Topic: Drug Cartels and Organized Crime
Country: Angola
Delegate Name: Owen Purdue
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Angola position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
The issue of illegal drugs has spread throughout the world, to every continent, and affecting a huge amount of people. This problem has failed to remain only about the creation, processing, trafficking and sale of illegal drugs, though that is certainly still a prominent part of the issue – it has become about the consequences those markets have on the economies, people, governments and societies of each nation affected by the worldwide illegal drug trade. Dangerous cartels have sprung up around the sale of illegal drugs, and violence is on the rise – violence that takes its toll on innocent civilians. According to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, 430-50 tons of heroin and opiates per year flow out from Afghanistan into Europe and Africa where they are transferred to the United States. Cocaine radiates from its production base in Colombia and the Andes of South America, affecting 16 to 17 million people worldwide. Each part of the supply chain, each step in the process, is overseen by a cartel or criminal gang. In addressing the problem of illegal drug trafficking, the Security Council will also have to address crime.
Angola is very invested in and intent on carrying out the elimination of illegal drug-driven criminal cartels and trafficking gangs. Two years ago, Angola was deemed by the United Nations to be a transition country for drug trafficking – narcotics and cannabis have been tracked flowing to and from Brazil through Angola by the Angolan Inter-Ministerial Committee to Fight Drugs. This makes the problem much more immediate and important for Angola to address. The trade in illegal drugs has the potential to waste a country, and force its people into ruin. Angola is determined not to let that happen within its borders, within the region of southern Africa, and around the world.
In order to accomplish this task, we must be willing to cooperate internationally on a scale seen only rarely before. Angola has already begun to cooperate with other nations and international bodies, such as the United States and the European Union, in training police forces and providing them with the expertise to crack down on trade in illegal drugs. However, without the help and accedence of other countries, this may only result in a balloon effect – cracking down on drugs in one area only leads to a rising market in another. To combat this, efforts like those of Angola should be replicated on an international scale. Angola believes that the Security Council can accomplish that. Through policies like the coordination between police agencies to crack down on drug-gang operations, the synchronizing of anti-drug legislation between nations, and the informing of the public about the dangers of drugs and the consequences of drug trafficking, Angola believes that the UNSC can proactively continue and improve in its fight to snuff out the illicit drug trade.
