Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations Status and Recommendations Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations For more information please contact: 70 A, Jl. Sisingamangaraja United Nations Building Jakarta 12110 Indonesia Rajdamnern Nok Avenue Bangkok 10200 Thailand Specialized Programmes Unit Regional Cooperative Mechanism to Monitor Tel.: (62-21) 724 3372, 726 2991 and Execute the ACCORD Plan of Action Fax: (62-21) 739 8234, 724 3504 E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: (66-2) 288 2100 Fax: (66-2) 288 1006 E-mail: [email protected] Particular acknowledgement is given to the Governments of the United States of America and Japan for supporting the production of this report. Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations Cover Photo by UNODC Myanmar Country Office Acknowledgements “Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations” was prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific in close collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat. Grateful appreciation is expressed to the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) for contributing via regular submissions to the Drug Abuse Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (DAINAP), national reports presented during the ACCORD Task Force meetings and individual consultations. The authors would also like to thank the other contributors to this report. Policy responses proposed by all contributors were useful in compiling the recommendations section of the report. Particular acknowledgement is given to the Governments of the United States of America and Japan for providing funding to support the drafting of the report. ii Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific i Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations Both the ASEAN Secretariat and UNODC serve as Joint Secretariat to ACCORD. The UNODC Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific supports ACCORD through the project “Regional Cooperative Mechanism to Monitor and Execute the ACCORD Plan of Action”. A key output of the Regional Cooperative Mechanism project is monitoring the implementation of the Plan of Action among the participating partner countries. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific 2008 Publication No. 01/2008 This is not an official document of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area under its authority, or concerning the delimitations of its frontiers and boundaries. ii Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations Foreword The ASEAN Foreign Ministers, at the 31st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in July 1998, signed the Joint Declaration for a Drug-Free ASEAN by 2020 that affirmed the Association’s commitment to eradicate illicit drug production, processing, trafficking and abuse by the year 2020 in ASEAN. At the 33rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in July 2000, Governments reiterated their concerns on the threat from the manufacturing, trafficking and abuse of illegal drugs on the security and stability of the ASEAN region and agreed to advance the target year for realizing a Drug-Free ASEAN to 2015. Recent trends on increased illicit drug manufacturing, new trafficking patterns and growing drug abuse calls for countries in the region to intensify their collaborative efforts if a Drug-Free ASEAN is to be realized. The Study on Achieving Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations serves as a timely mid-term progress report for the region and is structured under three questions: ‘Is the commitment achievable?’ ‘Is the region on track towards achieving it?’ ‘What can be done to accelerate progress?’ Based upon latest information available via data collection mechanisms established by various organizations, Government Official Reports, and interviews with national agencies of ASEAN Member States and other drug control stakeholders throughout the region, the report highlights a series of benchmarks and recommendations for Governments to better monitor the overall progress of their drug prevention and control efforts. A final section of the report deals with emerging challenges posed by the accelerated development of trade and transportation networks in the region. To adequately address the anticipated surge of goods and persons through new and more heavily trafficked border crossings, an effective regional response will require a common strategy and coordinated actions. On 29 October 2007, ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD) met in Jakarta to review the Report. Selected recommendations from the Report were endorsed at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Translational Crime (AMMTC) on 6 November 2007 in Brunei Darussalam. Based on the Report, the 6th AMMTC tasked the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD) to determine specific targets and timelines to its Work Plan. I am therefore pleased to present the Report on Achieving Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations and hopes that it will serve as a key reference document in the development of an ASEAN-wide work plan by ASOD. The Report is also designed to assist decision makers with informed choices needed to make important policy decisions in achieving Drug-Free ASEAN 2015. I would like to thank the Department of State of the United Sates of America for funding the Study, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific for preparing the Study, and all concerned national agencies of ASEAN Member States who contributed to this valuable output. Dr. SURIN PITSUWAN Secretary-General of ASEAN iii Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations Foreword At the Thirty-third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok in 2000, Ministers “took note of the threat from drug abuse and drug trafficking on the security and stability of the ASEAN region, particularly its relations with transnational crime” and called for a drug-free ASEAN by 2015.1 Recent documented shifts in illicit drug manufacturing and production, trafficking patterns and abuse trends make it clear that countries in the region must increase their collaborative efforts if this goal is to be realized. “Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations” serves as a timely mid-term progress report for the region and is loosely structured under three questions: ‘Is the commitment achievable?’ ‘Is the region on track towards achieving it?’ ‘What can be done to accelerate progress?’ In the report, national/regional overviews of the illicit drug situation since 2000 include the latest information available via data collection mechanisms established by various UNODC Regional Centre projects, official Government reports and interviews with national counterpart agencies and other drug control stakeholders from throughout the region and beyond. Based upon clearly identified response gaps, the report then proposes a series of benchmarks and recommendations for Governments to better monitor the overall progress of their drug prevention and control efforts. A final section of the report deals with emerging challenges posed by the accelerated development of trade and transportation networks in the region. To adequately address the anticipated surge of goods and persons through new and more heavily trafficked border crossings, an effective regional response will require a common strategy and coordinated actions. In October 2007, ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD) met to review “Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations”. Selected recommendations from the report were then endorsed at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC) in November 2007 in Brunei Darussalam. It is expected that “Drug-Free ASEAN 2015: Status and Recommendations” will serve as a key reference document in the development of an ASEAN-wide work plan by ASOD in the near future. As a collaborative undertaking, this report also highlights the growing cooperation between the ASEAN Secretariat and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific. This not only fosters linkages between various, ongoing drug control frameworks in the region but also ensures closer collaboration between ASEAN and UNODC in the delivery of technical assistance, capacity building initiatives and expert advice. The Regional Centre looks forward to further close collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat in the future while progressing towards a Drug-Free ASEAN 2015. Akira Fujino Representative UNODC Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific 1 Joint Communiqué of the Thirty-third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, Bangkok, Thailand, July 24-25, 2000. Later that same year, under the auspices of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for East Asia and the Pacific, the region again gathered in Bangkok to launch the ACCORD Plan of Action, a cooperative framework for the ASEAN countries and China to respond collectively to the threats posed by dangerous drugs. ACCORD was initiated to support “drug free ASEAN 2015”, with both the ASEAN Secretariat and UNODC serving as the Joint Secretariat.