VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #1157/01 3572153
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 232153Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7916
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 0823
RUEHNA/DEA HQS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0010
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0338
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0038

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001157 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNSC UNCND UNIDCP KTIA KCOR KCRM SNAR XA
XY, AF, HA, VE 
SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL DISCUSSES DRUG TRAFFICKING AS A 
THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY 
 
REF: STATE 125208 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  The UN Security Council held an open debate 
on December 8 to discuss, for the first time, international 
drug trafficking as a threat to international peace and 
security with a focus on West Africa.  UN Office on Drugs and 
Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa 
highlighted the "free economic zone" that is fueling East 
African drug trafficking, and called on the Council to create 
a "Trans-Saharan Crime Monitoring Network."  The debate 
included 39 speakers, including six ministerial-level 
attendees, most of whom echoed similar themes, including the 
principle of "shared responsibility" and the link between 
drug trafficking and development.  Some delegations, 
including Egypt, Peru, and Venezuela challenged the role of 
the Security Council on this issue, insisting that it 
belonged in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and/or Economic 
and Social Council.  Ambassador Rice discussed the 
international nature of the drug trafficking problem, while 
also highlighting U.S. assistance to West Africa, 
Afghanistan, and Haiti.  The Council adopted a Presidential 
Statement (S/PRST/2009/32) that called illicit drug 
trafficking a threat to international security--the first 
Council product to do so.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------- 
UNODC LINKS DRUGS AND CRIME 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) UNODC Executive Director Costa briefed on drug 
trafficking in East and West Africa, the increase of drug 
flow across the Sahel, and the link between drugs and 
criminal activity.  He cautioned that a "free economic zone" 
(trafficking in drugs, migrants, guns, hazardous waste, and 
natural resources) is helping fuel East Africa's illicit 
activity.  Costa called on the Council to consider creating a 
"Trans-Saharan Crime Monitoring Network" to improve 
information flow, monitor suspicious activity, exchange 
evidence, facilitate legal cooperation, and strengthen 
regional efforts against organized crime. 
 
¶3. (U) SYG Ban Ki-moon said in his intervention that drug 
trafficking has emerged in recent years as a leading threat 
to international peace and security, particularly in 
Afghanistan, Burma, and Colombia.  He called for a more 
balanced approach to drug control that reduces the demand for 
drugs; promotes alternative development and the rule of law 
at the source of supply; and disrupts trafficking routes. 
Ban noted that drug trafficking does not respect borders or 
people, and is a menace to the health of societies and 
individuals alike. 
 
--------------------------------- 
U.S. WELCOMES WEST-AFRICAN ACTION 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Ambassador Rice shared the extensive actions the 
United States has taken to combat drug trafficking in West 
Africa and around the world.  She explained that the United 
States provides assistance for counternarcotics, law 
enforcement and criminal justice capacity-building in more 
than 90 partner countries.  Rice welcomed the Political 
Declaration and Action Plan adopted by West African leaders 
in 2008, and thanked Senegal for hosting a ministerial-level 
conference to address regional and national counternarcotics 
efforts.  She also noted that the U.S. had devoted more than 
$13 million to addressing the counternarcotics challenge in 
West Africa. 
 
¶5. (U) Rice underlined that in Afghanistan, the drug trade 
threatens stability and economic growth by funding 
insurgents, feeding corruption, and undermining the rule of 
law.  She urged member states to provide extra-budgetary 
contributions in this regard.  In Haiti, Rice said we should 
not let narco-trafficking undermine the real successes that 
years of peacekeeping investments are beginning to yield. 
She noted that illicit actors are smuggling billions of 
dollars of illegal goods into many jurisdictions and 
weakening rule of law, democracy, and economic development 
efforts on a global scale. 
 
¶6. (U) Additionally, Russian PermRep Churkin focused his 
comments on Afghanistan, particularly on the Paris-Moscow 
process and less on the role other countries are playing in 
 
 
the drug fight.  (COMMENT: The Paris-Moscow process is a 
reference to the two ministerial conferences on drug routes 
from Afghanistan.  Churkin called for the third conference to 
be held in late 2010.  END COMMENT.)  Churkin endorsed the 
idea that drug trafficking is a serious and growing threat to 
international peace and security. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
THE "SHARED RESPONSIBILITY" OF TACKLING DRUGS 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Nearly all speakers reinforced the principle of 
"shared responsibility" in tackling international drug 
trafficking.  Mexico lamented that there has been a normative 
framework to combat drugs since the 1980s, but "we still have 
not been able to curb" drug trafficking.  Many member states 
framed the concept of shared responsibility in the context of 
the UN's integrated peacebuilding and development strategies. 
 Burkinabe Foreign Minister Yoda stated that the Council 
should include drug trafficking in the UN's integrated 
strategies, "as a matter of international peace and 
security." 
 
¶8. (SBU) A number of non-Council speakers mostly from the NAM 
or G-77 warned that the UNSC should not try to place drug 
trafficking onto its agenda.  (COMMENT: Vietnam also raised 
this idea during Council experts' discussions on December 4 
and 7, but did not reference UNGA's primacy in its Council 
intervention. END COMMENT.)  Bolivia, Egypt (as NAM Chair), 
Peru, and Venezuela were careful to make sure they mentioned 
what UNGA has done, and will continue to do, as the UN body 
primarily responsible for drug-related topics. 
 
¶9. (U) Venezuelan PermRep Valero said that drug trafficking 
is not under the jurisdiction of the Council, per the UN 
Charter, and that the issue needed to be dealt with in an 
inclusive fashion.  He said the Council's inability to manage 
its current workload (specifically the "ineptitude" shown 
since it does nothing about the flagrant disregard Israel has 
for resolutions the Council has adopted against it) suggests 
it should not take up another issue, like drugs. 
 
------------ 
UNODC'S ROLE 
------------ 
 
¶10. (U) Most speakers praised UNODC's role in fighting drug 
trafficking and organized crime.  Ambassador Rice and others 
welcomed the results of the donors' meeting that UNODC 
co-hosted with the Austrian Government in Vienna on December 
¶3.  As Rice and Costa did, most speakers linked issues 
related to drug trafficking to rule of law and national 
capacity.  Sweden, on behalf of the European Union, exerted 
that better regulatory frameworks and socio-economic 
stability will help fight supply and demand of drugs 
worldwide. 
 
-------------- 
IRAN'S EFFORTS 
-------------- 
 
¶11. (U) Iranian PermRep Khazaee spoke of his country's 
sacrifice of thousands of police personnel over the years in 
curtailing illegal narcotics.  He also mentioned that Iran 
had mobilized 30,000 troops along its borders to fight drug 
flows.  He finished by stating that Iran hopes the London 
conference on Afghanistan in January 2010 will reflect the 
international community's commitment to combat drug 
production and trafficking originating from that country. 
 
¶12. (U) The following representatives (in addition to the 
UNSC members) spoke at the open debate: African Union, 
Algeria, Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, 
Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt (as NAM Chair), 
ECOWAS, Ghana, Iran, Italy, Luxembourg, Mali, Morocco, 
Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sweden (as EU President), and 
Venezuela.  A complete transcript of the debate can be found 
on the Security Council page at the UN web site, 
www.un.org/Docs/sc, under "Meetings." 
RICE