THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS

HAVING SEEN: Article 16 of the Cartagena Agreement and Decision 458 "Common Foreign Policy Guidelines

BEARING IN MIND: The agreement approved by the Presidents of the Andean Countries at the meeting held on April 17, 2001 in Cartagena, Colombia;

WHEREAS:

Illegal drug production, traffic, and consumption, asset laundering, diversion and smuggling of chemical precursors, and arms trafficking seriously threaten the development and security of the Andean countries;

The efforts being made today by the Andean countries under their respective national programs for the control of illegal drugs and related offenses can be significantly boosted and supplemented through an Andean Cooperation Plan to intensify national, bilateral, and Community measures in this area;

The international community can wage an integrated campaign against the worldwide illegal drug problem that could cover all of the aspects involved in illegal drug production, traffic, and consumption and related offenses, based on the principle of shared responsibility;

The Andean strategy for the control of illegal drugs and related offenses, as well as international efforts in this area, should be carried out with full respect for national law and sovereignty.

DECIDES:

Sole article. � To approve the Andean Cooperation Plan for the Control of Illegal Drugs and Related Offenses set out in the document attached to this Decision.

Signed in the city of Valencia, Venezuela, on the twenty-second of June of two thousand and one.
 

ANDEAN COOPERATION PLAN FOR THE CONTROL OF ILLEGAL
DRUGS AND RELATED OFFENSES

Principles and Objectives

The Andean Cooperation Plan for the Control of Illegal Drugs and Related Offenses:

1. Is grounded in the conviction that illegal drug production, trafficking, and consumption is a worldwide problem that seriously threatens the development and security of the Andean countries and of the international community. Recognizes that this is one of the most harmful and dangerous forms of organized transnational crime, that makes use of the globalizing logic of the markets, disrupts the social dynamic, distorts the economy, undermines the state of law, and subverts the public order.

2. Is comprehensive and encompasses all of the aspects of the worldwide drug problem and related offenses: prevention, interdiction, reduction of illicit crops, and alternative development, as well as the control of the diversion of chemical precursors, asset laundering, and the traffic in arms, ammunition, and explosives.

3. In this connection, it is based on the shared responsibility of each and every one of the actors involved in creating the problem and, as a result, in the search for solutions to it at both the Andean Subregional level and the South American, hemispheric, and world levels.

4. Is respectful of national legislation and territorial sovereignty and integrity, as well as of the strict observance of International Law and is implemented through cooperation and solidarity. That cooperation is inherent to the shared nature of the problem and, consequently, should be mutual, voluntary and not subject to limitations or requirements that set conditions on the unhampered involvement of the wills of the parties. The solidarity, for its part, is an expression of the recognition that national and Subregional drug control efforts should be accompanied by international cooperation in order to reinforce democracy and the exercise of human rights and at the same time promote the sustainable economic and social development of the Andean Countries.

5. Seeks to strengthen and step up national programs in each of the Andean Countries through coordination, cooperation, and the exchange of experiences among the Member Countries and by taking joint action in dealing with third countries and in international forums.

6. Is a key issue of Andean political cooperation that links up the common foreign policy, Community border integration and development policy, sustainable development policy, the Andean Social Agenda, and security and confidence-building efforts in the Subregion, as applicable.

7. It is proposed that the Andean Community be consolidated as the moving force for a South American and hemispheric strategy for the control of illegal drugs and related offenses.


Mechanisms

1. The Andean Council of Foreign Ministers is the body responsible for defining, coordinating, and following up the Andean Cooperation Plan for the Control of Illegal Drugs and Related Offenses.

2. An Executive Committee will be set up, formed of high-level officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the national officers responsible for controlling illegal drugs and related offenses, including representatives of the security bodies.

3. The Executive Committee may establish subcommittees and working groups specializing in the different aspects of the Andean Plan. The Subcommittees and working groups may be made up of two or more Member Countries and will be open to the participation of the others.

4. The Andean Community General Secretariat will act as the Executive Committee�s Technical Secretariat.


Program of Action

1. The Program of Action will be approved by decision of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers and will cover a two-year period.

2. The Executive Committee will draw up the Operating Plans for carrying out the Program of Action and every two years will propose the updating of that program to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers.

3. It will be the Executive Committee�s responsibility to coordinate, oversee, and evaluate the Program of Action, with the assistance of the General Secretariat.


PROGRAM OF ACTION

I. REINFORCEMENT OF NATIONAL STRATEGIES

A. Control of the production, smuggling, and diversion of chemical precursors

1. Implement the mechanism for reporting the export of controlled chemical substances prior to their shipment and the timely answers from the intended country of destination, pursuant to article 12 of the 1988 Vienna Convention.

2. Reinforce the monitoring of enterprises that produce, use, and/or sell controlled chemical substances in order to avoid their diversion for the production of illegal drugs.

3. Strengthen the mechanisms for detecting controlled chemical substances and train the pertinent officials to identify those substances.

4. Make the measures for controlling the illegal production and smuggling of controlled chemical substances stronger.

5. Set up and/or reinforce the mechanisms for controlling the transport and diversion of chemical substances in the national territory through the following, among other things:

a) The use of customs documents containing the generic name and corresponding tariff code for trade in the controlled chemical substances.

b) The establishment of a system of labeling and safety sealing that would make it difficult to divert packaged or bottled products by replacing them.

6. Create and/or update the national register of firms that import and export controlled chemical substances. That information will be made available to whoever asks for it.

7. Identify the needs of the legitimate industries dealing with potassium permanganate, acetic anhydride, and the substances included in the Andean Community�s control operations.

8. Develop inter-sector coordination for the purpose of identifying new substances used in drug production for possible inclusion on the list of controlled substances following a study of their level of use.

B. Technical eradication of illegal crops

1. Build up national capacities to implement programs for the technical eradication of illegal crops by hand or by air, in the countries that need it, keeping in mind the environmental standards established by the competent authorities.

2. Identify illegal crop growing areas, their size, evolution, features, zones of influence, and any other relevant information.

3. Contribute to the coordination between the authorities responsible for execution of the eradication programs and those in charge of the alternative development programs.

4. Promote the establishment of agreements between local communities and public authorities as a means of reducing crops grown for illegal purposes and introducing alternative products.

C. Alternative Development.

1. Create the necessary economic, social, and cultural conditions to make it feasible to replace the illegal crop production-based economy and to bring farmers into the legal economy.

2. Identify and establish the characteristics of the populations of the illegal crop growing areas and their zones of influence.

3. Design and put into use financial, economic, and technological instruments for supporting national alternative development programs, including private investment promotion, market opening, and the incorporation into alternative production of products with a larger value added.

4. Boost the strengthening of grass-roots organizations and give them support through consciousness-raising, training, and communication processes.

5. Step up the national capacity to offer basic social services and develop the economic infrastructure in the illegal crop growing areas and their zones of influence.

6. Design and implement social communication strategies to discourage the involvement of farm and native families with illegal crops and promote alternative crops.

D. Dismantling of the production and transport infrastructure and organizations

1. Reinforce the mechanisms for coordination among the police and military forces and state security bodies, the Public Ministry and/or the Attorney General�s Office, and the Judiciary.

2. Build up the capacity for action of the intelligence units specialized in the control of drug trafficking and ensure the timely exchange of information among the various competent national authorities.

3. Increase the human, material, financial, and technological resources allocated to the specialized units responsible for controlling drug trafficking organizations.

4. Strengthen the mechanisms for detecting illegal drug production laboratories and hidden airstrips.

5. Buttress the system for controlling illegal drug trafficking by sea, river, air, and land.

6. Create and/or reinforce the control mechanisms in order to impede illegal trafficking in arms, ammunition, explosives, and other similar materials.

E. Asset laundering

1. Establish and/or build up the national intelligence and financial analysis units.

2. Identify the existing types or methods of asset laundering and create the corresponding control mechanisms.

3. Train specialized personnel in the agencies responsible for detecting and controlling asset laundering operations.

4. Investigate the sectors capable of use for activities connected with asset laundering and link them up with the intelligence and financial analysis units.

5. Design and implement mechanisms for administrative control of international currency transactions.

6. Criminalize asset laundering as an autonomous offense, so that it will encompass other criminal behavior (vehicle theft, extortion, kidnapping, white slavery, trafficking in human organs, and arms trafficking).

7. Strengthen the application of provisions on the seizure of goods procured as a result of drug trafficking or related offenses.

8. Establish regulations on the prevention of asset laundering in free trade areas and at free ports.

F. Reduction of the demand

1. Put a stop to the rising trend in illegal drug consumption, especially among children and young people, with schooling or not, through programs targeting the family, community, and school.

2. Develop a mass media strategy to inform, sensitize, and educate young people about the consequences of drug consumption, giving special emphasis to the synthetic or designer drugs that have recently appeared on the scene.

3. Incorporate more information about prevention in the curriculums at the different educational levels and educate parents and educational agents in the new trends in illegal drug consumption.

4. Promote programs for the rehabilitation and social reinsertion of drug-dependent individuals.

5. Implement mechanisms for overseeing and evaluating programs to cut down the demand for drugs.

6. Design and launch programs to give human resources preparation and training in prevention and rehabilitation.

7. Boost and support the participation of civil organizations in prevention and rehabilitation activities.


II. REINFORCEMENT OF BINATIONAL STRATEGIES

1. Evaluate the existing bilateral drug control agreements, update and perfect them, and put them into force.

2. Promote and strengthen bilateral mechanisms, such as the mixed commissions, border workshops, and neighborhood committees, in order to draw up border action plans for:

a. Controlling the traffic in drugs and controlled chemical substances.

b. Giving border authorities training in subjects connected with drug control.

c. Carrying out combined interdiction operations.

d. Stepping-up the exchange of information and coordination of logistics among border authorities.

e. Controlling the illegal traffic in firearms, ammunition, and other similar materials.

3. Incorporate alternative development projects in the Border Integration Zones and include them in the Project Bank to be set up as part of the Andean Integration and Development Policy.

4. Institute effective mechanisms to control trafficking in illegal drugs, controlled chemical substances, arms, ammunition, and other related materials, through the National and Binational Border Service Centers (NBSC and BBSC).

5. Periodically examine and evaluate the execution and efficiency of the binational cooperation measures that are carried out under this Andean Cooperation Plan.


III. COMMUNITY STRATEGY

1. Establish an Andean mechanism for exchanging information through the Andean Community website about the methods of trafficking in and diversion of controlled chemical substances, use of new substances, successful control operations, updated national registers of enterprises that import and export controlled chemical substances, and changes in the importance and use of border crossings for the illegal trafficking in those substances, and promote the use of other national, regional and international computerized systems, such as Unidos contra Drogas (UCD) and the Venezuelan, inter-American, and European drug observatories.

2. Step up the exchange of intelligence among the competent authorities of the Andean countries, among others, making more use of existing communication mechanisms, such as the Regional Liaison Offices of the World Customs Organization (RILO) and the Inter-American Telecommunications Network for Drug Control (RETCOD), in order to back regional efforts to control drugs, related offenses, and the arms traffic.

3. Establish closer coordination among the national authorities responsible for drug control in the Member Countries, among others, by appointing national liaison officers in the respective institutions and assigning new duties to the police and military attach�s� offices, as applicable, to support this Andean Cooperation Plan.

4. Promote the training in common of national drug control officials through, among others, the Andean Community�s Regional Antidrug Intelligence School (ERCAIAD), ensuring its appropriate funding and adjusting its curriculum to the priorities of the Andean Strategy, and supporting the establishment and activation of the Andean Anti-drug Canine Training School.

5. Contribute to the signing of legal assistance agreements on criminal matters and step up the execution of existing agreements, including procedures for the extradition of defendants accused of drug trafficking or related offenses under the existing accords.

6. In each Member Country, appoint as liaison officers investigating judges who are empowered to answer requests for reciprocal legal assistance in drug trafficking cases or to remit them to the competent authorities for compliance.

7. Contribute to harmonizing national criminal and procedural legislation through periodic meetings of the Ministers of Justice of the Andean Community, bearing in mind the work that is being done under the aegis of the mechanism between the European Union and the Andean Community on coordination and cooperation in drug matters.

8. Promote the exchange of experiences and undertake joint actions to back alternative development programs, incorporating for that purpose the Andean Committee for Alternative Development (CADA) as the Andean Cooperation Plan�s specialized body on the subject and supporting its efforts.

9. Reinforce cooperation in order to prevent and control asset laundering at the Andean level through the exchange of experiences and interlinkage of the Financial Intelligence Analysis Units of the countries in the Subregion and other competent bodies.

10. Implement the guidelines established by the Inter-American System of Standardized Drug Consumption Data (SIDUC) and entrust the analysis to the Hip�lito Unanue Convention (CONHU), so that the Andean Community can have data on which it can draw to prepare prevention strategies that are attuned to its situation.

11. Develop a joint strategy for preventing drug consumption and production and controlling synthetic and designer drugs.

12. Identify the international technical cooperation requirements and capacities and establish a mechanism for horizontal cooperation among the Member Countries.

13. Design and carry out joint strategies for mobilizing international technical and financial cooperation to support the measures provided for in the Andean Strategy for the control of drugs and related offenses, as well as debt-for-alternative development program support swaps.

14. Apply for the renewal and expansion of the programs of trade preferences in support of drug control that benefit the Member Countries and obtain conditions for preferential access to other markets and the removal of restrictions on their full use.

15. Promote the mobilization of international cooperation for programs to prevent and alleviate the environmental impact of the illegal drug problem, including the recovery of ecosystems and conservation of the biodiversity.

16. Further international cooperation, in particular through the organization of donor groups in order to boost alternative development, create jobs in production, and alleviate poverty in illegal drug crop growing areas, in areas from which labor is migrating, and in areas that are highly prone to use for drug cultivation.

17. Coordinate joint drug control positions in dealing with third countries and in international forums and organizations as part of the Andean Common Foreign Policy.

18. Update the "Rodrigo Lara Bonilla" Convention on cooperation for preventing drug abuse and for suppressing the illegal traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, in order to adjust it to the needs created by this Andean Cooperation Plan.

19. Examine and evaluate, as a Community, the implementation and effectiveness of the measures that are carried out under this Andean Cooperation Plan.