Statement of the United Nations Office at Vienna/ Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention

to UNLDC III, Brussels, 15 May 2001

By Gale U. Day, Senior Policy Advisor to the Executive Director

Thank you. I am pleased to offer a few remarks on behalf of the United Nations Office at Vienna, and in particular the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention.

Yesterday's thematic session addressed at some length the linkage between good governance and economic growth. Corruption is the antithesis of good governance. When corruption becomes a daily routine at what might be called the "micro" level - services like education, health care and justice that should be rights become privileges available only to those who can pay for them. The gap between rich and poor increases, and poverty becomes more deeply entrenched.

Yet there exist concrete measures which can break this cycle. Through our Global Programme against Corruption, we offer Governments a tool kit of measures appropriate to constitute a national anti-corruption strategy. These tools include measures aimed at strengthening the integrity of the criminal justice system and the public sector. They also identify ways to raise public awareness and empower civil society. Practical guidance is provided on anti-corruption legislation and repatriation of assets sent abroad. The tool kit is available on our website, <www.odccp.ora>.

Turning to the international level, last December the first ever Convention against Transnational Organized Crime was signed in Palermo. This Convention set a new record for initial signatories, with 124 during the three-day- conference convened for that purpose. 23 of the 48 LDCs were among the signatories. Developing countries in general were very active in the negotiation stage as well, and special contributions enabled the financing of participants from LDCs.

This is a groundbreaking legal instrument. Among its provisions is an obligation for all parties to criminalize corruption. In addition, once the Convention comes into force, the use of bank secrecy to withhold evidence in cases of serious crime will be forbidden. These two provisions will strengthen the hand of those trying to address corruption more at the "macro" level by recovering stolen assets stashed abroad and by ensuring that offshore banking is limited to legitimate financial services.

The UN General Assembly wants to go even further. It decided at its last session to proceed with the negotiation of a convention against corruption. If Governments succeed in maintaining the same pragmatic approach and high degree of consensus that characterized the negotiation of Crime Convention, we can expect a Convention ready for adoption within two years.

In sum, the globalization of crime, especially, financial crime, is now being met with new global instruments.

Several of the Least Developed Countries are faced with special problems in connection with the drug issue, be it illicit crops, drug trafficking or drug abuse itself. Drug abuse is a tragic waste of human resources, striking most aggressively at young people. The highest rates of abuse of heroin are now in developing countries, where the strain on health and social welfare budgets is already acute.

Drug trafficking is the handmaiden of corruption and political instability. The wealth it engenders goes to a criminal elite. It does not bring economic growth.

Illicit cultivation of opium poppy and coca bush is now limited to a fairly small number of countries, including only three LDCs. Over the past twenty-five years, it has been possible in country after country to address successfully the problem of small farmers who depend economically on drug crops. Essentially through developmental measures, this economic dependence can be eliminated while still ensuring the well being of the farmers. Once the economic dependence is removed, there is no longer any justification for tolerating illicit cultivation.

Mr. Chairman, I have mentioned only a few of the initiatives in the drug control and crime prevention fields. The UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention is at your disposal for further discussions.

Thank you.