O 161157Z MAR 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 
SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9149
INFO WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L UNVIE VIENNA 000105 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2014 
TAGS: PGOV UNAUS KCRM SNAR AF UNODC
SUBJECT: UNODC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR COSTA REITERATED CRIME 
LINKAGE WITH ONDCP AND INL 
 
REF: A. 09UNVIEVIENNA 99 
     ¶B. 09UNVIEVIENNA 72 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Gregory L. Schulte, reasons 1.4 (c) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (u)  This cable contains an action request in paragraph 13. 
 
¶2.  (c)  Summary.  INL Assistant Secretary (A/S) David 
Johnson, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) 
Acting Director (AD) Ed Jurith, and Ambassador Schulte met 
with Executive Director (ED) Antonio Costa March 13 on the 
margins of the High-level segment of the 52nd UN Commission 
on Narcotic Drugs (CND).  Meeting participants discussed a 
range of issues, including Costa's March 5 concept paper on 
organized crime and the need to strengthen the crime 
conventions.  Costa emphasized the importance of treating 
organized crime seriously, including through action to 
strengthen the crime Conventions and possibly a UN General 
Assembly review of organized crime as a threat to stability 
and security.  He clarified that any restructuring of UNODC 
would not blur UNODC's balance between the normative and 
technical assistance functions of his office, and he would 
keep the Department of Treaty Affairs as a free-standing 
entity.  With regard to Afghanistan, A/S Johnson indicated 
that detailed plans for the upcoming March Afghanistan 
meeting were still pending, including Costa's request to 
participate; Costa reported that UNODC was beginning to 
grapple with assembling statistics on corruption in 
Afghanistan in order to develop an updated political message. 
 Costa welcomed the announcement of the nomination of the new 
Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil 
Kerlikowske, Mr. Jurith's summary of the on-going process to 
update U.S. National Drug Control strategy, and the 
opportunity to meet the new ONDCP Director.  End Summary. 
 
 
Encouraging a Measured Interpretation of Costa's Report 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶3.  (c)  In a March 13 meeting, INL A/S David Johnson, AD 
Jurith, Ambassador Schulte, Costa opened the meeting by 
quoting Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora as 
saying the press was yet again misinformed and not using good 
faith in its reporting on Costa's March 5 concept paper, 
"Organized Crime and Its Threat to Security:  Tackling a 
Disturbing Consequence of Drug Control."  A/S Johnson noted 
that it was important for Costa to ensure that the press 
better understand that this paper did not intend to criticize 
the crime conventions as being ineffective nor that a 
successful drug control regime was weakening these 
conventions.  Costa responded that his report's key assertion 
that organized crime is an "unintended consequence" of the 
drug control regime had been made over a year ago and that 
UNODC was being "honest." He added that he could not deny the 
extraordinary threat posed by organized crime - and that this 
crime was primarily drug-related. 
 
¶4.  (c)  Noting that he had purposely "kept to the middle" on 
this issue, Costa added that he was proud that UNODC and the 
international community are now knowledgeable on what actions 
to take to combat drugs around the world, from Thailand, to 
Turkey, to Pakistan, to Colombia.  He stressed that programs 
on both the supply and demand side were now well-developed. 
However, he emphasized, the international community has 
formulated no answers on combating powerful organized crime 
groups and remains ill-equipped to address the drug 
trafficking problems in West Africa and the Caribbean. 
Adding that the illicit drugs in these regions were fueling 
money-laundering, organized crime and threats to security 
such as the recent killings in Guinea Bissau, Costa stressed 
that unless the international community addresses this issue, 
the pressure against the crime Conventions will keep mounting. 
 
¶5.  (c)  Costa then made a plea to the U.S. delegation and 
"all member states" to take the crime conventions very 
seriously.  He proffered that Italy had not ratified one, 
Japan another.  Stating, "let's get serious," Costa 
emphasized the need to promote the conventions so as not to 
be faces with executing addicts and suppliers like in China 
and Iran.  In response to A/S Johnson's query regarding the 
number of countries that have not ratified the Conventions, 
Costa said most have actually ratified most of them but that 
there had been no momentum for real action since the 
Conference of Parties.  For example, Costa reminded the 
delegation that the U.S., China, Russia, and the UK, among 
others, have not ratified the Firearm Protocol.  Costa 
inquired whether the new Administration would reinstate the 
assault rifle ban (note:  the U.S., nevertheless, is in full 
compliance with this protocol).  A/S Johnson reported that 
Secretary Napolitano, in recent Congressional testimony, had 
said the Administration had not yet developed a policy on the 
issue so the question remained outstanding. 
 
¶6.  (c)  Returning to the current state of the crime 
conventions, A/S Johnson emphasized that we should be very 
careful not to seem to say these conventions are failures but 
rather should look at what can be done to strengthen them. 
Costa again dismissed the more dramatic press coverage on his 
report by noting that the press would always pick and choose 
what to quote from his statements but that he was not going 
to let that stifle his discussion of the issue.  That being 
said, Costa also acknowledged that he understood the U.S. 
message and would pay greater attention to how his ideas were 
presented.  A/S Johnson added that the U.S. believed that 
treaty functions are very important and they we must work 
together to enhance and strengthen them.  Acknowledging that 
the crime conventions are relatively new compared to the drug 
conventions and undergoing a late "teething process," Costa 
added that member states did not really have a clear concept 
for how to strengthen them.  In order to stimulate better 
focus on these conventions, Costa explained that UNODC was 
starting to compile statistics on organized crime, while at 
the same time promoting the ratification, implementation, and 
understanding of the conventions. 
 
Support for Regional GRULAC Cooperation 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (c)  Division of Operations Director Francis Maertens 
interjected with information regarding GRULAC countries.  He 
explained that they were supportive of greater regional 
programs to combat drugs and crime and had circulated a draft 
CND resolution on implementation of the Santo Domingo Pact to 
combat drugs and crime.  Maertens noted that consensus on 
this resolution at the CND next week would be an important 
symbol of support.  Costa added that there was true 
enthusiasm in the GRULAC region for these initiatives 
(although the Costa Rica meeting had been postponed) and 
encouraged the U.S., as the region's northern side, to be a 
stronger leader and supporter of these initiatives.  A/S 
Johnson noted that the U.S. had been planning to participate 
in the upcoming Costa Rica meeting and agreed that the 
countries in the region needed encouragement to work together 
as regional partners.  Costa agreed and reported that Mexico 
was also supportive of these efforts. 
 
Bringing Organized Crime to NY? 
------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (c)  Turning back more specifically to organized crime, 
Costa reported that Mexico would like to invite the UNGA 
President (incoming) to examine organized crime as a threat 
to stability and security and that Mexico had solicited 
UNODC's views on this proposal.  Costa told the U.S. 
delegation that he believes the idea is an interesting one 
and could be handled in a similar way to the development of 
the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy. 
 
Maintaining Normative and Technical Balance in UNODC 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
9  (c)  On the issue of possible structural changes in UNODC 
(ref b), Costa provided background on UNODC's current funding 
crisis and how that led to the need to freeze the Treaty 
Affair Director position,  but unequivocally stated that 
"grapevine rumors" that this freezing would lead to the 
disappearance of the Division of Treaty Affairs were entirely 
unfounded.  He told the U.S. delegation that he strongly 
believed in the importance of the balance between normative 
and operational functions of UNODC.  Indeed, Costa added that 
a blurring of this division would "breakdown" UNODC's 
calibrated research/analysis/operations process. 
 
 
Update on U.S. Drug Control Policy 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (c)  Mr. Jurith raised the issue of the newly nominated 
ONDCP Director and his upcoming confirmation process, noting 
that the confirmation process notwithstanding, ONDCP was 
already developing strategies to implement the 
Administration's increasing focus on reducing demand, 
including programs such as drug courts and treatment and 
prevention for those on probation and parole.  As Mr. Jurith 
explained, ONDCP believed outreach to the hard-core addict 
population was very important and that programs must focus on 
finding ways to bring them from the shadows into the 
mainstream and hopefully treatment.  Mr. Jurith added that 
these new U.S. initiatives would not include all elements of 
the broad spectrum of harm reduction.  Mr. Jurith indicated 
that the new strategy would be released early February 2010. 
Costa said these were positive developments and indicated he 
looked forward to meeting the new ONDCP Director in the 
future. 
 
 
Afghanistan Action 
------------------ 
 
¶11.  (c)  Turning to Afghanistan, A/S Johnson reported that 
information was still pending on the March 31 Afghanistan 
meeting.  Costa noted that the Secretary General and the 
Secretary would cohost.  Costa added that UNODC was starting 
a survey to produce a report that would assist in creating a 
platform to build an updated political message for 
Afghanistan.  Costa stated that the previous message about 
regaining control in Afghanistan on a counter narcotics 
strategy was a successful one as were UNODC's three 
recommended pillars.  According to Costa, "food for thought" 
on the updated political message should include focusing 
attention on corruption.  To this end, reported Costa, UNODC 
was inputting information into the survey to see what kind of 
platform could be built. 
 
¶12.  (c)  In response to A/S Johnson's query as to how would 
a survey on corruption be created, Costa indicated his staff 
was complaining but he believed the 367 surveyors in 
Afghanistan could be used effectively in this regard. 
Maertens added that he had heard from Afghan Finance Minister 
Ashraf Ghani that illicit drug production in Afghanistan was 
in the hands of 20 Afghan families.  A/S Johnson replied that 
drug production was not that tightly organized but had 
understood that the UK believed large landowners controlled 
operations in Helmand, and of course this issue depended to a 
degree on how "family" is defined.  Costa stated that he 
believed cartels might be growing in Afghanistan as they had 
in Colombia but that they had not "internationalized" yet and 
operated only in Afghanistan.  Raising the Trilateral 
initiative (Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) and the recent 
Joint Planning Cell counter narcotics operation along their 
border, Costa reported that the seizures were not that much, 
but the political symbolism of this joint operation was an 
important one.  He added that Iran recognized this symbolism 
and found the operation important but Pakistan had 
complained.  Nonetheless, the operation was an important one. 
 
Action Request 
-------------- 
 
¶13.  (c)  We would welcome reports from USUN on any Mexican 
initiative to bring Organized Crime to the UNGA or UN 
Security Council.  End Action Request. 
 
 
SCHULTE