EU Presidency Statement - Crime Prevention

Madam President,

I have the honor of speaking on behalf of the European Union and of the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia), Cyprus, Malta, also associated countries, and Norway.

(International drugs control)

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2. Madam Chair, the European Union shares the international community's concern regarding the danger resulting from the production of, trafficking in and consumption of drugs for the health of populations and for the stability of civil societies and of States. It considers that it should pay special attention to the development of synthetic drugs, the reduction in demand and the fight against money laundering, while continuing its efforts to combat illegal trafficking and organized crime.
   
   
3. The unprecedented growth in the production and consumption of synthetic drugs is especially worrying since the public at large are scarcely aware of this threat. Within the European Union an early warning mechanism has been set up to detect new molecules but growth is still continuing. We urge the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the INCB and the UNDCP to concentrate their attention and efforts on these drugs.
   
   
4. Priority on reducing demand should concern not only quantities: we should also focus on the quality of the care provided and adjustment of it to the various types of consumption, and we should evaluate the results obtained with a view to determining best practice. Within the European Union and also in other regions of the world the most widespread system nowadays is multiple substance use, mixing both illegal products such as cannabis or ecstasy and legal products such as alcohol, tobacco or medicinal products. Confronted by this development, our aim is to reduce the risks incurred both by drug addicts and by their close relatives. This type of policy may also help to curb the social exclusion mechanisms linked to drug addiction.
   
   
5. A resolute campaign against money laundering is, in the end, an absolute necessity. The profits accruing from drugs trafficking represent around half of the "dirty money" on a world scale. We cannot both prohibit the use of drugs and tolerate the recycling of traffickers' money: this is a matter of consistency and a common challenge to States. The extreme fluidity of capital requires a determined commitment from States to tackle the phenomenon. The European Union considers in this respect that efforts should be made to ensure that the forty recommendations of the FATF are strictly applied.
   
   
6. Madam Chair, the European Union attaches great importance to all Member States taking account of the conclusions and recommendations of the XXth special session of the General Assembly held in June 1998 in the definition of their national and regional policies to combat drugs. Against this background, the European Union this year adopted a strategy on drugs for the period 2000 to 2004, the priority aims of which are:
   
   
7. To promote a balanced approach between a reduction in the demand for and supply of drugs both within the European Union and in terms of international cooperation, an area in which the concept of shared responsibility should prevail;
   
   
8. To broaden the scope of our discussions and activities to both legal and illegal psycho-active substances;
   
   
9. To develop the collection of objective and reliable data and the evaluation of anti-drugs activities on a European scale.
   
   
10. Madam Chair, these aims also constitute the guidelines for international cooperation by the European Union in the fight against drugs trafficking: action plans have been put in place in recent years with our partners in the Caribbean, Latin America, Southern Africa and Central Asia. On each occasion we have been careful to promote a balance between
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    • reducing supply and demand as well as promoting the integration of drugs policy into the more general policy of development. Each time we have also endeavored to consult as widely as possible with our partners so that these plans are implemented under the best conditions. Today the European Union is turning to its partners in West Africa while the programme with Nigeria and the action plan on drugs are gradually entering the implementation stage. We urge our other partners to direct their efforts as well to a continent in which drugs traffickers are becoming increasingly interested.
      
      
    • (Crime and criminal justice)
    
    
    
11. Madam Chair, the European Union is also determined to boost the United Nations' capacity to combat the spread of modern forms of crime which, at the dawn of the XXIst century, constitute a challenge to the entire international community.
    
    
12. Globalization in fact provides a favorable environment for the emergence or extension of criminal practices (trafficking in firearms, the smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons, crime connected with the use of computer networks, money laundering and corruption). The ensuing threat for the political, economic and social balance of States requires the latter to formulate and put in place global strategies to combat crime.
    
    
13. In this respect the European Union feels it is particularly necessary to establish international legal instruments for promoting cooperation and mutual legal aid between States and for increasing knowledge and understanding of various aspects of crime. The United Nations as a body has a specific role to play in this connection as a result of its universal nature.
    
    
14. Madam Chair, the European Union is pleased that the special committee for drawing up the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three additional protocols has succeeded, as far as the Convention is concerned, in completing its work within the agreed time limits. Member States' willingness to compromise has made it possible to produce a text which is likely to gain the widest possible support without, however, impairing the effectiveness of the instrument. Our ambition should now be to conclude, at the final session of the special committee in October, the negotiation of the additional protocols to the Convention. This achievement, which would bring to a close the negotiation of four complex legal instruments over a two-year period, would constitute a remarkable success for the special committee and the participating Member States.
    
    
15. The adoption of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three additional protocols will represent an important stage in the international fight against organized crime and one of the major results of the 55th General Assembly. To achieve this, and to enable the Convention and its protocols to be signed in Palermo on the scheduled date, the European Union urges the Member States to adopt the relevant draft Resolution without delay when it is submitted in plenary session in November.
    
    
16. The European Union also urges all States to sign, at the next conference in Palermo, and to ratify as soon as possible the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocols.
    
    
17. In addition, the European Union welcomes the outcome of the Xth Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. It is pleased that through the Vienna Declaration on Crime and Justice the States expressed their willingness to develop international cooperation in order to strengthen the means available to combat crime, and invites the States to use this Declaration as a basis in the formulation of their national policies.
    
    (Role of the United Nations)
    
    
18. Madam Chair, the challenges facing the international community as regards drugs trafficking and organized crime call for a response in keeping with the threat. The European Union urges the Member States to strengthen the pre-eminent role of the specialized bodies of the United Nations in the devising and practical implementation of the various components of that response. In this connection it welcomes the remarkable assistance that the International Office for Drug and Crime Prevention has provided.
    
    
19. The European Union hopes that the Member States will continue to contribute, in the framework of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, to discussions on these phenomena and to the quest for suitable responses in terms of legislation and conventions. The next stage will be the negotiation of a United Nations Convention on Corruption. The European Union hopes that the Member States will work on it resolutely.
    
    
20. The European Union finally calls on the Member States to give the INCB, the UNDCP and the ICPC, bodies which play a key role in the coordination of international cooperation in the fight against drugs and crime, the resources they need to pursue their activities.

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