The Paris Pact initiative - A partnership to counter traffic in and consumption of Afghan opiates (ADAM) (SEE office focal point)
The re-emerging illicit production of opium in Afghanistan from 2003 onwards poses a severe threat to the country itself, to its neighbouring countries, as well as to all transit and consumption countries along the heroin trafficking routes to western markets. Furthermore, a much larger quantity of opium is now processed into morphine and heroin in Afghanistan compared to 10 years ago.
Many parts of Afghanistan's 5,000 km border are difficult to control. Law enforcement agencies in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries are often institutionally weak, short of resources, or otherwise unable to stem the flow of opiates. Drug trafficking and other illicit cross-border activities are rife. The drug flow feeds crime and corruption; it encourages political instability and the erosion of democratic values, and contributes to the rise in the demand for drugs.
This project is meant to facilitate the follow-up to the first and second Ministerial Conferences on Drug Trafficking Routes from Afghanistan, which were held in Paris and Moscow in May 2003 and June 2006, respectively.
It aims to positively impact on the drug situation in priority countries along the Afghan opiates trafficking routes through a concerted identification of problem areas (both geographically and substantively) and actions required to address them, as well as through coordination of counter narcotics technical assistance.