Agenda

Addressing the narcotics situation in Afghanistan with special emphasis on Taliban controlled pan Asian drug lines.

Letter from the Executive Board

Greetings Delegates!

Welcome to the UNODC of Sir Mutha Model United Nations – SRMUN. We’re thrilled to serve as your executive board this year and hope to see an active committee rife with constructive debate and discussion.

For two decades, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been helping make the world safer from drugs, organized crime, corruption and terrorism. We are committed to achieving health, security and justice for all by tackling these threats and promoting peace and sustainable well-being as deterrents to them. Because the scale of these problems is often too great for states to confront alone, UNODC offers practical assistance and encourages transnational approaches to action. We do this in all regions of the world through our global programmes and network of field offices.

The Office is committed to supporting Member States in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core. The 2030 Agenda clearly recognizes that the rule of law and fair, effective and humane justice systems, as well as health-oriented responses to drug use, are both enablers for and part of sustainable development.

The background guide will serve as the most fundamental base for your preparation. The Executive Board strongly advises delegates to use this guide only to get a basic idea on the agenda and then to further research on pertinent topics, stances and foreign policies in order to have productive debate and come up with creative solutions for the agenda. The Executive Board looks forward to a productive conference with fun, constructive and engaging debate and hopes to make it an enriching learning experience for all the delegates. On that note, good luck to all the delegates.

Overview

The global trade in illicit Afghan opiates has become one of the world's greatest transnational drug and crime threats, with severe consequences for health, governance and security at national, regional and international levels. Illicit Afghan opiates are trafficked to almost every continent in the world, with the exception of South America, and are trafficked along three broad routes: the Balkan route, the northern route and the southern route. Given the severity of the problem, UNODC and the international community have identified the analysis and monitoring of Afghan opiates as a priority. A dedicated project was established in 2008 to help monitor and achieve a better understanding of the global impact of Afghan opiates.

Introduction

Afghan heroin is trafficked to every region of the world except Latin America. A global network of routes, facilitated by international and domestic crime groups ensures that heroin is trafficked from production countries in South West Asia to global consumer markets. Multiple factors affect traffickers’ choice of routes including risk of detection, geo-political changes, logistical difficulties, topographic considerations and existing relationships between criminal groups.

Three broad trafficking routes have been identified for the movement of Afghan heroin. The “northern route” is the main heroin trafficking corridor linking Afghanistan to Central Asia and the large market of the Russian Federation. An emerging network of trajectories known collectively as the “southern route” travels southward from Afghanistan, either through Pakistan or the Islamic Republic of Iran1 , crosses the Indian Ocean and targets Africa, Europe, and Asia. The third and oldest route is an overland trajectory that crosses the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey and South-Eastern Europe to Western and Central Europe and is colloquially known as the “Balkan route”. Africa has traditionally been perceived as a transit region for heroin and other drugs moving to destination markets in Western and Central Europe, but drug trafficking and organized crime increasingly pose a multifaceted challenge to health, the rule of law and development within the continent itself. Additionally, drug traffickers, insurgent groups and terrorists all thrive in parts of Africa where there is minimal legitimate government authority, which in turn poses a wider threat to security and development across the continent. Research is still limited in this area, and although direct links between terrorist groups and opiate traffickers have not yet been identified, it is possible that such relationships may be occurring within Africa, or may develop in future.

Methods of Trafficking

Four basic methods for transporting opiates from South West Asia to Africa are highlighted in this background guide: postal trafficking, maritime trafficking by sea (including in cargo and small boats), trafficking by air (in cargo, luggage and hidden on the bodies of couriers) and trafficking by land (including in vehicles through trade crossings and unguarded borders, in luggage and hidden on the body).

Of the four types, data from Africa shows that land trafficking to Africa is not commonly utilized, with exception of Northern Africa, where Egypt in particular, is supplied by land with heroin from Afghanistan as a sub-branch of the Balkan route transiting through the Middle East. Overland transportation is sometimes used within Africa by Eastern African traffickers to transfer shipments to Southern Africa, using private vehicles to transport heroin across borders, in order to reduce interception by border guards. In the Indian Ocean, the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) are reporting an increased quantity of seized opiates sourced from Afghanistan, likely destined for ports in Eastern Africa, notably in Kenya and Tanzania.