29 January 2003
State Dept. Official Says OAS Anti-Drug Strategy is Proving Effective
(Paul Simons reiterates U.S. support for MEM process) (970)
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- A system created to measure the effectiveness of
counter-drug programs in each of the 34 member nations of the
Organization of American States (OAS) is improving the capacity of
Western Hemisphere governments to combat illegal drugs, says State
Department official Paul Simons.
Speaking at a January 29 news conference to announce the release of
new reports on the effectiveness of counter-drug strategies in the OAS
member states, Simons reiterated Washington's "strong support" for the
evaluation process, known as the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism
(MEM).
Simons said the MEM is helping countries in the hemisphere develop
their anti-drug strategies, put resources to work toward curbing the
drug problem, and address such issues as demand-and-supply reduction.
The MEM was put into operation in 1999, as a result of mandates set
the year before at the Second Summit of the Americas in Santiago,
Chile.
The OAS' "collaborative multilateral process ... is making a
difference on the ground," said Simons, the State Department's acting
assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law
enforcement affairs.
While praising the MEM, Simons said the United States is required by
federal laws to produce its own annual report card describing how
countries are meeting their international counter-narcotics
responsibilities. He added, however, that this evaluation method has
been modified in the last several years so that the U.S. president is
required to identify only those countries that have "failed
demonstrably" to meet their anti-drug commitments. The State
Department is expected to release shortly the next such U.S. anti-drug
evaluation report.
Asked about Mexico's efforts in fighting illegal drugs, Simons said
that U.S.-Mexico law enforcement cooperation against drugs "has never
been better than it is today."
Simons said the two countries have formed specialized working groups
examining such areas as drug interdiction, extradition of drug
criminals, transshipment of illegal chemicals, money-laundering
concerns, and demand reduction, as well as specific programs to stem
trafficking of illegal drugs at the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Our collaborative work -- both operational and policy-wise with the
Mexican government -- is at a level that we really haven't seen
anytime before," said Simons.
The country-by-country reports were released by the OAS'
Inter-American Drug Abuse Commission (known by its Spanish acronym
CICAD), which also evaluated overall hemispheric progress against
illegal drugs. The reports, which cover 2001 and 2002, include
recommendations on steps each country can take to strengthen its
anti-drug efforts.
The OAS said the new reports paint a "picture of mixed results"
regarding the hemisphere's fight against illegal drugs. For instance,
the OAS said that while virtually every country now has a national
anti-drug strategy in place, many of them are under-funded or lack a
system to measure compliance. Similarly, most countries have set up
specialized financial intelligence units to track and analyze
suspicious transactions, the OAS said, "but so far these have largely
been deficient in combating money laundering," which is tied to the
illegal drug trade.
The reports evaluate how each country measures up to a series of 83
indicators covering all aspects of the drug problem. The MEM is
described as an objective governmental evaluation by experts from each
country to improve hemispheric cooperation and coordination on the
drug issue; no country is permitted to assess its own performance.
Mexico's attorney general and CICAD chairman, Rafael Macedo de la
Concha, said the Western Hemisphere is setting an example "for the
rest of the world to follow in terms of international cooperation to
combat drugs." The MEM, he said, "gives us an effective tool that
ensures follow-up and accountability in this effort."
Speaking in Spanish, Macedo emphasized that the goal behind the MEM is
to achieve "better efficiency" in the fight against drug trafficking
and organized crime in the hemisphere.
Only if all governments and societies act in a "cohesive manner will
we be able to win this fight against an enemy which hides in
anonymity, violence, and death," said Macedo.
He indicated that the countries of the hemisphere have made great
progress in fighting corruption, arms trafficking, and money
laundering, and in expanding their judicial reach internationally with
regard to fighting drug trafficking and organized crime.
On the negative side, however, the OAS report found that despite the
recommendations from the first MEM evaluation for 1999-2000, several
countries in the region have failed to sign and ratify international
anti-drug conventions. These countries argue that their domestic
legislation contains "instruments of superior scope and coverage
compared to international treaty provisions," the OAS report said.
"This clearly represents an enormous weakness that increases the
vulnerability of the hemisphere by enabling criminal organizations,
whose decisions are transnational and immediate by nature, to reap the
benefits of their actions," the report added.
CICAD's vice chairman, Paul Kennedy, emphasized that MEM's whole
premise is "an objective assessment" by experts who are not from the
country being evaluated.
"We don't want to have a conflict of interest," said Kennedy, who is
Canada's senior assistant deputy solicitor general. "We are extremely
realistic in what we are trying to accomplish with this document."
Kennedy said the MEM's 83 indicators do not simply look at drug
trafficking in terms of supply and consumption, but also examine
related criminality -- which he identified as arms smuggling,
corruption, and money laundering.
Kennedy hailed the MEM as a guideline for all hemispheric countries in
the collective fight against drug trafficking and related issues. That
fight, he said, presents great challenges for all countries in the
world.
"No [country] is immune" from the drug problem, he said. "We're all
fighting it."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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