YouSaid · the spoken record

Costa

lines on the record: 111
first: 2003-06-17
most recent: 2010-03-19
sittings or episodes: 9
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I urge States to implement article 52 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and article 7 of United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, which require parties to know their customers and reveal the beneficiaries of funds deposited into high-value accounts. Arms trafficking is another pandemic. The therapy is known and the surgical instruments are available. I hope this meeting will spur Member States to use these tools to cut the arms flows that fuel conflicts, undermine States and enrich criminals.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“To cut the illicit flow of weapons, I urge States to use the Firearms Protocol to close loopholes in national legislation, tighten up regulations on weapons transport, develop regional databases on seizures, promote inter-agency cooperation within national administrations, profile suspicious shipments and share information with other countries to verify compliance with international agreements. But that is not enough. All crime can best be combated by following the money trail. Arms dealers in particular swing between licit and illicit business, covering their tracks through complex arrangements of front companies that invest the proceeds from crime.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“The United Nations Protocol requires parties to adopt legislation to prevent gun diversion and to criminalize the removal of the markings on guns, keep records necessary to trace them, prevent the reactivation of disabled guns, promote cooperative regimes to monitor gun flows, prevent weapons theft and build law enforcement capacity across borders. Yet, there are only 79 parties to the Protocol, which is half the number of parties to the other two protocols of the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, namely, on smuggling of migrants and trafficking in people. Of course, the Firearms Protocol has some very notable absences.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“The baseline is to promote development and security so as to reduce the demand for arms. To reduce the supply, more must be done to improve the safekeeping and destruction of stockpiles, not least within the area of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. How to curtail the illicit arms trade? There is no need to reinvent the wheel. The United Nations Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, which entered into force five years ago to supplement the United Nations Convention against Organized Crime, provides a very strong legal instrument. I was glad to hear the statement by the Deputy Secretary-General in that connection.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“Corruption at the source - known as "point of departure diversion" - enables traffickers to use fake end user certificates for legal exports. Corruption at the "official" destination enables a legal shipment to be diverted to a different location. That is called post-delivery onward diversion. For example, the tanks, weapons and ammunition on a Ukrainian ship hijacked by Somali pirates in September 2008 were intended for South Sudan, not Kenya, as the papers said. At the "true" destination - in countries, for example, in the Sahel and Central, East and West Africa - weapons are bartered for drugs and natural resources such as oil, precious stones, metals and timber. As a result, arms trafficking and organized crime fuel conflicts, and Vice versa. In conclusion, what can be done to curb illicit arms trafficking, in particular into Africa?”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“It has huge stocks - there are 54 firearms for every Ukrainian soldier, as against the accepted world ratio of around 2:1 - and a large surplus of large planes, including oversized Antonov and Ilyushin models. With low regulation and high economic insecurity, we get an environment in which merchants of death can make millions - as portrayed by Nicolas Cage, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in "The Lord of War". How can tons of arms, in large cargo planes, move undetected? The key is corruption at source, transit and destination. Although arms are smuggled across borders - for example between the United States and Mexico - most weapons are just shipped through commercial channels, relying on fraudulent papers and corrupt officials.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“An attack rifle, such as the AK-47 or the M-l6, can last indefinitely; it just needs ammunition. As a result, arms trafficking tends to be an episodic rather than permanent flow, but with a predictable pattern - from countries with large stockpiles to a region descending or pushed by traffickers into crisis. Most of these regions, of course, are in the third world. The biggest stocks have been in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Indeed, in the 1990s, these stockpiles supplied almost every conflict, particularly in Africa, from A to Z - from Angola to Zimbabwe. A combination of factors has turned Ukraine, in particular, into a major arms supplier.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“In these troublesome hands, even small amounts of arms can undermine the socio-economic progress of a nation, break the State's monopoly on the use of force, and create a tipping point in political or military stalemates. One need only think of how the drugged-up kids of the Revolutionary United Front held Sierra Leone to ransom for a decade, or of the destruction caused by the marauding Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda for years. In short, illicit arms fuel the violence that undermines security, development and justice. Of the 34 countries least likely to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, 22 - two thirds of the total - are in the midst of or emerging from conflicts located in regions that are magnets for crime, violence and arms trafficking. What about supply? Small arms, unlike drugs and counterfeits, are a durable product.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“As a result, several countries in Africa tally the highest rates for crime, specifically murder, in the world. Secondly, by acquiring military-grade weapons, combatant militias obtain the trappings and firepower of a military force in the attempt to gain credibility, even without a political cause. Double jeopardy is caused when, most commonly, rebels fund arms purchases by trafficking drugs and other resources in exchange. Thirdly, regimes under sanctions need arms to perpetuate themselves, irrespective of domestic opposition and/or pressure from the international community, including decisions of this Council. Arms traffickers circumvent the embargos, handsomely rewarded by authorities that do not hesitate to bleed citizens and natural resources alike to honour payments.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“Supply also originates from various sources: stockpiles of nations undergoing regime change, defence departments' clearance sales of obsolete weapons, and manufacturers unwilling - perhaps because of corruption - to meet internationally agreed domestic controls. Let me begin with demand, which certainly concerns Africa. First, crime groups derive major rewards from firearms. A handful of Somali pirates can hijack oil tankers; poachers with rifles equipped with night-sights and silencers plunder Africa's rare species; cattle raiders steal the livestock of entire villages; bandits hijack aid shipments; thugs in combat uniform compel young slaves to mine rare minerals; gangs assault, rob and kidnap nationals and tourists alike, in homes and at resorts.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“Mr. Costa: In today's world, conflicts take place within rather than between nations, and are fought with light rather than heavy weapons. Arms are acquired on the illicit market, estimated globally at between $200 and $300 million a year, which is about 20 per cent of the licit arms trade. Africa, the arms smugglers' most profitable market, suffers the largest number of casualties because of it. I am therefore grateful to the Government of Gabon for placing this topic on the Council's agenda. Demand for military-grade weapons comes from three sources: crime groups, combatant militias and regimes under sanctions.”
2010-03-19 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6288 (2010) · source
“These large seizures proved that, indeed, the link between terrorism, insurgency and drugs is very present in that country. Progress is possible, but there is no room for complacency, as the representative of the United Kingdom said.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Finally, on the situation in Afghanistan, referred to by the representatives of the Russian Federation and United Kingdom, indeed, our most recent report, which was shared with the international community two weeks ago, shows that in 2010 we are likely going to see a stabilization in cultivation - still at a very high level, 130,000 or 140,000 hectares, but still about 36 per cent less than two years ago. The 20 opium-free provinces we listed last year will, by and large, remain opium-free, and perhaps with some energetic measures by some governors, that number could even go up to 22 or 23. Much, of course, will depend on security. The recent military operation in the Marjah district was important from the point of View of stability, but what is also important to note is the tremendous amount of drug seizures.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“This is not only because there are weak judicial institutions, but because there are foot soldiers, and plenty of them. Travel to West Africa: half of the population is below age 30. They are largely unemployed, perhaps even illiterate. And a little lubricant from an organized crime group, paying them to play the role of foot soldiers in distributing drugs, is certainly welcome. Of course, it would be very difficult for me to criticize those kids. I think it is our inability to help find those kids a job or some sort of a decent life that is to be blamed.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Yesterday someone - a member of the Council - looked at the maps that are included in our report and said, "All the arrows on all these maps point to the North. What is the problem?" Well, the problem in the North is that that is where the demand is. I am glad that the representative of the United Kingdom also explicitly called for not only a reduction of supply and trafficking in drugs, but also a reduction of demand. Regarding the question of the trilogy of development, security and justice - and I list them as the three cornerstones of the work that we can do together - these are indeed crucial, because it is the absence of development - namely, poverty - or insecurity in post-conflict situations that creates the context that is so helpful to organized crime in terms of establishing itself.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Those working with the environment - I refer to environmental crime, illegal logging and so forth - such as the United Nations Environment Programme, can become an important related institution in our work. Urban security is another element. Everything that we have been talking about is a threat especially to individuals and to society at large, especially in large cities. UN-Habitat is an important player, and so are those dealing with education and health and so on and so forth. I would like to make a couple of quick points, just to refer to specific important considerations. The representatives of Japan, China and Mexico underlined the importance of shared responsibility. Those are key words; they are not slogans.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“I believe that with this kind of logic that the Council has put forward, it may be possible for the Secretary- General to propose the integration of our work within the system at large, just as he did in 2008, a year and a half ago, when he promoted an effort to mainstream human rights within the global logic of the United Nations. This is an important development for us, because those institutions of the United Nations that work for development, whether Bretton Woods institutions or the United Nations Development Programme, are helping, in their work, to reduce the threat of crime. Members mentioned poverty and underdevelopment being midwives, in a way, to crime. The bodies dealing with security - the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the Department of Political Affairs, the Peacebuilding Commission and so forth - can indeed help.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Now, the system did respond positively a few years ago when the United Nations Chief Executives Board called for the mainstreaming of our work within the United Nations system. This has only worked up to a certain point. To a large extent, the matters we have been talking about today - drugs, crime and terrorism- are rather sinister, both in name and in logic, and some of our colleagues who deal with the very noble causes of education, health, employment and so forth resist, in a way, being associated with these sinister causes. But the Council has done a good job of spinning the work differently: not only drugs but health; not only crime but security; not only terrorism but stability.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“We have to see all of these in a systematic way. When our Office was established in 1997, we inherited three programmes: drugs, crime and, eventually, terrorism. They were separate programmes, with different commissions and different expertise; people would not talk to one another. It took a number of years, seven or eight years, until 2005 or 2006, to bring about an integrated View of all of this. Indeed, drugs interact with crime, as has been said here, and crime interacts with terrorism, and so forth. Now we are moving one step forward, thanks to the members of the Security Council and to the Council itself. The United Nations system as a whole is being advised by the Council to mainstream these three areas, which have already been addressed in an integrated set of instruments and policies, into the overall work of the United Nations.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“However, there are, of course, sinister forces in the market: the ones we have been talking about. They have also taken advantage of globalization. We therefore need - and this is the point raised by the representative of Gabon - to regain control of sovereignty by working together and perhaps sharing sovereignty. The final point, raised by the representative of Japan, is about system-wide cooperation within the United Nations. The legal frameworks are in place. I was very pleased that the representative of the United States referred to the whole set of conventions and instruments we make use of at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, not only the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime or the United Nations Convention against Corruption, but also the three drug conventions and the various protocols.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“All of this shows that, unless we help these countries through various new technologies - perhaps not through physical border control, but virtual control through satellites and radar stations and in various other ways - I am afraid we will have some nasty surprises. To finish on this second point, with regard to intelligence sharing, I appreciate the statement by the representative of Austria, in which he said that the globalization of law enforcement has not been able to keep up with the globalization of crime. This is indeed the point that I have been trying to make, namely, that globalization has perhaps not weakened sovereignty, but has transferred it to market forces: to traders and to the financial sectors, through information technologies and so forth.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Today, the Secretary-General mentioned an important session we are holding this afternoon to promote the processes of the Santo Domingo Pact and Managua Mechanism. They mimic, to some extent, in a different regional context and for different drugs, the Paris Pact, to which you referred yourself, Sir. All of this is extremely helpful, but more is needed. At the meeting held on 8 December (see S/PV.6233), I referred to the importance of establishing a network of monitoring stations throughout the Sahel and Sahara. There we find countries with very limited resources - I am referring to Mali, which I visited on Thursday, and Niger. They are very large countries: Mali has 7,500 kilometres of borders with five different neighbours. They are practically uncontrolled. And it was in Mali that a Boeing 727 with 10 tons of cocaine crashed.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“These important seizures were the result of transatlantic intelligence-sharing, such as information coming from Colombia or tips coming from Venezuela. We have to build on this. It might have been unrealistic to assume that the two West African countries I referred to could seize tons of cocaine, but they were able to do so because the tips came from a neighbouring country, or at least a neighbour across the sea. So I believe that this is a crucial element, which is still missing. Our own Office has been working quite actively. The representative of Brazil mentioned what we are doing in West Africa, through the West Africa Coast Initiative. Reference was made to the Central Asia Regional Information and Coordination Centre, and I should mention the Gulf Centre for Criminal Intelligence as well.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“The second question - actually twin questions in a single statement - asked by the representative of Japan was about what I meant by "sharing information". First and foremost, mine was a general exhortation to Member States about working together, naturally based on the nature of this institution and of our United Nations work. Regional efforts are ongoing, but I think we need a change in attitude. No, I am not asking Member States to "love thy neighbour", but certainly I would ask Member States to "trust thy neighbour", or to trust their neighbours at least to the extent of being willing and able to share intelligence information. We have seen - and I saw it myself last week - the important seizures in West Africa, whether in a poor country like Sierra Leone or a somewhat better- off country like Senegal.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Our periodic reporting has indeed facilitated a better understanding of the role of law enforcement in peacebuilding; in Department of Peacekeeping Operations activities, which are always approved by the Council; in the integrated missions; and in the use of early warnings, such as we have already provided concerning West and East Africa. The third and most or equally important role that the Council can play is through the work of individual member States. Around this table are, obviously, some of the world's major economic and military Powers. The work that they are doing bilaterally in the various areas I have referred to, and the work that they are doing by providing resources to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for the work it does on behalf of Member States and the Council in this area is another important contribution.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Indeed, instability creates insecurity and, as a consequence, the Council's own work generally is the first and most important antidote. Secondly, regarding our own work and how it may benefit the Council, I think the Council has already gone a long way. It started in 2004, when we began alerting the Council and Member States of the threat posed to Africa by traffickers from across the Atlantic. In a crescendo, the Council has adopted a number of measures and has certainly listened to our reporting, in writing and in person here in this Chamber.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Mr. Costa: Let me begin by thanking you once again, Sir, for the invitation, and the members for their kind words and support for the work of my Office. I heard three questions raised by the Japanese representative, and I would like to add a couple more comments on more general issues raised during the debate. The first question posed by the representative of Japan dealt with how the Council could incorporate the analysis and assessment of our Office into its work, its function and the role it plays. There are at least three ways that the Council could be helpful. First, as I said in my statement, the Security Council's engagement in promoting security worldwide is what is needed to reduce areas of conflict and instability.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“However, there are warning signs that traffickers are reappearing on the scene, disguised, in other parts of West Africa, because tough words have not been fully matched by equally robust actions. Let us learn from that lesson.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Early warnings could be brought to the Council's attention, as we did some time ago when we discovered the attacks on West Africa by cocaine traffickers and, later, on East Africa by heroin traffickers. The Council may also want to consider including a criminal justice component in relevant peacekeeping missions. To conclude, we need deeds more than words. Last week in West Africa, ministers of the Economic Community of West African States told me - I was on a mission there for an entire week - that cocaine trafficking in the region had declined in the past 18 months. That is a very good omen. In a sense, our efforts - the efforts of the Security Council - are paying off.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“My final point is about system-wide response, something already raised by the Secretary-General. Because of the cross-cutting nature of organized crime, a United Nations-wide response is of course needed, and I welcome the Secretary-General's statement. I am pleased that the Security Council supports the growing cooperation among the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UNODC and the Peacebuilding Commission. This will ensure that United Nations conflict prevention, crisis management and peacekeeping all include a criminal justice component. Concerning the future, I am pleased with the suggestion that the Security Council hold periodic debates on the threat to stability posed by organized crime.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“There are so many black holes - informal money transfer, the hawala system, offshore banking, recycling to real estate, recycling to legal assets - all of which must be plugged. In order to put in perspective the massive proceeds from crime, let us recall that the regular budget of UNODC is l per cent of the United Nations budget. And the United Nations budget is less than 1 per cent of the yearly proceeds of the global drug trade, which is more than $300 billion. Or, to put it another way, consider this: a line of cocaine snorted in Europe destroys one square metre of Andean rainforest and buys 100 rounds of AK-47 ammunition in West Africa. Multiply that line of cocaine by the 850 tons of cocaine produced every year, and you get a sense that this is a more uneven fight than even that between David and Goliath.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“I commit my Office to providing periodic evidence of the progress made in fighting a crime that not only steals from the needy to enrich the greedy, but lubricates other crimes. Let me go back to the cargo plane loaded with guns and drugs that crashed in Mali, where I was only three days ago. I now ask how the fraudulent pilot certificates, false registration, forged bills of landing and lading and altered tail numbers were produced. Looking perhaps at other countries in Africa, how are massive shipments of counterfeit goods, illegally cut timber or toxic waste shipped worldwide without anyone noticing? The "C" word - "C" for corruption - has a lot to do with that. But the theory is that the basis of corruption is money-laundering. Current arrangements have made it harder to recycle money through the financial system.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“At the moment, I would like this to be another area in which the United Nations is the world's best information provider. We cannot report on crime trends; we cannot propose an integrated understanding of its causes and consequences. The data is not there. Even the logistics for gathering data are not there. Intellectual and financial resources are required to develop the right expertise to serve the needs of the Council. My fourth point is on the factors that enable crime to prosper. The first and foremost factor is corruption. I am pleased that the Conference of the States Parties in Doha agreed in November 2009 on a mechanism to monitor implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“It is time to regard intelligence- sharing as a way of strengthening sovereignty, not of surrendering it. When a police car stops at the border, while criminals cross the border freely, sovereignty has already been breached. It has, in fact, been surrendered to those who break the law. A more comprehensive attitude would help to establish networks to monitor illicit flows, share intelligence and carry out joint operations. Our Office, the UNODC, supports these efforts in Central and West Asia, in the Gulf, in West Africa, along the main drug routes into Europe and across Mesoamerica. More help is needed, for example across the Sahara-Sahel region. That was proposed to the Council in December (see S/PV.6233), as members may recall. We must also be able to measure progress and report to the Council accordingly.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“We need further knowledge about the ways organized crime operates. Technology has practically abolished time and space. We should know what goes on anywhere on the planet at any moment, but we do not. There are so many places outside of Government control that are too scary for investors and tourists. Those are precisely the places where smugglers, insurgents and terrorists operate undisturbed and undetected. They run fleets of ships, planes, trucks and containers that carry tons of drugs and weapons. Their activities are mostly discovered by chance - the crash of a phantom plane, a drug ship that runs short of fuel, or the fortuitous seizure of an illegal cargo. There are so many blank spots on our radar screens, and our ignorance about what goes on in the world has deadly consequences. Therefore, we need a change of attitude.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“I invite the development assistance community to help vulnerable countries, perhaps through the intermediation and technical assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to upgrade their criminal justice systems. West Africa and East Africa come to mind right now. There is also an often-forgotten health dimension. Unless the threat posed by organized crime is confronted resolutely, we will hear renewed calls to dump the three United Nations drug conventions that critics say are the cause of the crime problem. The cause of the problem is, of course, the enormous resources generated by drug trafficking. Let me stress that drug legalization would cause a health disaster, especially in poor countries. Africa does not need that new tragedy. Greater knowledge and better intelligence are also needed.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Later in the year, a treaty event of the General Assembly will take place, followed by two high-level ministerial sessions in New York and Vienna, and a Conference of the Parties will promote ratification of the Convention. Those events will call for technical assistance and consider a mechanism to review implementation. I am pleased that this morning the Secretary-General invited the Council to send a strong signal to take these Convention-related events seriously, which would add a sense of purpose and urgency to the various events. Equally important are the institutions needed to administer justice. So many countries, especially in Africa, lack the resources to make those institutions work.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“We will see that crime, violence and underdevelopment all overlap, and that these regions coincide with United Nations peacekeeping operations. Then there is the role of justice. We cannot only throw money or troops at a problem. Peace and prosperity also depend on justice, namely, on the legal frameworks and judicial institutions needed to ensure the rule of law. A global legal framework exists. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted 10 years ago in Palermo, Italy, is a twenty-first century solution to a twenty-first century problem. Yet, I am sorry to say, one third of Member States, including some major countries, have not ratified it. Its implementation is patchy, there is no review mechanism and some of its protocols have been neglected. But this Council can help.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Throughout the world, prosperity and good governance are vaccines against violence, and reaching the Millennium Development Goals will be the most effective antidote to crime, while crime prevention will help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. 3 Security is equally crucial. By resolving conflicts and helping Governments to enforce the rule of law, this Council will not only build peace, but will indeed make an affected region less prone to crime, as the Secretary-General said in his statement. Conversely, fighting crime helps to remove spoilers who invest in violence and instability. To illustrate this point, we need only take a map of illicit trafficking routes - of which there are a few in the report - overlay that map with a map of conflict areas, and juxtapose a histogram of per capita income.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“How can a multilateral system created to deal with tensions between nations fight criminal groups that are non-State, yet transnational and powerful enough to threaten sovereign States? The answer is two-pronged. Of course, States must strengthen their own capacity, but also, given the global nature of this threat, national efforts must become part of a multilateral framework. How can this be done? Let me look at the issues of development and security. First, vulnerability to organized crime can be reduced most effectively through both development and security - the two basic pillars of the Council's work. I stress that development is the best prevention.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“The report underlines and demonstrates that vulnerability attracts crime and that crime, in turn, deepens vulnerability. In a chain reaction, humanitarian crises follow, development is stalled and peacekeepers are deployed. Historically, these problems have been limited to a few trouble spots. Yet in our globalized world, violence in faraway locations eventually affects everybody. Today's unimpeded movement of goods, services, capital, people and information is creating wealth and freedom, of course; but it has also unleashed unprecedented opportunities for organized crime to wreck both. In the Council's past reviews of these issues it faced a tough dilemma.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“Mr. Costa: I am honoured, of course, to attend this meeting and thank the President for the invitation. Previous debates on violent theatres - for example, Afghanistan, the Congo, Central America, Somalia and West Africa - and on transnational crime issues, including drug trafficking, piracy, natural resources and smuggling, have shown how seriously the Council takes these threats to peace and security. The background is well known. International mafias exploit the instability caused by conflicts. They thrive in areas lost to insurgency and take advantage of a Government's inability to provide security. This creates a vicious circle, illustrated in our report entitled "Crime and instability: case studies of transnational threats", which is to be released in the course of the day and is available in the Chamber.”
2010-02-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6277 (2010) · source
“At the same time, UNODC shall continue to report on new developments in the region and elsewhere - as we have done periodically for the Security Council and other bodies - in order to facilitate understanding of the situation on the ground and, as a result, enable an appropriate response.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source
“Thirdly - and to be practical about finding solutions to the situation - I urge the Council to consider the creation of a trans-Saharan crime monitoring network, to improve information, monitor suspicious activity, exchange evidence, facilitate legal cooperation and strengthen regional efforts against organized crime. Such a trans-Saharan crime network would ensure a first, practical response to a growingly serious problem. An early warning device of this sort will especially help the review of situations that truly warrant investigation without having to rely on occasional circumstances such as a plane crash or an accidental drug seizure at sea. Together with our traditional partners, the Departments I mentioned at the United Nations and INTERPOL, we would be happy to assist.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source
“I invite members of the Council to recognize that shared responsibility is more than a rhetorical device; it is, and it must be, an operational concept. Therefore, and secondly, information sharing must be promoted among affected countries in order to disrupt trafficking networks. UNODC has brokered regional intelligence-sharing platforms in Central Asia - one is to be inaugurated tomorrow - in West Asia and in the Gulf. Such arrangements are not a threat to sovereignty; on the contrary, they defend the sovereignty now appropriated by rather sinister actors.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source
“In the past, trade across the Sahara was by caravans and camels. Today it is larger in size, faster at delivery and more high-tech, as evidenced by the debris of a Boeing 727 found on 2 November in the Gao region of Mali, an area affected by insurgency and terrorism. It is scary - and I stress this point - it is scary that this new example of the links between drugs, crime and terrorism was discovered by chance, following the plane crash. 09-6381] What can be done? To conclude, I will say that, first and foremost, we must strengthen national capacity. Greater and stronger development is needed across the region, so as to improve judicial systems and the rule of law - a point raised by the Secretary- General. But no State can tackle this transnational threat on its own.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source
“We have now acquired evidence that the two streams of illicit drugs - heroin into eastern Africa and cocaine into western Africa - are now meeting in the Sahara, creating new trafficking routes across Chad, Niger and Mali. Repercussions in neighbouring countries - for example, in the Maghreb countries i are inevitable. I will stress two facts that are noteworthy. First, as cocaine from the West is being traded one-on-one with heroin from the East, drugs are becoming a sort of new currency in the area. Drugs enrich not only organized crime, as we know. As in the Andes and in West Asia, terrorists and anti-government forces in the Sahel are extracting resources from the drug trade to fund their operations, purchase equipment and pay foot soldiers. Secondly, drug trafficking in the region is taking on a whole new dimension.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source
“Mainly because of the dramatic situation in Somalia, the region is becoming a free economic zone for all sorts of trafficking ~ drugs, migrants, guns, hazardous waste and natural resources - in addition to having the world's most dangerous waterways because of piracy. On 24 November, in Nairobi, ministers from the region issued a political declaration to strengthen the rule of law and human security. UNODC was pleased to see its own action plan for the region endorsed by the ministers, but the resources needed to assist East African countries now under attack are still unavailable. My third point is about drug trafficking across the Sahel, which is a new problem, though perhaps inevitable.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source
“My second point is about East Africa, where we have detected heroin trafficking flows. This is very new. Indeed, on the eastern side of the continent, on the Horn of Africa, 30 to 35 tons of Afghan heroin are being trafficked into East Africa every year. This is causing a dramatic increase in drug addiction of the worse type, namely, heroin injection. It is also spreading HIV, as I witnessed two weeks ago in the slums of Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya. Drug treatment facilities are badly needed and I urge donors to help. Drug trafficking is only one illicit activity in eastern Africa.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source
“Certainly there is also encouraging news, for which the Security Council can take credit. Initiatives by the Economic Community of West African States, Member States and the United Nations - including the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the Department of Political Affairs and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) working together - have attracted attention and resources to the issue. We have detected a decline of cocaine flows into West Africa since mid-2008. A donor conference last week in Vienna attracted financial support. I thank Austria for hosting that event, which was meant to fund initiatives originally planned during the ministerial meeting at Praia in Cape Verde, a meeting already referred to by the President of this Council a few minutes ago.”
2009-12-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6233 (2009) · source