and cultivation of opium for more than a decade.

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With rapid development of transformation laboratories in Central Asia, criminal organisations

are able to amass enormous profits locally before shipping products onwards to Russia and
Europe.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Drugs Board
(INCB) that as much as 25 percent of Afghan heroin is transported through Central Asia via
the Northern route onto the Russian Federation. Other agencies have added that there are ten
main trafficking routes that make up this northern route, six of which run through the city
of Osh in Kyrgyzstan. This area has criminal networks within the three neighbouring
provinces of the Osh province of Kyrgyzstan, Murgab district in Tajikistan, and the Andjian
province in Azbekistan which share a common border among the three states.
It is necessary to deconstruct the conflation of drug trafficking and Islamist insurgency.
Indeed, in Afghanistan, drug trafficking has become an official activity as muchif not more
than it is an insurgent one. According to UNODC figures, in 2009 Afghan traffickers made
an estimated $2.2 billion in profits, while insurgent groups made only $155 million. A similar
profit-sharing proportion exists in Central Asia, where experts tend to separate the drug trade
into three different types represented by the colours- green, black, and red.

Green refers to trafficking organized by clandestine Islamist movements to selffinance their operations. Its share of total drug profits is relatively low.
Black consists of the trafficking of minimal quantities by small criminal groups or
individuals at high personal risk (concealing drugs on their body or in clothing,
suitcases, and so on) in order to supply local markets.
Red refers to the largest share of the drug trade, organized by larger criminal
structures with the support of some senior officials.

The distinction between the black and red types of drug trafficking is sometimes
ambiguous. In particular, the relevant mechanisms of corruption in law enforcement agencies,
border guards in particular, can appear to be the same. However, two differences may be
observed. First, black trafficking involves far more limited quantities than the red one.
Second, black trafficking presupposes corruption at lower echelons of the administrative
chain and depends on the clandestine transportation of drugs. Red trafficking, on the other
hand, is based on a well-structured pyramidal hierarchy that guarantees the smooth operation
of the transport chain and distribution network.
National drug fighting agencies in Central Asia, which often act only under pressure from the
international community, exclusively target the black and green sectors, leaving the red one
totally untouched. On the rare occasions when red trafficking is uncovered, this is typically
assumed to reflect the settling of scores among elites who have just had a political or
commercial rival struck down. In Tajikistan, the fact that members of the presidential family
are at the head of national agencies confirms the eminently political nature of these intuitions.
According to a United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP) report for 1997, Burma and
Afghanistan were the worlds largest producers of illicit opiates and together accounted for 80
percent of the territory and 90 percent of the quantity of illicit opium production. Opium

Economic and Social Council

poppy cultivation in southwest Asia increased in 1999 as a result of greater cultivation in

Afghanistan, which has now surpassed Burma as the worlds leading producer of the drug.
At the UNDCP-approved conversion rate of 10:1, this also implies a production of about 460
tons of heroin. As the illicit demand for heroin in the United Kingdom or Italy is about eight
tons per year, 10 one can get some sense of just how vast a demand this amount of heroin can
meet.
East Asia
At current levels, world heroin consumption (340 tons) and seizures represent an annual flow
of 430-450 tons of heroin into the global heroin market. Of that total, opium from Myanmar
and the Lao People's Democratic Republic yields some 50 tons, while the rest, some 380 tons
of heroin and morphine, is produced exclusively from Afghan opium. While approximately 5
tons are consumed and seized in Afghanistan, the remaining bulk of 375 tons is trafficked
worldwide via routes flowing into and through the countries neighboring Afghanistan.
The Balkan and northern routes are the main heroin trafficking corridors linking Afghanistan
to the huge markets of the Russian Federation and Western Europe. The Balkan route
traverses the Islamic Republic of Iran (often via Pakistan), Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria
across South-East Europe to the Western European market, with an annual market value of
some $20 billion. The northern route runs mainly through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (or
Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan) to Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. The size of that
market is estimated to total $13 billion per year.
Myanmar
The UNODC report, Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2013 - Lao PDR, Myanmar, says that,
despite eradication efforts, higher yields combined with a rise in cultivation saw Myanmar
opium production increase 26 per cent in 2013 to an estimated 870 tones - the highest since
assessments by UNODC and the Myanmar Government began in 2002.
Afghanistan
Opiates originating in Afghanistan threaten the health and well-being of people in many
regions of the world. Their illicit trade also adversely impacts governance, security, stability
and developmentin Afghanistan, in its neighbors, in the broader region and beyond.
Addressing afghan opium and insecurity will help the entire region, with ripples effect that
spread much farther. Enhancing security, the rule of law and rural development are all
necessary to achieve sustainable results in reducing poppy cultivation and poverty in
Afghanistan.

Lao-PDR

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Drug control has long been an issue in the Lao PDR. In 1998, the country ranked as the world
third largest illicit opium producer (UNODC Opium Survey, 1998). At the time, the Lao PDR
also had one of highest opium addiction rates in the world. However, and due to the
Government's strong commitment to address the issue, from 1998 to 2005, opium cultivation
was effectively reduced by 94 percent and opium addiction by 80 percent. In 2006, the Lao
PDR declared its success in significantly reducing opium poppy cultivation.
Vietnam
Recently, UNODC trained 42 Vietnamese officers from Police, Border Guards and Customs
Authority in two anti-smuggling seminars. Held in cooperation with the Vietnam Standing
Office on Drugs and Crime as part of the Border Liaison Office mechanism, the two seminars
took place in Quang Tri and in Dien Bien Provinces. The seminars provided participants with
a refresher in basic enforcement techniques including surveillance, interviewing and
searching. They also allowed participants to discuss more advanced investigative practices
tied to multi-agency cooperation, and the use of internet and intelligence reports.
While heroin remains the most widely used illicit drug in Viet Nam, the amphetamine-type
stimulants (ATS) market continues to expand and diversify, with a 65 per cent increase in the
country's methamphetamine pill seizures in 2011, according to the UNODC World Drug
Report 2013.
Cambodia
The trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs is a significant and worsening problem in Cambodia,
particularly the use of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS). Methamphetamine pills are the
most widely used drug in Cambodia, although crystalline methamphetamine, more easily
accessible, is on the rise. Recent consensus between the Royal Government of Cambodia and
technical partners suggests that approximately 13,000 people use drugs in Cambodia, 77 per
cent of whom are below 26 years of age. In response to this concern, the pilot phase of
Cambodia's UNODC-supported Community-Based Drug Treatment (CBT) programme was
launched in 2010 in Banteay Meanchey Province to provide drug users with voluntary, costeffective, and rights-based drug treatment and care services in their communities.
Indonesia
The border between Indonesia and Timor Leste is vulnerable to migrant smuggling, human
trafficking, drug trafficking and wildlife and timber trafficking. Since the withdrawal of UN
peacekeeping forces in Timor-Leste and the subsequent handover from UN Police to the
National Police of East Timor in 2012, Timor-Leste's border patrol unit has had a broad and
challenging task. Crossing the land border at official border stations between Indonesia and
Timor-Leste is not considered a realistic option for many people. Not only is it an expensive
venture for many, but acquiring the necessary passports and visas can be a lengthy process.
This leads many local people to opt for crossing at uncontrolled sections of the border, where
their illegitimate status and fear of being caught makes them vulnerable to exploitation.

United Nations Response to the issues of Drug Trafficking

Economic and Social Council

Effective border control is a key element in tackling transnational organized crime. In the
coming decade, export-driven growth and major regional infrastructure upgrades in Southeast
Asia, including those associated with the ASEAN 2015 Connectivity Master Plan, will
concentrate resources along development corridors. While this will boost economic growth
and lower overall trade costs, it will also provide increased opportunities for organized
criminal groups to traffic illicit goods and smuggle across the region's borders. As part of its
fight against transnational organized crime, UNODC works to strengthen border management
and cross-border collaboration in the region. It does this by working with member states to
enhance cross-border cooperation, improve border agencies' capabilities to collect, analyze
and disseminate information, and by providing training programmes to enhance staff
knowledge and skills.
The project "Consolidation and Enhancement of the Border Liaison Office Mechanism
(BLO) in East Asia" aims to increase institutional capacity within the region to combat the
trafficking of drugs and chemicals used in the manufacture of illicit drugs (precursors).
Traffickers transport drugs to the consumers using those routes where they believe the least
risk of detection exists. This translates into the locations where law enforcement is either
weak, compromised or cooperation is minimal. Thus, improving the capability of law
enforcement institutions throughout the region to interdict the flow of illicit drugs will help
halt the transport of illicit drugs in the region.
"Support to Improved Security by Provision of Capacity Building to the Jakarta Centre for
Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC)" aims to improve the capacity of the Indonesian
National Police (INP) in combating organized crime, including drug trafficking. The INP is
the front line agency responsible for combating transnational crime. Thus, addressing its
deficiencies is arguably the most pertinent strategy for improving the Indonesian ability to
counter drug trafficking. UNODC's Computer Based Training on issues such as anti-narcotics
is being used by law enforcement to improve their technical knowledge in tackling the drug
trafficking threat. UNODC has used its Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analysis, Reporting
and Trends (SMART) Programme to work with Governments to develop assess and report
data and information on synthetic drugs, enabling countries to plan prevention and effective
law enforcement responses.
The Regional Programme therefore calls attention to increasing institutional capability for
law enforcement agencies both within and across borders in order to better respond to
transnational drug trafficking and other crimes through capacity building of institutional
actors, promoting cooperation and aligning domestic legislation with international
instruments.

International Law Governing the Control on Drugs

International law governing the control of drugs is composed primarily of UN conventions
and resolutions. The UN conventions with regard to drugs date as far back as The Hague
Convention of 1912.

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The three main conventions that preside over the international control of drugs are:

1. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 (amended in 1971)

2. Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971
3. United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances of 1988

Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 (amended in 1971)

Regarding the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, it is important to highlight that it
was established as a universal system for limiting the cultivation, production, distribution,
trade, use and possession of narcotic substances strictly to medical and scientific purposes
with special emphasis on substances derived from plants: opium/heroin, coca/cocaine and
cannabis.
The Single Convention replaced a full list of existing treaties that had been agreed upon since
The Hague Convention of 1912. It also retained many of the features of these preceding
treaties, notably, that the medical use of narcotic drugs continues to be indispensable for the
relief of pain and suffering and that adequate provision must be made to ensure the
availability of narcotic drugs for such purposes. It also respected the sovereignty of the
member states and maintained the indirect approach of earlier treaties placing obligations on
the parties and monitoring their implementation.
The amended Single Convention also reflected a long-standing habit of the international
community to privilege the supply-side approaches in the belief that this would eliminate
non-medical and non-scientific drug use. However, article 36 added a significant change in
the penal provisions in that the non-executing nature of the Convention leaves the offences
and penalties to be applied up to the parties themselves.
Note: A significant aspect to note about this convention and the subsequent sister
treaties is that none of the scheduled drugs were identified as illegal; hence the drugs
themselves were never prohibited.

Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971

It introduced control on over a hundred Psychotropic drugs distributed into different lists,
i.e., 4 schedules. The 1971 treaty was developed due to the overwhelming diversification of
drug use and implemented weaker controls than imposed on plant-based drugs of the Single
Convention.

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Street drug hallucinogens in Schedule I are strictly controlled and pharmaceuticals included
in Schedules II-IV are much more weakly controlled. The 1971 convention was also designed
to avert the diversion of psychoactive pharmaceutical drugs for illicit (non-medical)
purposes; however its provisions do not allow the monitoring of their international shipments
which are necessary for the prevention of diversion.

United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and

Psychotropic Substances of 1988
It provides special measures against illicit cultivation, production and trafficking of drugs, the
diversion of chemical precursors, as well as agreement of mutual legal assistance, including
extradition. It significantly reinforced the obligations of countries to apply criminal sanctions
to combat all aspects of illicit production, possession and trafficking of drugs.

United Nations General Assembly 20th Special Session

A product of this session, the Political Declaration of the General Assembly in June 1998,
acknowledged, Drugs are a grave threat to the health and well-being of all mankind. In
accordance with the adopted resolutions during its twentieth special session, the General
Assembly established the year 2003 as the target for parties to establish or strengthen their
national legislation and programs, creating the following programs:

Action Plan for the Implementation of the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug
Demand Reduction
Action Plan against Illicit Manufacture, Trafficking and Abuse of Amphetamine-type
Stimulants and Their Precursors
Measures to promote judicial cooperation, the measures to counter money-laundering, and
the Action Plan on International Cooperation on the Eradication of Illicit Drug Crops and on
Alternative Development
The UNSC also adopted various resolutions with respect to the problem of trafficking, such
as UNSCR 1817 (2008), which focuses on Central Asia, highlighting the connection between
Afghan drug production and security, terrorism and organised crime. Explicitly in resolution
1817 the UNSC recalls resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1735 (2006), in both of which the UNSC
acts under Chapter VII to charge all member states with respect to Al-Qaida, Usama bin
Laden, and the Taliban and others associated with them, to seize and deny them all financial
resources related to terrorism, including but not limited to the use of proceeds derived from
illicit cultivation, production, and trafficking of narcotic drugs originating in Afghanistan.

Analysing the Current Frameworks

Over the years, the UN has setup various mechanisms in the form of resolutions, conventions
and other special sessions in order to tackle the ever magnifying issue of drug-trafficking.
These conventions have tried focusing on every aspect yet lacked certainty in their very way
of implementation and functioning due to their ultra broad and vague aspects. The vagueness
is a product of the bargains and the compromises made by the parties negotiating the

12 AMIMUN 2015

provisions of these conventions. Vagueness is also necessary in order to be consistent and be

able to adapt to various legal frameworks of various nations across the globe, an issue that is
particularly relevant for interpretation of provisions that seem to impose the criminalisations
of certain behaviours.
While the vague wording of the conventions may be consistent with global prohibition it also
allows for latitude in interpretation. There are many different, even contradictory
interpretations, of the conventions and it is often difficult, if not impossible, to determine the
right one.
We must recognise that none of the UN drug conventions are self-executing treaties or
treaties of direct applicability. They are all executory treaties, or treaties of indirect
applicability, which means that the provisions of the treaties are implemented only by
incorporating them into domestic law. Thus the interpretation of these treaties must be done
in accordance to respective nations which are coherent to them as well. Despite the primacy
of international law, it cannot be implemented in an un-constitutional manner.
We should also realise that there are some conspicuous differences in the prohibitionist
approaches of the different conventions. Such differences exist between both the Single
Convention and Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. The 1961 and 1971
conventions primarily contain provisions of an administrative nature, in an effort to establish
an international system for controlling the legal production of trade in narcotics and
psychotropic substances. As a result, their penal provisions are of least importance and are
stuck at the end of the conventions.
Crucial interpretative problem is whether 1988 convention intends to apply criminal
measures to combat only drug trafficking, or also the demand sided issue, consumption and
consumers, Although, there is only a little evidence on the assumption that there is no supply
of drugs without demand for them and it should only be a part of criminal policy.
It seems that some latitude to de-penalise consumption-related activities exits under the most
restrictive of the UN conventions. Given the current circumstances and the predominant
approach to the drug problem in UN agencies, one should be happy with regards to the
latitude approach to each problem. Unfortunately, implementation of more rational drug
policies, including not only legalisation but also de-criminalisation would probably require
amending the 1988 convention.

Bibliography

https://www.unodc.org/southeastasiaandpacific/en/frontpage/index.html?tag=DrugsPrecursors
http://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr2014/World_Drug_Report_2014_exsum.pdf
https://www.unodc.org/southeastasiaandpacific/en/2013/12/opium-surveyreport/story.html

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https://www.unodc.org/laopdr/
https://www.unodc.org/southeastasiaandpacific/en/vietnam/2014/10/bordercontrol/story.html
https://www.unodc.org/southeastasiaandpacific/en/vietnam/2013/07/wdd/story.html
UNODC, World Drug Report 2011
UNODC, Drug Trafficking in Central Asia, United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime, accessed January 6, 2012, http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/drugtrafficking/central-asia.html.