Topic: Drug Cartels and Organized Crime
Country: New Zealand
Delegate Name: Garrett Auzins
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All New Zealand position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Drug trafficking is an issue that has never had a fully satisfactory response. With transnational crime syndicates undertaking much of the trafficking, the issue inevitably becomes an international one shrouded in darkness. As mentioned in S/PRST/2010/4, the illicit manufacture, transport, and sale of these narcotics has proved to be a financial lifeline for these syndicates: an estimated 35% of the crime syndicate Yamaguchi-gumi’s comes from drug trafficking; the 14k Triad functions primarily on the trafficking of heroin and opium; the Solntsevskaya Bratva act as one of the external operators in smuggling drugs out of Latin America. Yet, being that these crime syndicates operate within countries, where the profit from drug trafficking fuels several other illegal activities that undermine the rule of law in countries operation, such as the bribery of national officials, extortion of civilians, and killings with intent of intimidation, this is as much a national issue as it is an international one. And with several countries’ farmers, such as those in Mexico and Afghanistan, under pressure of terrorist organizations to grow narcotic crops, the issue is complicated further. The balance between national sovereignty and international law will forever remain a gray area, but we must address the topic at hand with as much cognizance given to the victims of this process as we shall give to the legal proceedings.
Drug trafficking in New Zealand is nothing unfamiliar.Just this April, authorities broke up two seemingly unrelated gangs and seized 123 kg of methamphetamine in Auckland. For decades, the drug trade in New Zealand flourished. In the early 2000s, it was worth billions of dollars. In response, in 2007, we established the Organized & Financial Crime Agency New Zealand (OFCANZ), a part of the New Zealand Police, to ease cooperation amongst various government agencies on the topic of organised crime, to combat the problem. And in 2013, to counteract increased rate of production of synthetics, we passed the Psychoactive Substances Act, which legalised a strictly regulated sale of synthetic drugs, allowing for a severe downsizing of the otherwise very profitable synthetics market. OFCANZ has had multiple successes, including the aforementioned, in conducting investigations and helping busts. The Psychoactive Substances Act has removed organised crime from trade of synthetic drugs, and burst the creators into the public eye for accountability.
We, as individual nations, need to lend our full cooperation to the UNODC. New Zealand recommends that an investigative branch be added to the UNODC, granting it the ability to conduct investigations alongside country officials, allowing for coordinated information-gathering and effective prosecution. However, New Zealand urges the United Nation to let national sovereignty rule when it comes to determining drug laws in individual countries, for drugs vary from locale, and the most successful way to combat drug spread is by allocating control of drug laws to the nation affected.
