Narcotic Drugs Commission wants special session to help fight illicit trafficking; stronger funding needed.

Amidst deep concern about lack of funds for United Nations bodies dealing with the drug threat, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs has called for a five-day special session to be held in 1990 to help widen the fight against illicit traffic in drugs.

Its thirty-third regular session (617 February, Vienna) ended just two months after the adoption of a new international Convention that would allow courts to confiscate drug profits, penetrate traditional bank secrecy that shields drug money laundering, and extradite offenders.

The Commission urged States to apply the Convention, devoting enough resources and taking the necessary legal and administrative measures for its effective implementation.

In an opening statement, Commission Chairman Dilshad Najmuddin of Pakistan said that any effective curb on drug abuse must draw strength from a strategy based on demand reduction.

The session focused on what the UN could do to help countries apply the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, which so far has been signed by more than 60 States. The 34-article text was unanimously adopted at a plenipotentiary conference on 19 December 1988 in Vienna.

In approving a variety of resolutions-many for consideration by the Economic and Social Council-the Commission recommended that the UN give legal aid to developing countries to bring their legislation in line with the Convention. High priority should be given to training drug enforcement officials from those countries. Three training centres should be set up in Africa, possibly in Morocco, Egypt and Kenya.

The upsurge of illegal drug activity in Africa prompted the Commission to ask African States to develop rapid information exchange systems at the national and regional levels and to get the right equipment to detect narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. International technical aid should be given to those countries for setting up laboratories.

African States should also make epidemiological studies on the extent of drug abuse and illicit traffic, enact national drug control laws, establish national units to apply international drug treaties and co-ordinate drug control programmes at the regional level.

The Commission placed two psychotropic substances-buprenorphine and pemoline-under international control.

It also decided to consider the advisability of preparing a special report on the abuse and illicit traffic of fenetylline, a psychotropic substance, in the Near and Middle East.

Six countries were recommended for membership in the SubCommission on Illicit Drug Traffic and Related Matters in the Near and Middle East-Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Priority to fight against drugs

Opening the session, Margaret J. Anstee, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna, said the time had come to take a hard decision and provide the inter- national drug control bodies, as well as national drug control authorities, with necessary resources.

During intense debate on the budget that followed, Francisco Ramos-Galino, Director of the UN Division of Narcotic Drugs, said that sufficient resources had not been provided to achieve the 35 targets agreed upon at the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The Division had been trying to do miracles within very limited and now declining resources, Mr. Ramos Galino said. With 25 per cent of its staff cut, it had been unable to start developing an international drug abuse assessment information system. The United States had made a contribution specifically earmarked for this programme, he said.

Many delegations considered funding for UN drug-related activities insufficient. Which programmes should have priority and which should be dropped or reduced was discussed.

After much debate, it was agreed that despite budget difficulties, a special session should take place in 1990. Members and observers were asked to review the usefulness of UN publications and documentation on narcotic drugs.

The international drug control programme should have appropriate resources and priority, the Commission asserted. A resolution adopted by consensus asked Member States to provide the Division and the Secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board with the necessary resources to discharge fully the tasks entrusted to them, including their additional responsibilities under the new Convention.

Action on whether to increase the Commission membership from 40 to 50 members was postponed.