Intervention by Hungary
at the 49th session
of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Plenary session, Tuesday, 14 March 2006Item 3. Thematic debate: alternative development Sub-themes: 1. Scope and Challenges, 2. Integrated Approach to Alternative Development
Hungary has aligned itself with the statement of the EU and we fully support it. Although my country is not directly affected by the problem of illicit drug crop cultivation, and the issue of alternative development, an indirect effect is indeed to be observed, inasmuch as there is a certain demand of drugs produced through illicit drug cultivation. Over the principle of shared responsibility in alternative development, drug control is faced with such a challenge, with which countries lacking direct experience in this particular field of drug strategy must deal. This intervention relates to two sub-themes of the debate, these are: “Scope and Challenges” and “Integrated Approach to Alternative Development”.
First of all, I would like to express some views on how alternative development should be understood conceptually in the area of drug control. The opinion has been influenced significantly by the internationally acclaimed Hungarian National Drug Strategy of 2000, together with the corresponding UN documents. According to the Strategy, regarding the complexity of the drug-problem, drug control must be comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, and built upon the balance of demand and supply reduction. We therefore feel that concerning the role of alternative development occupies in the area of drug control, the following statement of The Action Plan on International Cooperation on the Eradication of Illicit Drug Crops and on Alternative Development approved by the UNGASS is significant “Alternative development is an important component of a balanced and comprehensive control strategy and is intended to create a supportive environment for the implementation of that strategy.
Taking this approach as a starting point, alternative development, as emphasised by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs Resolution 48/9 is not merely a means of supply reduction, or an agricultural policy, and cannot be reduced to the eradication of illicit drug crops.
Alternative development can therefore be evaluated as a special area of drug control, that is nonetheless integrated with supply and demand reduction strategies in the countries concerned. As far as the countries or the regions are concerned, The delegation of Hungary agrees with the president of the International Narcotic Control Board, Mr. Hamid Ghodse, who in his foreword to the 2005 report of the organisation stated that alternative development “in its broadest sense, should be applied in socially marginalized urban environments as well as in the remote rural areas where earlier efforts were focused.” From this broader sense follows that alternative development can only be effective if it is not only a form of drug control strategy, but also part of the national development program of the affected countries.
Madame Chair
The second part of the intervention focuses on one of the questions of the second sub-theme, namely what the proper mix and sequencing of the elements of alternative development are to be an effective tool to prevent and eliminate illicit drug cultivation, within which I shall concentrate on the role of law enforcement.
Measures of law enforcement are important elements of alternative development programs. The controversial issues deal with their extent and emphasis and their relation to other elements of alternative development. Their role is much more significant in the so- called security-led programs, than the development-led ones. Security is indeed a considerable aspect of alternative development. However, most of the UN documents dealing with the subject indicate that the alternative development policy based upon the development-oriented approach, and containing law enforcement measures is able to provide security, whilst the security-led alternative policy can hardly produce development. Therefore, we feel it is worth considering with the following viewpoint of the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs of the European Union, which claims that alternative development contains in itself among others the “strengthening of civil justice institutions (and not just law enforcement in a narrow sense)”. It is important to note in this respect that it is crucial to establish an adequate legal framework of alternative development, elements of which should be legal statutes of financial law, property law, land law, social security law, environmental law and criminal law.
Madame Chair,
Hungary, being a country with little experience and affected only indirectly, can only moderately contribute to alternative development programs. However, we would be happy to offer the cooperation of our excellent experts of agriculture and of rural development in alternative development programs, which contain the naturalizing of substitute crops, in the cultivation and growing of which Hungary has significant traditions.
Thank you, Madame Chair.