OSCE States to discuss economic impact of drug trafficking

The economic impact of drug trafficking will be the core topic of a two-day seminar organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), set to open in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent on Monday. “The issue of trafficking needs to be wider understood,” Ivo Kersten, advisor to the OSCE Coordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities told IRIN from Vienna. “This is a comprehensive security issue among all the OSCE states,” he explained, noting the major economic impact it was having around the world. According to the group, illicit production and trafficking of drugs has become one of the greatest modern blights on humanity and despite its economic impact, has so far received comparatively little attention. However, Kersten noted that the issue of trafficking had been high on the OSCE’s agenda over the past few years, taking into account the economic perspective. “There is a lot of research and analysis to be done so that we can really understand the issue and we can come up with better, broader based recommendations for policy changes,” he explained. In an OSCE report analysing the economics of drug trafficking, the International Narcotics Control Board was quoted as saying: “Only one percent of the money [...] spent by drug abusers is generated as farm income in developing countries. The remaining 99 percent of global illicit drug income goes to drug trafficking groups operating at various other points along the drug trafficking chain.” Other data suggested that two-thirds of the profits gained in drug trafficking is reaped in developed countries, and only one-third in countries in transition. And although the economic aspects of drug trafficking differ widley between the OSCE states, it is widely accepted that its negative impact is especially high on the economies of transition countries. Still another problem closely linked to drug trafficking is the growth in the rate of HIV-infection. The dire economic and social situation in transition countries has led to an increase in drug trafficking, with increased availability and lower prices of heroin and other drugs. Practices such as needle-sharing are commonplace, and provide as a result, fertile ground for the rapid spreading of HIV, the OSCE report said. But Kersten added that the impact of trafficking in light weapons and small arms and human beings, also needed to be understood given the economic perspective to better deal with the issue long-term,” he said, noting, that drugs was just one component of the equation. Some 120 participants, including UN experts and law enforcement authorities, are expected to participate in an effort to highlight the visible and hidden consequences of drug trafficking on the economies of the 55 OSCE participating States, including its impact on investment, employment - and in terms of the generated costs, through the loss of productivity and the greater need for more expensive health care programmes. As the economic aspects vary widely - as do the kind of drugs that are part of the problem - the Tashkent seminar will focus its analysis on heroin trafficking, primarily of Afghan origin, via Central Asia, the Caucasus and southeastern Europe to western Europe; the trafficking of synthetic drugs; as well as the trafficking of so-called precursors, the basic chemical materials used to produce various drugs. Discussions will focus on the root causes of drug trafficking, financial flows and money laundering, the investment climate, the links between trafficking networks, and their transportation routes. For the OSCE, the fight against trafficking - in human beings, small arms and light weapons as well as in drugs - has been declared a top priority for the 2003 Netherlands Chairmanship. The economic impact of all these forms of trafficking will be the main topic of this year’s OSCE Economic Forum, set to take place from 20 to 23 May in the Czech capital, Prague. The Tashkent seminar is the last of the three preparatory seminars leading up to the Forum. Together with the previous two seminars, it will prove instrumental in obtaining insight in the inter-linkages between the various types of trafficking.