Einheit 5 - 20.11.2006 - UNO-City 1

Exkursion in die UNO-City am 20.11.2006

I. Vorbemerkung von Stelzer zu Terrorismus und Bedrohung der UNO:

- Bisher: aktiver Terrorismus, der politische Ziele verfolgt

- Neu: Al-Qaida verfolgt keine (halbwegs rationalen) politischen Ziele, daher keine Verhandlungen möglich

- UNO gibt seit 2006 erstmals mehr Geld für Sicherheit als für Personalkosten aus

II. UNODC – UN Office on Drugs and Crime

- deals with dark side of globalization: drug trafficking, weapons, money laundering, trafficking human beings, smuggling of human organs

- staff: 300 employees in Vienna, 700 around the world in field offices; UNODC is a relatively small office

- is part of the UN secretariat and thus no separate organization (unlike UNIDO, etc...)

- as an executive office its purpose is to execute decisions of member states; UNODC assists member states in combating crime

- three pillars of UNODC's work: (1) research / analysis; (2) normative work; (3) field-based assistance

- UNODC tries to make sure that states implement agreements, it does not act as an enforcer but as an enabler (support function)

- its activities are demand-driven and thus depend on member states

- internal tension: sometimes donors want to fund certain projects which might not be supported by all member states

II.1 Drugs

- besides fighting illegal drugs another aspects of UNODC's work is to ensure that sufficient amounts of legal drugs like morphine

- approaches to fighting drugs:

(1) reduce supply:

- crop eradication: most drugs are organic (coca in Andean countries, opium in Afghanistan), crops can therefore be destroyed;

- problem: drugs are grown in poorest parts of the world, they represent income to local farmers (1 ha. option is equivalent to € 5.000)

- alternative development: convince farmers to grow alternative crops;

- promote development so that farmers can gt other crops to market; however, in Afghanistan opium is grown in the most insecure parts of the country

- only 10% of potential farmers receive assistance

- UNODC gives advice, looks for donors

(2) fight drug trafficking:

- coca: from South America ® [ Latin American ® US ] or [ ® Western Africa ® Europe ]

- opium: Afghanistan ® Asia ® Russia ® Balkans ® Europe

- transit countries tend to become drug consumers as well ® spread of HIV

- regional cooperation: drugs take route of weakest resistance ® strenghten weakest countries

- 50% of Afghan opium run through Iran; Iranian government is almost at war with drug traffickers (~ 3.000 Iranian soldiers/police lost since 1979)

- most profits are made down-stream:

- $ 300 bn a year in drug revenues worldwide (estimate)

- street price in London ~ € 75 / gramm heroin, in Kabul only ~ € 3-4 / gramm

(3) reduce demand:

- drug addicts produce demand which has to be met by drug suppliers

- greatest challenge is to reduce demand

II.2 Crime

- includes smuggling, counterfeiting, illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms, etc..

- until recently no international rules ® international UN convention created in 2000 (The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime) which includes protocols on:

(1) trafficking in persons: vulnerable persons (especially women, children) tricked into prostitution, slave labor (often by relatives)

(2) migrants: issue of organized crime; traffickers don't care whether people actually reach destination or whether they die in the attempt

(3) corruption: UN convention in 2005

- key is to get states to implement the convention

- provisions concerning asset recovery, law enforcements

(4) building stable societies: based on rule of law in order to provide security

II.3 Terrorism

- no international convention or internationally accepted definition of terrorism

- fighting terrorism represents growth area for UNODC

- weakest links in international security can no longer be afforded (e.g. failing states) as they are centers for organized crime and terrorism

- strong states have to help weaker states to build capacity

- UNODC created intelligence sharing center in Asia, UNODC tries to increase international cooperation

III. UNIDO – United Nations Industrial Development Organization

Anmerkung: die Präsentationsfolien sollten irgendwann einmal auf http://homepage.univie.ac.at/thomas.stelzer/ zur Verfügung gestellt werden, nachfolgend nur ein paar Notizen, die nicht auf den Folien gestanden sind!

- Major part of UNIDO budget consists of donations; consequently, it is difficult to coordinate interests of bilateral donors

- US not member of UNIDO as it left in 1996; as a consequence UNIDO lost a quarter of its budget

- Currently, Japan is the largest UNIDO member in terms of donations

- UNIDO depends on outside funding for most of its projects; it therefore has liaison-offices to stay in touch with important donors (e.g. in Brussels due to growing importance of the EU commission)