Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has called on the OAS to formulate new approaches to battling drugs, arguing that policies centred around “eradication and interdiction are doomed to fail”.
Rodrigues-Birkett yesterday addressed the 43rd Regular General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and her remarks echoed the growing chorus of voices in Latin America in recent years that what is largely seen as the American model for tackling narcotics has failed and is doing untold damage to nations that grow coca and those on transit routes.
The Foreign Minister’s remarks were delivered in Guatemala, whose President Otto Perez has championed the reforming of prohibitionist drug laws. He has argued that this would reduce violence in his country by 50 percent.
Addressing the assembly in the city of Antigua, the minister noted that the topic of discussion `For a Comprehensive Policy Against the World Drug Problem in the Americas’ is of extraordinary significance. Rodrigues-Birkett said that her delegation welcomes the report which has been produced by the OAS on the Drug Problem in the Hemisphere and congratulated the OAS for preparing it.
She declared “It boggles the mind that a kilogramme of cocaine paste which can be purchased at the source of production for US$650 can be converted to two kilos with a value of US$330,000 at the point of retail sale. Of the revenues and profits from the drug trade 1% goes to farmers and producers in source countries and 65% goes to retailers. Drugs flow in one direction while guns and money flow in the other. Cracking down with new technology and more advanced equipment only pushes the traffickers ahead one step further.”
The minister argued that as with any other commodity as long as demand exists, risks will be taken to manufacture drugs. Therefore, she argued that drug policies focused on eradication and interdiction are bound to fail.
“Leaving the economics aside, the drug trade has enormous consequences for public safety, public health, good governance, social and economic development as well as human rights. In addition to increased social problems from the drug trade, something not often discussed is the degradation of the environment. Imagine that the production of one kilogramme of methamphetamine produces 5 to 6 kilos of toxic waste. Right here in Guatemala some 40,000 hectares of forest in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve have been lost due to the activities of drug traffickers”, Rodrigues-Birkett lamented.
She posited that in many places “criminal factions have forged ties with local political and economic sectors leading to the penetration of national institutions, influence peddling and the manipulation of agencies, with concomitant effects on democratic governance”.
This is one of the accusations that had been levelled against the Guyana Government in relation to notorious drug lord Roger Khan who is now in a US jail following a drug trafficking conviction. In addition to building a big drug business, a gang associated with him was seen as being responsible for hundreds of murders.
The foreign minister added that the growth of impunity places an extra strain on overburdened law enforcement and judicial sectors.
“Let us also keep in mind the strengthening of transnational criminal networks, giving rise to an expansion of their activities into other types of crime including the trafficking of persons, arms and even human organs”, she noted.
“Above all, Mr. Chairman, what is of overriding significance, is that the process which generates the maximum crime and violence is the transit of drugs, and it is this phase of the activity which poses the greatest public security challenges.
“A country such as Guyana, sparsely populated, with intricate river networks, porous land borders, outlying ports of entry and challenges to its security sector capacity will be a magnet for traffickers. Surely, countries who neither produce nor consume drugs are entitled to the fullest possible cooperation from producers and consumers in order to combat this dreaded scourge”, the foreign minister declared.
While recognizing drug-fighting measures adopted so far, she argued that it must be conceded that at the national, regional and hemispheric levels these have not worked and it is necessary to formulate new ones.
“It is time to recognize and to admit frankly that the challenges involved in combatting the hydra headed effects of the drug trade, are goals whose attainment are receding over an ever distant horizon; and that in order to rekindle optimism our policies and strategies must change. Among these strategies, the treatment of offenders and the reduction of demand must be critically examined”, she stated.
In his opening address to the assembly OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza had said:
“The historic nature of this General Assembly lies in the fact that it is opening a debate that was not previously possible. The interest generated by the OAS Report on the Drug Problem is that it is ending a decades-long taboo that placed certain topics off-limits for discussion at the highest level as a matter of public policy in the political organs of the inter-American system.
“Today, we are bringing legitimacy to that debate, in a transparent manner, convinced that it can pave the way for action to reduce the levels of crime and violence that plague many of our countries and help reduce the serious ravages to health caused by drug addiction, particularly among our youth.
“However, the drug problem is a challenge to our public health policies, which are inadequate to address the tragedy of drug addiction. This means that individuals suffering from this addiction are still treated as criminals rather than as sick people who need specialized care. Drugs destroy lives and families and pose serious dangers to our social cohesion. This must be taken into account by caring for those who suffer from addiction. Illicit drug trafficking by criminal organizations is one of the main sources of the violence and fear that concern everyone in the Americas.
“Therefore, it is also the key security issue for the Hemisphere that we need to tackle more efficiently and to greater effect in terms of achieving results. A public-health approach and violence reduction should be the main guidelines in our endeavours.”
He pointed out that the General Secretariat assumed the mandate issued by Heads of State and Government in the two dimensions in which it was issued. He said that the Report on the Drug Problem in the Americas achieves both those things:
“It is an Analytical Report, which describes the drug issue in its entirety: cultivation, production, transit, sales, and consumption, including moreover three crosscutting topics of critical importance: the effects of drugs on human health, the problem of violence associated with drugs and the drug economy, and the value chain that unifies the entire process along each of its stages, including money laundering.
“And it is a Scenarios Report; four scenarios on what the future of drugs might hold in store, which are based on four distinct perceptions of the problem. We shall say, once again, that none of these scenarios is advocated or prophesied by the OAS: they are not what will necessarily occur, or what we might want to occur; they are possible, credible, and relevant scenarios, which our authorities can use as they wish in their discussions.
“The drug problem affects all countries, all of which have shared responsibilities. But the study of its different phases clearly concludes that this common problem has very diverse effects on the reality of the different countries and regions.
“What is needed to tackle it appropriately is a highly flexible, multifaceted approach that takes different realities into account, and above all the conviction that, to be successful, we must maintain unity in diversity”, Insulza said.
