EU Presidency Statement - Crime prevention and criminal justice, International drug control

Madam/Mr Chairperson,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

Agenda item: crime prevention and criminal justice

Chairperson,

Crime poses a grave threat to the political, social and economic fabric of our society; it impairs sustainable development and poverty reduction, distorts social systems and undermines legitimate economic activity. The EU, therefore, places a high priority on countering the serious challenges posed by crime in all its forms, while underlining this should be done with full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and in accordance with international human rights law. It is also important to recognise that crime often is a serious consequence of poverty, marginalisation and inequity world-wide. Therefore, these underlying causes need to be tackled to reach sustainable development at local and global levels. The EU further underlines the role of the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme in fostering international cooperation in this field, in particular through its technical cooperation capacity. This role should be further strengthened and supported.

Developing the Union as an area of freedom, security and justice is a core objective of the EU. Therefore, among other measures, the Union adopted a number of framework decisions in areas such as trafficking in human beings, cyber crime and confiscation of the proceeds of organised crime. Efforts to ensure an even higher level of co-operation on police, customs and judicial matters are ongoing.

Chairperson,

The European Union fully recognises the key role which international cooperation must play in combating international crime. Therefore in our intervention last year we warmly welcomed the entry into force of the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime as the first legally binding UN instrument in the field of organised crime. We are very pleased that both the Protocol on trafficking in persons and the Protocol on Smuggling of Migrants also entered into force in the intermittent period. We hope that the Protocol on Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms will follow suit.

I am pleased to inform you that a considerable number of EU countries [as well as candidate and SAP countries] have ratified the Convention and its Protocols and I can assure you of our commitment to complete the ratification process as soon as possible. The European Union would like to reiterate its call of last year on all States that have not yet done so, to ratify or accede to and implement the Convention and its additional Protocols at the earliest possible date.

Given that implementing and monitoring the convention and its protocols is of key importance, the EU was actively involved in the drafting of the Rules of Procedures for the Conference of Parties of the TOC in Vienna in February 2004. We also actively participated in the first Conference of Parties of the TOC, which took place in Vienna from 28th June to 8 July. The EU welcomes the adoption of the programme of work for the next session of the Conference of Parties in 2005.

Noting the corrosive effect that corruption has on democracy, development, the rule of law and economic activity the General Assembly in 2000 recognised that an effective international legal instrument against corruption, independent of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime was desirable. The EU actively participated in the negotiations and welcomes the signing of the Convention against Corruption in Mérida, Mexico, in December 2003. The Convention sets new global standards and opens new avenues for genuine international cooperation in the fight against corruption. The countries of the European Union strive to sign, ratify and implement the Convention as soon as possible and calls upon all States that have not yet done so to do the same in order for the Convention to enter into force and prove fruitful without delay. The EU is willing to assist third countries, particularly developing countries, in implementing the objectives of the convention.

The EU welcomes the results of the 13th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, in which the importance of the link between the rule of law and development was outlined in the thematic debate. The EU supports the draft programme of work of the Eleventh United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The EU is of the opinion that this Crime Congress provides an important opportunity to exchange views and experiences and to identify emerging trends and issues in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice and looks forward to actively participating in the discussions. The single declaration that the Congress will adopt, should contain recommendations for consideration by the Crime Commission at its subsequent sessions and address issues of global relevance and should be concise and aspirational in tone.

The EU attaches great importance to international and regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism. The EU actively supports and participates in the counter-terrorism activities carried out in the UN. Universal implementation of Resolution 1373 and other Security Council resolutions on counter-terrorism is a matter of continuing priority. The EU will continue to support the CTC, the 1267-Committee and the Terrorism Prevention Branch of the UNODC, in their efforts in global counter-terrorism. The Union strongly believes that the 12 UN conventions and protocols on terrorism- and their implementation- play a central role in the fight against terrorism. The EU member states are committed to the ratification and rapid implementation of all these conventions. In this respect the EU recalls that reservations against core articles of these legal instruments are not helpful and diminish their effectiveness. The EU also continues to support the conclusion of the negotiations on the draft Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism, and the adoption of the draft International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism.

Agenda item: international drug control

Chairperson,

It is clear that tackling the world drug problem requires strong commitment at national, regional and multilateral level. An integrated and balanced approach involving both supply and demand reduction, governmental and non-governmental actors is essential in order to counter production, trafficking and consumption of drugs.

The 2004 World Drug Report presented by the UNODC Executive Director noted that the total number of drug users is estimated to be 185 million, equivalent to 3% of the global population. It is a phenomenon that no country is spared from. Attention to demand reduction programmes -reduction of drug use and its related negative consequences- therefore needs to stay a priority. In this regard, the EU welcomes the launching of the yearlong campaign 'drugs: treatment works' on the occasion of the international day against drugs and the launching of the world drug report.

Demand reduction, in all its components, should remain a priority. In particular, primary prevention of drug use, which should be based on sound scientific evidence, is key and must be pursued through all available activities and tools. Furthermore, the availability of treatment should be improved. And finally, as far as drug addicts and problematic users are concerned, specific activities should be carried out with a view to reducing drug-related health and social consequences.

The EU is also concerned about the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases among injecting drug users. The issue must be addressed through a broad spectrum of responses including drug dependence treatment, outreach work, information on harm reduction, voluntary counselling and testing, treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and interventions for special at risk populations. These interventions should aim at stopping or reducing drug use, drug dependence as well as its related negative consequences.

The EU welcomes the efforts undertaken by relevant UN organisations to study the effectiveness of drug related HIV/AIDS prevention programmes and looks forward to a progress report at the next session of the CND on this issue as well as on the setting up of guidelines for psychosocially assisted pharmacological treatment of persons dependent on opioids.

In order to set up evidence based programmes and evaluate effectiveness, the collection of accurate and comparable data is obviously essential. The EU welcomes the efforts of the UNODC to establish key indicators -used as a reference to measure progress, to improve measurability and understanding of the data concerning illicit drug use.

The EU is concerned by the escalation of the problem of illicit supply of, trafficking in and diversion of synthetic drugs, which are harmful to public health and whose demand is prevalent among young persons. In this respect, the EU welcomes the UNODC publication of the report Ecstasy and Amphetamines, Global Survey 2003, which provides a first quantitative assessment of the extent of this emerging problem.

With regard to supply reduction efforts, the issues of concern identified at the 20th special session of the GA on the world drug problem: judicial and law enforcement cooperation, money laundering, illicit crop eradication and alternative development as well specific attention to the illicit manufacture, and trafficking of amphetamine type stimulants and their precursors, unfortunately remain very relevant. In this regard the EU remains concerned about the connections between drug trafficking, organised crime and, to some extent, the financing of terrorism.

With regard to supply reduction efforts, the EU in recent years not only intensified its law enforcement cooperation between Member States, but also with other countries and international organisations. Examples of the first are the European Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, European Arrest Warrant and the Framework decision laying down the constituent elements of criminal acts and penalties in the field of illicit drug trafficking. An example of the latter is the cooperation agreement signed in March of this year between Europol and UNODC.

The World Drug Report mentions the need to address the drug problem in a broader sustainable development context. This is all too clear for the case of Afghanistan where fostering peace and stability, reconstruction and counter narcotics activities need to go hand in hand in order to be able to achieve sustainable progress in any of these areas. The EU welcomes the active involvement of UNODC in supporting Afghanistan's counter narcotics efforts and echoes the Berlin declaration call for a stronger involvement of the international community to reduce opium production and trafficking in the country. However, not only in Afghanistan but throughout the world the UN, other international institutions as well as Member States should mainstream drug control issues into their development programmes.

The European Union is strongly attached to the international drug control treaties and supports the work of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to ensure compliance by States Parties to the treaties. The work done by the INCB on preventing the diversion of precursor chemicals is important. In this regard the EU wishes to express its support for the efforts of the INCB to strengthen the systems of control over chemical precursors and preventing their diversion and trafficking and stresses the need to make available the necessary financial resources for the INCB to effectively continue its work under Operation Purple, Operation Topaz and Project Prism.

Chairperson,

In the EU we are currently working on a new EU drugs strategy for the coming years. I can assure you that the framework and priorities proposed for this strategy are fully in line with the principles set out in the 20th Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to the world drug problem. Based on a balanced and integrated approach, the EU will inter alia put emphasis on tackling transnational organised criminal groups involved in drug production and trafficking and on exchanging best practices to reduce drug use, drug dependence and drug related health and social consequences. In the area of international cooperation the EU will certainly remain committed to active participation in international, regional and bilateral cooperation to tackle the drug problem, including through support for the work of UNODC.

Finally, Mr Chairperson,

The EU would like to commend the work of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The EU strongly supports the efforts of the Office to tackle the threats to sustainable development and human security posed by drugs, crime and terrorism.

We welcome the formal approval of the new structure of the Office, which integrates the counter-narcotics programme and the former Crime Centre in one Office and we trust this will lead to further synergies between the programmes. We encourage the Executive Director to continue his ongoing efforts for management and operational reform in the Organisation.

In this context we welcome the establishment of the independent evaluation function and the introduction of evaluation as an integral part of project design, monitoring and implementation. We would like to encourage the ED's efforts to integrate the results based management systems in the policies of the Office and look forward to the further development of more concrete indicators.

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