VZCZCXRO9885
RR RUEHDBU RUEHKW RUEHMA RUEHSK
DE RUEHUNV #0217/01 1281514
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081514Z MAY 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9435
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1639
RUCNNAR/VIENNA NARCOTICS COLLECTIVE
RUCNCRI/VIENNA CRIME COLLECTIVE
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0042

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 UNVIE VIENNA 000217 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
INL FOR A/S JOHNSON 
WHITE HOUSE FOR ONDCP 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM UNODC
 
SUBJECT: "Harm Reduction" Debate Politicizing INCB Elections? 
 
REF: A) 02/18/09 Davis Email to Pala,B) UNVIE Vienna 110 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a meeting on May 6, Koli Kouame Secretary of 
the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), expressed dismay 
over what he described as the NGO efforts to politicize the election 
of Board members.  More specifically, Kouame believes the 
International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) is attempting to 
influence the outcome of the INCB's May 18 elections in New York by 
using candidates' positions on "harm reduction" as a litmus test to 
"modernize" and "bring new skills and perspectives" to the Board. 
Kouame is concerned that INCB's mandate to monitor compliance with 
the international drug control conventions could be undermined from 
the inside if IDPC efforts succeed in inserting new Board members 
favorable to their cause.  Furthermore, Kouame hopes the U.S. will 
support the re-election of the sole U.S. Board member, (retired) 
Ambassador Melvin Levitsky, whom Kouame praised for protecting the 
international drug control regime, as defined in the drug 
conventions.  In a subsequent phone conversation with missionoff, 
Ambassador Levitsky seconded many of the concerns Kouame raised.  He 
expressed a desire to have a Board whose foremost priority is to 
protect the drug conventions.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------ 
INCB May Elections in NY 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On May 6 missionoff met with Koli Kouame, Secretary of the 
INCB, to discuss the upcoming election of six board members at the 
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on May 18. Five 
government-backed candidates will be elected and one person will be 
chosen from the WHO field of candidates.  (Note:  The Board 
comprises thirteen members.  Ten are chosen from government-backed 
candidacies and three are reserved for candidates from the WHO. 
Members serve five year terms and are free to run for re-election. 
Terms begin one year after election; thus the six winners from this 
year's pool will begin their term in May, 2010.  Members serve in 
the personal capacities and are expected to be independent.  End 
note.) 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Harm Reduction: a Litmus Test for NGO support 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Kouame expressed concern over the manner in which NGOs and 
certain member states are coordinating with each other on which 
candidates to support.  Kouame handed missionoff emails that he said 
he received from a "New York colleague."  The emails, from Mike 
Trace of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), are 
addressed to a number of Vienna-based delegations, including Brazil, 
Bulgaria, Netherlands, New Zealand, Romania, and the UK.  Trace 
lists the candidates he believes will "modernize" the Board and 
bring "new skills and perspectives," and therefore the addressees 
should support.  He also lists candidates whom addressees should 
oppose, and still others on whom he has acquired insufficient 
information to make an assessment.  (Note: The IDPC is an NGO 
consortium which seeks to advance "more humane approaches to drug 
control."  Among other positions, IDPC is an outspoken proponent of 
"harm reduction"-a controversial term that could include 
prescription heroin, drug injection rooms and the legalization of 
drug abuse.  Mike Trace is the former UK Deputy Drug "Czar" and 
current Co-Director of the Beckley Foundation, another pro-harm 
reduction organization that questions the validity of the current 
drug control regime.  Scanned copies of the emails, and their 
assessments of the various candidates, will be forwarded to INL/PC. 
End note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) The assessments divide the candidates into three 
categories: i) those who should be supported; ii) those who should 
be opposed; and iii)"other candidates" without sufficient evidence 
for assessment. The emails assert that an unnamed "human rights 
agency" conducted the assessment.  Kouame was alarmed by the tone of 
some of the assessments.  For example, current Board member Tatyana 
Dmitrieva, a Russian national up for re-election, is accused of not 
being truly independent of the Russian government.  (Note:  Russia 
is a vociferous opponent of "harm reduction" measures, including 
medication-assisted therapies like methadone.  End note.) Even 
worse, the assessment implicates Dmitrieva in possible human rights 
abuses at a psychiatric institute. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The assessment also finds objectionable Colombian national 
Camilo Uribe Granja, another current Board member up for 
 
UNVIE VIEN 00000217  002 OF 003 
 
 
re-election, because in his role as director of a U.S. Embassy 
Bogota study on the health impact of herbicide spraying campaigns 
where he apparently concluded that there was no valid evidence of 
adverse health consequences.  Uribe is also maligned as a proponent 
of Colombia's drug legislation which criminalizes possession for 
personal consumption, and requires compulsory treatment of drug 
users. Of the other four candidates deemed objectionable, their 
opposition to "harm reduction" is highlighted. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) On the other hand, the assessment urge support for 
candidates like Kamil Kalina of Czech Republic, because, "according 
to NGO sources he is a supporter of harm reduction."  (Note: 
Kalina, a psychotherapist, is the Chair of the EU horizontal group 
on drug issues in Brussels.  During the 2008-2009 UNGASS 
negotiations in Vienna, Kalina came across as a pragmatist, 
attempting repeatedly to steer the EU to accept the exclusion of the 
term "harm reduction" in the recent 2009 UNGASS Political 
Declaration, Ref A and B.  Such efforts by Kalina and the Mission 
were unable to sway the "harm reduction" lobby in the EU.  In the 
end, the EU was split on this issue. End note.)  In addition, 
Poland's Janusz Sieroslawski is also a "good" candidate because, 
"according to local NGO contacts, [he] supports sound public health 
and human rights-based approaches to drug policy." 
 
--------------------------------- 
"Politicization" of INCB Lamented 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) While Kouame acknowledged that there has always been 
lobbying for candidates, he found disturbing what he called 
"borderline character assassinations" in the current campaigns, and 
the mysterious sources that were supplying such information to Trace 
and the member states.  He claimed not to have seen anything so 
explicitly political as the assessments of candidates in these 
emails, lamenting that in the past decade drug issues have become 
more political and less technical.  Indeed, the term "harm 
reduction" is opposed by a great number of member states precisely 
because it is so vague and politically-loaded.  However, this issue 
seems to preoccupy the email authors. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Kouame also alleged that the usual horse-trading is going 
on.  He claimed that India recently announced the withdrawal of 
Krishna Verma ("assessed" as objectionable due in part to his 
opposition to "harm reduction") as the government candidate, in 
exchange for support for Rajat Ray for one of the three WHO seats. 
Ray was "assessed" as a clear supporter of "harm reduction"). 
India, Kouame argued, wants an Indian national on the board, and is 
willing to drop their objectionable candidate if it means shoring up 
support for their WHO candidate. 
 
--------------------------- 
Balance of Board, Integrity 
of Conventions in Danger 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Kouame stressed that the next few years are critical for 
the INCB.  The international drug control regime has been under 
assault, he alleged, starting in the late 1980's, and increasingly 
so in the past ten years.  He is concerned that with the election of 
six members this year (plus another in September to replace the 
retiring Mexican board member), the dynamics of the INCB could 
dramatically shift towards positions he considers insufficiently 
dedicated to the primacy of the drugs conventions.  Kouame noted 
that while INCB President Hamid Ghodse (encumbering a WHO seat) and 
retired U.S. Ambassador Melvin Levitsky (encumbering a 
government-backed position) will continue to push for strong 
interpretations of the conventions, they will be outnumbered if 
Trace and his allies are successful in having their candidates 
elected. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Kouame asserted that what the INCB needs most urgently 
are strong international lawyers and law enforcement officials for 
the Board, who understand the obligations of the conventions and the 
effectiveness of their implementation on the local and national 
stage. In his view, there are currently too many doctors and 
scientists on the Board.  Kouame also expressed a hope that the U.S. 
will re-nominate Ambassador Levitsky when his term ends in 2012. 
 
----------- 
A USG Plan? 
----------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) In a subsequent telephone conversation, Ambassador 
Levitsky concurred that the past several years have seen a marked 
increase in the politicization of the INCB elections.  In his view, 
 
UNVIE VIEN 00000217  003 OF 003 
 
 
the "harm reduction" advocates do not dare attack the conventions, 
so they have been trying to whittle them down with new 
interpretations emanating from the Board.  Without going into 
specifics, Ambassador Levitsky expressed hope that all members of 
the INCB, current and future, would focus on protecting the primacy 
of conventions.  He also hoped that the USG and other member states 
would take these assessments seriously and would examine the records 
and qualifications of the candidates, in order to develop a 
considered position on the candidates.  With regard to whether he 
would run for re-election, Ambassador Levitsky dismissed any 
speculation, saying it was too early to worry. 
 
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Comment 
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¶12. (SBU) The NGO assessments clearly focus on the candidates' "harm 
reduction" and law enforcement approaches to drug users, paying 
scant attention to their educational and professional 
qualifications.  Such politicizing approach is telling of ongoing 
and coordinated attempts to re-shape international drug policy we 
also saw during the United Nations General Assembly Special Session. 
Mission agrees with Kouame that the proper way to change the 
international drug control regime is to amend the conventions. 
Instead, the NGOs and the European countries that support them, are 
trying to side-step this process.  They failed in their attempt to 
insert "harm reduction" in the 2009 UN Political Declaration on 
fighting drugs.  Now, it appears, they are trying, through the INCB 
elections, to subvert the international drug control regime from the 
inside out.  END COMMENT. 
 
PYATT