UN Chronicle : Issue 2, 1998 : Contents

Volume XXXV
Number 2 1998

In this Issue ...
Drugs. The World Weighs in to Fight Smoke With Fire

The General Assembly meets (2) to define a precise plan to reduce illicit drug supply and demand. "Alone, no country can hope to stem the drug trade", but, together, the world can, says the Secretary-General (3).

And Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, says (4) "the future is now". The cost of illegal drugs is social, economic—and human (7), and was first addressed (8) in 1909 in Shanghai, China. "Like modern-day Midases, drug syndicates transform a cheap commodity into an almost inconceivably remunerative product", says General Barry R. McCaffrey (10) in Essay. And with drug abuse affecting youth all over the world, (14) where do we turn? In Opinion, (20) Dr. Vis Navaratnam argues for a drug supply and demand strategy focusing on specific targets with clearly defined outcomes. And in The Chronicle Interview, (22) Ambassador Roberta Lajous of Mexico says "it's a moral war we can't afford to lose". The fight has begun in Laos (25) where farmers have begun cultivating asparagus instead of poppy. The United Nations is helping Governments to do what they say, (26) observes Hamid Ghodse, President of the International Narcotics Control Board, in Systemwatch. But money laundering persists (28) as a serious problem; so do synthetic drugs (34) writes Sandeep Chawla. Facts and figures (36) on illicit drug production, trafficking and consumption, with a world map (40-41) showing trafficking routes for cocaine and heroin, and an unofficial lexicon (43) of drug terminology. In 1986, Mauritius was in the throes of an acute drug epidemic when a group of dedicated people set up the Dr. Idrice Goomany Centre, (44) writes Dr. Reychad Abdool in NGOwatch. A harrowing account (46) of actor Peter Greene's descent into addiction, and ultimate triumph, by Mark Ebner. And in First Person (inside front cover), Peter P. describes his own battle.

(This section was researched and coordinated by Russell Taylor.)

Plus ...

File Sheet: A Rome conference is set to consider a draft statute for the International Criminal Court (51).
Peacewatch: The Secretary-General presents a report on Africa to the Security Council. Also, spot stories on peacekeeping missions and peace-related activities (53).
Humanitarianwatch: Reports from Sudan, Liberia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (69).
Costwatch: The Secretary-General reports on the proposed creation of a Development Account. The General Assembly acts on a number of administrative and budgetary resolutions (70).
Rightswatch: The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions reports on the questions of the death penalty in the United States (72).
Healthwatch: Jennifer Mallozi reports on tuberculosis, an illness whose drug-resistant strain is estimated by WHO to have infected some 50 million people (73).
Ecowatch: The world economy has moved to "cruising speed", says a report by the Secretary-General, while the United Nations Energy Statistics Yearbook shows world energy demand up by 9 per cent in 1990-1995 (74). Plus a meeting between the United Nations and Bretton Woods institutions yields "interesting and innovative ideas" (75).
Working Within: Carlos dos Santos reports on the imaginative initiative Fazer launched by the United Nations Information Centre in Lisbon (76).
Agencies of Change: Kayoko Mizuta, ESCAP Deputy Executive Secretary, assesses the human dimension of the Commission's development cooperation programme (77).
Guest Column: Peter Schatzer of IOM on Inter-State Migration and Economic Development (78).
Passing By: Beatrice Grabish looks at new issues of stamps from the United Nations Postal Administration (80).

Because of our extended coverage related to the General Assembly Special Session on drugs, some of our regular features, including UNreported, Quote-UNquote and coUNterpoint, do not appear in this issue but will certainly resurface in our next!

Cover design by José Castineira.
Verse from lyrics to Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen.
Inside back cover designed by Patricia Doelger.
Above photo: UNDCP/Daria Mitidieri

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