Combating Illegal Drug Trafficking and Drug Abuse Control : 

Towards an ASEAN Drug-Free Zone by the Year 2015

ASEAN Secretariat Information Paper

8th Consultative Meeting of 

Executive Heads of Sub-Regional Organizations

     

ASEAN has long recognized the need to tackle the trafficking and abuse of illegal narcotic drugs.   Soon after establishing ASEAN on 8 August 1967, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (the five founding member States) quickly embarked on cooperation activities to curb drug trafficking, prevent drug abuse and assist drug addicts with treatment and rehabilitation. In 2000 all the 10 Southeast Asian member States [1]  agreed to intensify their cooperation in this crucial area to make the ASEAN region a drug-free zone by the year 2015. This paper outlines ASEAN’s efforts in combating illicit drug trafficking and controlling drug abuse.  

 

Policy Emphasis and Strategy 

 

The first major policy statement on ASEAN cooperation in combating drug trafficking and drug abuse  came in the Declaration of ASEAN Concord, adopted at the First ASEAN Summit in Bali on 24 February 1976.[2]  One of the programmes for ASEAN cooperation in the social area called for:

 

“Intensification of cooperation among member States as well as with the relevant international bodies in the prevention and eradication of the abuse of narcotics and the illegal trafficking of drugs.” 

 

ASEAN Foreign Ministers met in Manila and in June 1976 to discuss follow-up action.  In the ASEAN Declaration of Principles to Combat the Abuse of Narcotic Drugs  issued on 26 June 1976, the Ministers  pledged, among other things, to intensify vigilance and preventive and penal measures with regard to illicit drug trafficking, and to also intensify the involvement of national agencies in close liaison with the Colombo Plan Bureau, the UN and its relevant specialized agencies, and Interpol to combat drug abuse.

 

In 1985,  when ASEAN Foreign Ministers  reviewed  the situation on the international drug problem, they expressed their “very grave concern” at the continuing spread in drug abuse and illicit trafficking.  In the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Joint Statement on the International Problem of Drug Abuse and Trafficking, issued in Kuala Lumpur on 9 July 1985,   the Ministers  called for “urgent international cooperative action” to combat   illicit drug trafficking and drug abuse.

 

In this connection, the Ministers warmly welcomed the proposal of the UN Secretary-General to convene the World Conference at the Ministerial Level in 1987 on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.  They proposed that the World Conference focus on the following areas :  

(i) Exchange of experience and methodologies in law enforcement, preventive education, research and development of manpower in relation to the prevention and control of drug abuse;  

     

(ii) Creation of a heightened worldwide awareness of the pernicious effect of the abuse of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances from the security social, cultural and humanitarian view points;  

     

(iii) The harmonization of legislation relating to adequate punishment against drug traffickers, including, consideration of forfeitures of illegally acquired assets of drug traffickers;  

   

(iv) The eradication of the sources of raw materials for illicit drugs through a comprehensive programme of crop substitution and occupational  diversification;  

   

(v) The control of production and distribution of narcotic and psychotropic substances with a view to limiting their use to medical and scientific purposes; and  

  

(vi) Strengthening the capacity of the drug control entities such as the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control, the International Narcotics Control Board and the Division of Narcotic Drugs of the United Nations Secretariat through an organizational review including the possible amalgamation of the activities, and the coordination of sub- activities through the appointment of a high-level executive coordinator.

ASEAN as a Drug-Free Zone by 2015

 

At the Fifth ASEAN Summit, held in Bangkok on 14-15 December 1995,  ASEAN Leaders announced in their Bangkok Declaration, among other things, that  cooperative efforts against drug abuse and illicit trafficking would be further enhanced, with special emphasis  given to demand reduction programmes and information exchange and dissemination, with the aim of creating a drug-free ASEAN.

 

In 1997, ASEAN Leaders included the goal of a drug-free ASEAN in their  ASEAN Vision 2020, issued in Kuala Lumpur on 15 December 1997.  The ASEAN Vision 2020 stated in part  that :

 

“We see well before 2020 a Southeast Asia free of illicit drugs, free of their  production, processing, trafficking and use.”

 

ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed on a set of 14 measures to achieve a drug-free ASEAN by 2020 at the 31st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) held in Manila in 1998.  They listed on the Joint Declaration for A Drug-Free ASEAN 2020 as follows :

 

1. Seek all modalities to eradicate illicit drug production, processing, trafficking and use in ASEAN by the year 2020.

       

2. Strengthen and promote linkage among existing regional institutional mechanisms involved in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking, such as the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD), ASEAN Chiefs of National Police (ASEANAPOL), the ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meeting   (ASLOM), the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Youth (ASY) and the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime, the 1993 MOU countries on Drug Control (Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam), and the ASEAN Secretariat.

 

3. Enter into collaborative undertakings, in the interest of continued development and upgrading of human resources, with ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners [3] to help curb illicit drug abuse, production, and trafficking in the region, particularly in the areas of law enforcement, intelligence,

rehabilitation and treatment, alternative development, preventive education, preventive information, community participation, research and human resource development.

 

4. Seek the review of jurisprudence related to illicit drug abuse and trafficking and move for the passage of stricter laws on these crimes against society.

 

5. Upgrade and expand regional and national data banks on illicit drugs, to include more information on illicit drug production and trafficking, existing drug control activities, programmes and legislation, evaluation methodologies and resource experts.

 

6. Expand awareness, education and rehabilitation programmes among the region's youth, including the work programme on Skills Training for Out-of-School Youth, to eliminate the demand for illicit drugs by the year 2020. 

        

7. Establish programmes to tackle the growing problem of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS), with the view to strengthening the national regulatory, legal and administrative controls over the import, export, distribution, manufacture and use of the ATS synthetic drugs. 

         

8. Intensify partnerships with relevant international agencies and organizations such as the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), the World Health Organization, World Customs Council,  the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Colombo Plan Secretariat, and  Interpol. 

        

 

9. Strengthen the existing ASEAN Training Centres for human resource development in related fields on narcotics law enforcement, preventive education, treatment and rehabilitation, and research.

                  

10. Intensify the exchange of information among ASEAN Member Countries.

 

11. Continue  to  expand  and  enhance   the  role    of non-governmental organization organizations (NGOs), as well as the private sector in collaborative alliances in the development and implementation of drug abuse prevention and control programmes and activities.

       

12. Work for the immediate ratification by all ASEAN Member Countries of relevant international treaties and  agreements  on  illicit  drug  abuse and trafficking.

       

13. Reinforce cooperation and coordination among ASEAN Member Countries, especially in the areas of investigation, prosecution, mutual legal assistance, inquiry, forfeiture of property, rehabilitation and treatment, preventive education, and research to help combat illicit drug abuse and trafficking.

       

14. Identification and promotion of alternative sources of livelihood for people who are expected to be adversely affected by the curtailment, and eventually, stoppage of drug production.

Working towards a drug-free ASEAN is in line with the goal of the UN to create a drug-free world.  In September 1998, at the UN General Assembly’s special session on Countering World Drug Problem,  UN member States committed themselves to achieving significant and measurable results in demand reduction by the year 2008.  They  committed  to establishing the year 2003 as a target date for new or enhanced drug demand-reduction strategies and programmes.  They called for the establishment or strengthening by the year 2003 of national legislation and programmes, giving effect to the Action Plan against illicit manufacture, trafficking and abuse of the ATS. 

 

In the wake of the growing links between drug trafficking and other transnational crimes, including money laundering and arms smuggling, and international terrorism, the drug problem is now widely considered as  a major source of non-traditional threat to national and regional security.  Drug trafficking as a non-traditional security threat was  addressed at the 33rd AMM in Bangkok in 2000.   ASEAN Foreign Ministers  agreed  to enhance joint efforts among all affected States in combating the drug menace.  Special attention was to be given to curbing the rapidly spreading trafficking and abuse of  synthetic amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS). The ATS can be easily produced from readily available chemicals in small workshops.  This makes detection and suppression  extremely difficult.

 

To further underline their commitment to overcome the drug problem, ASEAN Foreign  Ministers advanced the target year for realizing the drug-free ASEAN from 2020 to 2015.

 

ACCORD Plan of Action

 

Thailand and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organized the International Congress “In Pursuit of a Drug-Free ASEAN 2015” in Bangkok from 11-13 October 2000.   Altogether 36 countries [4] and 16 international organizations [5] attended the International Congress.  In their joint Bangkok Political Declaration, the participants  endorsed  the ASEAN and China Cooperative Operations in Response to Dangerous Drugs (ACCORD)  and committed to support the implementation of the ACCORD   Plan of Action. And they called upon the UN system and invited the European Union, international financial institutions, including the ADB, to support the ACCORD Plan of Action the pursuit of a drug-free ASEAN 2015.

 

Now the UNODC, ASEAN and China are taking the lead in mobilizing funding support for the Plan of Action.  They are also the prime movers in promoting cooperation partnerships under the Plan of Action.  

The Plan of Action  has four pillars :

1. Advocacy : focusing on proactively advocating civic awareness on the dangers of drugs and on social response;

2. Demand reduction : focusing on building consensus and sharing best practices on demand reduction;

3. Law enforcement : focusing on strengthening the rule of law by an enhanced network of control measures and improved law enforcement cooperation and legislative review; and

4. Alternative development : focusing on eliminating the supply of illicit drugs by boosting alternative development programmes and community participation in the eradication of illicit crops.

Four task forces have been established to work on each of the  four pillars.   Each of them is responsible for  strengthening  coordination, identifying priority actions and defining measurable indicators and identifying responsible agencies for the implementation of identified  actions.

In addition, the Regional Cooperative Mechanism to Monitor and Facilitate the Execution of the ACCORD Plan of Action has been established.  It is  monitoring and facilitating  a regional computerized information network through which  participating countries and international organizations  exchange information related to their national and multilateral drug control activities, projects and progress made under the ACCORD Plan of Action. 

 

ASEAN Drugs Awareness Years: 2002-2003

 

During the 34th AMM in Ha Noi in 2001, ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed to designate the year 2002-2003 as "ASEAN Drugs Awareness Years" in order to help raise the public awareness in ASEAN of the dangers of drug abuse and to mobilize  support for further strengthening the regional  efforts in combating illicit drug trafficking and controlling drug abuse in order to  realize the goal of a drug-free zone in ASEAN.

As part of the activities under this two-year programme, ASEAN member States have formulated National Plans on Drug Awareness. ASEAN is also working more closely on joint activities with NGOs and mass media to support the Drugs Awareness Campaign. A workshop on Reporting and Broadcasting on Drug Matters for Media Personnel in Indonesia was jointly organized in Jakarta by the ASEAN Secretariat and Indonesian anti-drugs NGOs in August 2002. 

   

ASEAN Mechanisms

 

At the frontline in ASEAN’s battle against illicit drug abuse and trafficking is  the ASEAN Senior Officials on Drug Matters (ASOD).  Consisting of the heads of the primary anti-narcotic agencies of the member States, usually at the level of Permanent Secretary or Vice Minister, ASOD was founded in 1972.   ASOD reports to and seeks policy guidance from ASEAN Foreign Ministers.

 

ASOD has four Working Groups, one each on  :  Prevention Education; Treatment and Rehabilitation; Law Enforcement; and Research.   ASOD meets once every 18 months in the member country chairing the body.  The current chairman of ASOD is Dato’ Hj. Wan Ibrahim bin Wan Ahmad, Director General of the National Narcotics Agency, Ministry of Home Affairs of Malaysia.  Observers from Interpol, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (aka UNDCP)  and relevant NGOs, including the ASEAN International Federation of Non-Governmental Organization in the Prevention of Drug Abuse, which is based in Kuala Lumpur)  are  invited to attend.  The ASOD chairmanship changes in alphabetical rotation every 18 months among the ASEAN member States. .   After  Malaysia, Myanmar will take over the  ASOD chairmanship starting in the third quarter of this year.  Myanmar’s focal point in ASOD is the Joint Secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, Ministry of Home Affairs.

 

The 23rd ASOD Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur in October 2002 agreed that ASOD would play a greater role in regional policy-making on drug issues and should be in the driver’s seat on policy issues in ASEAN. Hence, ASOD would play a more active role in  policy coordination with special emphasis on issues relating to law enforcement, legislation, and policy making.

 

In the area of legislation, ASOD is working  on the  harmonization of drug laws in ASEAN member States. Bridging the differences in the respective countries legal systems would facilitate effective law enforcement and give equivalent punishment to drug traffickers. ASEAN realizes that drug traffickers should not be allowed to flaunt and take advantage of the differences in the legal systems and penal laws of member States.

 

To this end, ASOD is facilitating the exchange of information on member States’ drug laws and legislations. Cooperation between government anti-drug agencies and  legislative bodies are being promoted.  The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization (AIPO) has been enlisted in this effort, particularly in bridging the gaps in  the penalty for drug offences in national laws.

 

ASOD is working closely with the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) to tackle the drug problem as part of the fight against transnational crimes.   The 2nd Annual SOMTC in Kuala Lumpur in 2002 adopted the Work Programme to Implement the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime.   One of the  eight priority areas under the Plan of Action to  Combat Transnational Crime is directed at tackling illicit drug trafficking. It includes measures and initiatives based upon six strategic thrusts, namely : information exchange, cooperation in legal and law enforcement matters, institutional capacity building, training and external cooperation.

 

ASEAN has established the ASEAN-European Commission (EC) Sub-Committee on Narcotics.  The 1st Meeting of ASEAN-EC Sub-Committee on Narcotics was held in Kuala Lumpur in 2002. The Sub-Committee is a forum for  policy dialogue.   ASEAN and the European Commission have been  working toward  enhancing  information exchange linkages, strategy coordination, training programmes and  identifying areas of future cooperation on demand reduction, treatment/rehabilitation, chemical precursors diversion, monitoring of precursors, the prevention of money laundering associated with illicit drug trafficking and the Early Warning System.

 

Recently the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the ASEAN Secretariat and the UNODC on Drug Control and Crime Prevention Corporation has been signed and put into effect. The main thrust of the MOU is to further promote closer relationship and cooperation between the ASEAN Secretariat and the UNODC in combating drug problems in the region by identifying and developing joint technical cooperation projects and programmes.  

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[1]        Brunei Darussalam joined ASEAN in 1984. Laos and Myanmar followed suit in 1997 and two years later Cambodia became the 10th member.

              

[2]        All the ASEAN documents mentioned in this paper (in italics) can be found on the web site of the ASEAN Secretariat at :  www.aseansec.org

               

[3]        ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners are : 

            Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia, the United States of America, and the UNDP. Pakistan is a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN.

              

[4]        They are : Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary (Observer), India, Indonesia, Israel (Observer)  Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia (Observer) Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Viet Nam.

              

[5]        They included : ESCAP, UNIDO, ILO, WHO, UNICEF, NUESCO, UNDP, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNDCP, European Commission, Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse Prevention Asia-Pacific Region, Rural Development Asia, Duang Prateep Foundation, CARE.

 

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