S/PV.6157 Security Council

I thank Mr. Djinnit for his briefing. I now give the floor to Mr. Antonio Maria Costa. Mr. Costa: Let me start by congratulating the Council, and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ambassador Djinnit, because, during the past three years, I have brought to the Council’s attention — in this very Chamber — the threat posed by drug trafficking to the security of West Africa. All concerned have responded pro-actively. Today, I am pleased to report, on the basis of the evidence that was disclosed in the World Drug Report a few weeks ago, that the volume of drug trafficking through the region of West Africa seems to be diminishing, and significantly so. It is evident from the lower volume of seizures in West Africa — there have been none, zero, in 2009 so far — and from the sharp decline in the number of air couriers coming from West Africa to Europe. That decline has been major — about a 35 per cent drop over a few months. Again, I congratulate Member States in the region, the Security Council, the Peacebuilding Commission, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Special Representative for responding so effectively to the crisis. Of course, the situation remains very volatile. Around 20 tons of cocaine are still transiting through the region every year, valued at about $1 billion at its destination, mostly the European market. There is no guarantee, therefore, that the downward trend will continue. Recent upheavals in Guinea-Bissau and in Guinea show that there are powerful forces with a stake in illicit activity. Until the underlying conditions of vulnerability in the region — poverty, underdevelopment and inadequate governance — are addressed, the region will remain attractive to those who operate outside the law and abuse authority for personal gain. There are also other risks. First, we know that drug trafficking is being displaced from West Africa to the Sahel in North Africa, and especially down the south-west coast, towards Southern Africa. Traffickers are simply diversifying the routes, having met opposition in West Africa. Secondly and more important, drugs are not the only illicit flows or the only illicit activity. Today, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is releasing a threat assessment on transnational trafficking in West Africa. I think it has been distributed to Council members. It is a brand-new document, not yet released to the press. It contains a great deal of data and many graphs, showing that West Africa is still under attack by smugglers of arms, people, counterfeit medicines, toxic waste, cigarettes and oil and other natural resources. In short, organized crime makes West Africa much more prone to political instability and, of course, much less able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. As Ambassador Djinnit has already mentioned, in order to tackle the threat posed by organized crime, UNODC has teamed up with the Department for Political Affairs, Ambassador Djinnit’s United Nations Office for West Africa, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the International Criminal Police Organization to support the action plan of the Economic Community of West African States against drugs and crime, the implementation of which is to be monitored by the Security Council. We are establishing transnational crime units in Guinea- Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire to complement peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts. I believe that to be innovative and promising as well. My Office is also providing technical assistance to strengthen criminal justice and crime-fighting capacity, for example in Cape Verde and Guinea- Bissau, and soon in Mali and Sierra Leone. Our support for the judicial police in Guinea-Bissau has been instrumental in assisting the commission investigating the killings of the President and the chief of army. Working together with DPKO — and this is something that is new for us — we have put police advisors on the ground. But much more is needed throughout the region to support the process of security-sector reform. Too often, the monopoly that a State has on the use of force is abused for the enrichment of a select few. Indeed, the recent military and other coups underline the need for civilian oversight of armed forces and for the restoration of the constitutional order, as we are now seeing in Mauritania. Affected States also need the hardware to confront criminal groups, which are often better equipped than the police itself, or even the army. A number of West African presidents and senior ministers have appealed to have their countries provided with the means to protect their borders, their coasts and their airspace. I urge all members of the Council to answer that call and to provide the hardware, patrol boats, helicopters and radar that are desperately needed to defend the sovereignty of those countries against the onslaught of organized crime. The bottom line is to strengthen the rule of law in West Africa. That is vital for efforts to reduce vulnerability to organized crime and the corruption that enables it. I urge the Governments of the region to implement United Nations conventions against corruption and organized crime. In conclusion, I invite all the members of the Council to put the situation in West Africa in a global perspective. We must not overlook the fact that most illicit activity is only transiting via West Africa. It is not originating there and it is not ending there. Rich countries, particularly in Europe, should assume their responsibilities by curbing their appetite for drugs — as indeed drugs transiting through West Africa are bound for Europe — cheap labour and the human beings who are modern-day slaves being smuggled through the region. In particular, my Office is asking rich countries to stop using West Africa as a dumping ground for weapons, waste and fake medicines. The report to which I just referred includes some terrible statistics pertaining to oil bunkering, which derives from the theft of 10 per cent of the region’s oil output, as well as to sources of pollution, corruption and revenues for insurgents. Eighty per cent of the cigarettes marketed in North and West Africa is of illicit origin. Fifty to 60 per cent of all medications used in West Africa is counterfeit or substandard. Africa is a major destination for electronic waste, including old computers and telephones. A good percentage of European e-waste, in fact 8.7 million tons, goes to Africa. All of that must come to an end. I began by thanking and congratulating all the members of the Council, for our experience has shown that joint action can indeed contain crime. In addition to the statistics I have just reported, we have seen that success with the Kimberly Process against blood diamonds and the Bamako Convention on hazardous wastes. We hope to see the same results with the Praia process against drug trafficking. Let us therefore unite to disrupt other forms of illicit activity, which are causing so much pain in Africa. I thank the Council for its support.

I thank Mr. Costa for his briefing. In accordance with the understanding reached in the Council’s prior consultations, I now invite Council members to informal consultations to continue our discussion on the subject.