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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Tarikh/Date : 01/06/87
Tajuk/Title : THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING
Mr. Secretary-General;
Excellencies;
Distinguished delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you Mr. Secretary-General for having officiated
the occasion. I remain indebted to you for your kind
sentiments. Your commitment to the fight against drug abuse
and illicit trafficking is well known. It was your address
at the Economic and Social Council on 24 May, 1985 calling
for a global concerted and comprehensive undertaking that
has brought about this Conference.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
2. I am very grateful for the honour you have conferred on
me, to preside over this Conference on Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking. I can only promise that I shall do my
utmost to ensure the success of this Conference. I accept
this heavy responsibility with some trepidation but I am
confident that I shall be guided by your collective wisdom
and the unswerving unity of purpose on an issue, a scourge,
that spares neither individual nor institution. We have
before us an important task, a fateful one. In the next
several days we must harness all our determination and our
expertise to chart a clear programme to rid us and the
society we live in of the cancer within our midst; drugs and
the peddlers that make profit of human misery. Let us
therefore work towards ensuring that we accomplish this task
to the best of our abilities in order that the world will
benefit from it.
3. Time and effort move on a continuum. It is a truism
that major achievements of Man have been the result of hard
work in a continuing process -- of responses to changes and
challenges in dynamic situations. It is equally true that
major achievements have been possible when we pause along
the way to take stock of the situation, to make critical
adjustments before we continue on a course.
4. Our meeting today has this significance -- this
opportunity to look critically at our work, at what we have
done in the past, that will help us improve and take timely
decisions for the future.
5. Today we bring to fruition more than two years of
painstaking preparations. But we are also setting out on a
new beginning. The start of an important quest -- that of
seeking and galvanising the political will of all nations to
act in concert against the plague that has afflicted the
international community -- the pervasive spread of drug
abuse and illicit trafficking.
6. It is not true that the United Nations lacked a
programme against drug abuse. On the contrary, the United
Nations had continued the work of drug control functions
formerly carried out by the League of Nations. It was under
UN auspices that the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs was adopted. This represents a significant effort by
the international community to bring together various
decisions and agreements into a coherent and effective
entity. The 1961 convention was subsequently amended by
the 1972 protocol. Additionally in 1971, following a clear
realisation of inherent inadequacies in the 1961 convention,
the Convention on Psychotropic Substances was adopted. In
1981, the UN General Assembly adopted the international drug
abuse control strategy aimed at combatting drug abuse and
illegal trafficking. This evolved into a 5 year programme
of action in 1982. In 1984, the Assembly by its declaration
on the control of drug trafficking and drug abuse, declared
that trafficking in narcotic drugs, and drug abuse had
become an 'international criminal activity', demanding the
most urgent attention and maximum priority of the
international community, and that eradication of illicit
trafficking in narcotic drugs was the collective
responsibility of all states.
7. Clearly, therefore, there was no lack of intention or
programme on the part of the UN; rather it had been the
inadequate commitment, the insufficient manifestation of the
political will in many producing, transit and consuming
countries to act in concert against this common problem that
has allowed the rapid spread of drug abuse and illicit
trafficking. One unofficial estimate put the size of the
global trade in illicit drugs at US$300 billion, a mind
boggling figure, but to counter this, the United Nations
system as a whole can only mobilise a budget of several
hundreds million dollars. This is but one measure of the
inadequacy of our response.
8. Our inadequate response is perhaps symptomatic of our
different perceptions. For some Governments in consuming
countries, drug abuse and addiction is held to be a social
aberration, akin and on the same level as cigarette smoking
and alcoholism; for many in the producing countries, the
dilemma is more fundamental. Social restructuring becomes a
major and sensitive problem as production has historical and
cultural roots. Finding an alternative to what many hill
tribesmen and villagers have come to consider as a primary
source of income will be a challenge for Governments in
these producing countries. For transit countries, the
frustration is how to stem the flood caused by the enormous
profits that trafficking generates and equally important is
how to prevent drug addiction and to rehabilitate those who
have become addicted either as a result of the availability
of drugs left unsold because of interdiction in consuming
countries or as a result of demand from a home-grown addict
population.
9. A most serious manifestation, for a growing number of
countries in Latin America, North America and South East
Asia is that the drug problem has become a security problem
with implications for the country's continued viability and
the maintenance of its national sovereignty.
10. Against this background, it is my view that this
Conference is not only to work out or negotiate specific
programme proposals for implementation. This will be
largely the task of the competent technical bodies such as
the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the International
Narcotics Control Board, the United Nations Fund for Drug
Abuse Control, in the first instance and many other UN
agencies such as the World Health Organisation, the
International Labour Organisation, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, and the
relevant chapters of non-governmental organisations. The two
sessions of the Preparatory Body for this Conference had
established valuable guidelines to the Conference
Secretariat to produce the Comprehensive Multidisciplinary
Outline (CMO) of future activities on drug abuse control
which is being examined and finalised for adoption as
possible guidelines for specific project development and
for implementation at national, regional and international
levels. What this Conference should focus upon is the
manifestation of the political will to act in concert
against the drug menace. The significance of this cannot be
over emphasised.
11. How this manifestation should be expressed is for this
Conference to formulate. Its major significance lies in
that Governments, henceforth, will be reminded of their
commitment expressed at this Conference to act together to
effectively combat drug abuse and trafficking as a global
problem. For the international drug problem has assumed
such scope and extent that an effective campaign against it
cannot be mounted without international cooperation.
12. The expression of commitment that must emanate from
this Conference is important not only as a reference and
reminder of a Government's moral obligation, it must also be
a powerful message to the drug traffickers that their
activities cannot continue with impunity -- that henceforth,
there will be a heavy price for them to pay.
13. Equally important is the message to the international
community, to public opinion, the ordinary man in the
street, that their Governments are now agreed to act in
concert against those traffickers who have brought misery
and havoc to their communities. Let us show that we are
indeed doing so by ensuring the early adoption of the new
convention against illicit traffic in narcotics and
psychotropic substances.
14. For all these messages to get through, for their
objectives to be understood and to be realised, it is
important that this Conference approaches the drafting of
its decisions clearly so that there can be no ambiguity
about the determination to eliminate illicit drug
trafficking is unequivocal and their resolve to help those
already given to addiction to enable them to return as
useful members of society is unquestioned. These, ladies and
gentlemen, should be our primary and rightful focus.
15. In the context of national efforts, many countries are
already compelled to exert the required political will to
act against the drug threat because of dire necessity. The
experiences of many have also taught us an important lesson;
that to effectively counter the drug problem, action must be
undertaken in a coordinated manner and directed by the
highest political level working in tandem with the
administrative and judicial system in the country. No means
can be spared. The struggle against drug abuse and illicit
trafficking must also be undertaken at the social and
economic level.
16. Internationally, regional collaboration in the fight
against drug abuse and illicit trafficking has been
relatively well developed. This is evident in Latin America,
in Europe, the Middle East and in ASEAN -- but there is room
to increase these regional efforts particularly among
states that have become staging posts for the transit of
illicit drug consignments. Perhaps a major weakness which
this Conference can address is the inter-regional
cooperation which is still in its early stages of
development. While there has been cooperation between the
European Economic community and ASEAN there is strong
potential for developing such cooperation between the sub-
regions of Asia, Africa, Western Europe and the Americas.
17. Another major focus is to strengthen the role of
international institutions to supplement the national,
regional and inter-regional efforts. Here I must commend
the 40 years of good work done by the United Nations' system
in the global effort to combat the drug problem. Of the
implementing agencies, impact has been made by the United
Nations Fund For Drug Abuse Control (UNFDAC) whose projects
cover the entire range of narcotic control activities
including integrating rural development and crop
substitution, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts,
preventive education and information, law enforcement
assistance, and training and research.
18. We welcome the role played by the World Health
Organisation (WHO). The WHO has the difficult task of
carrying out the responsibilities assigned to it by the
international drug control treaties. It plays a pivotal role
in helping to determine which substances should be placed
under international control in accordance with the
provisions of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.
19. The contribution made by the International Labour
Organisation is also significant. Its work focuses on drug
abuse in the workplace and on vocational rehabilitation and
social reintegration of drug dependent persons.
20. Of equal importance is the prevention of drug abuse
through public education and awareness and this has been a
primary preoccupation of the United Nations Education,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The
integration of preventive education concerning drug use into
school curricula and out-of-school education is one of the
most effective measures for averting the serious
consequences of drug abuse among young people and adults.
21. There are of course many other institutions and
organisations. Strengthening these international
institutions and their programmes of work will contribute to
national, inter-regional, regional and global efforts in
accelerated programmes to counter the growing drug menace.
22. For this Conference, extensive groundworks have been
prepared by the two sessions of the Preparatory Body held
here in Vienna in February 1986 and February 1987. It is my
hope that all these groundwork, the result of collaborative
and cooperative action by all participating delegations,
will develop into an agenda for the 1990s for the United
Nations system in the continuing campaign against drug abuse
and illicit trafficking.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
23. The drug problem that confront us is of such magnitude,
such complexity that an effective counter would require our
fullest commitment, cooperation and sustained action. Our
efforts cannot end here at this Conference. The campaign
should rightly form a part of the main agenda of the United
Nations programme for the 1990s.
24. I personally envisage the usefulness of follow-up
meetings, in particular the convening of inter-regional
gatherings of experts and policy makers to be assisted by
the United Nations where appropriate, to examine in greater
detail every aspect of the drug problem. This meeting
should be an inspiration for us to follow through at
regional and national levels the suggested ways and means of
fighting the drug war. We must return from this Conference
with steely resolve to win the war at home. The Conference
is only a success if the joint-efforts and cooperation it
generates are translated into genuine and sustained actions
domestically. The global war against drug will never be
successful if nations continue to maintain passive
resistance even after this Conference.
25. The struggle that we are engaged in today is a struggle
for the minds and hearts of every individual in every
country in every part of the globe. The reason for the rapid
spread of the international drug problem has been our
failure to reach the minds of our people -- to alert them to
the real dangers that drug abuse portends and the havoc it
can create. The tide of the battle cannot be turned around
until we have raised that level of awareness that drug kills
and that drug destroys. We have to correct the fallacy that
drug addiction happens only to someone else's child but
never ours, that the source of the problem lies in some
far-away land but never at home. The battlefront is in each
individual household, each community, each country.
26. Today, the genius of our scientific achievements are
creating tremendous changes in the relationship between man
and his environment. They are also putting to test various
norms and values. Man, clear and steadfast in his
commitment to progress, can bring about bountiful
advancement to all humanity. We can today mine the oceans
and the moon, direct electronic signals and laser beams
through the atmosphere and travel in outerspace. The genius
of man by the grace of God seems to be boundless. Let us
then not destroy this promise of a better future by
succumbing to the ravages of drugs abuse.
27. Our work here is therefore of utmost importance and
priority. Let me conclude by extending to all my good
wishes for success in your deliberations. There will be
many days and nights of hard work but for what the
Conference will accomplish, these efforts will be well worth
our while.
Thank you.
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