Country: Republic of Tajikistan

Committee: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes

Do people deal drugs, or do drugs deal people? Drug addiction is a major problem in this
world, but the largescale smuggling of drugs that takes place across countries is one of the
root causes of this problem. The problems caused by this range from drug related crimes to
increased spread of HIV infections. Therefore, there is an ever-growing need for international
cooperation to neutralize smuggling routes.

In 2001, after the US and NATO led invasion in Afghanistan, its drug production increased.
Tajikistan being geographically close to Afghanistan, facilitated by ethnic identities, drug
trafficking in Tajikistan inevitably increased.
Tajikistan actively participates in regional counterdrug initiatives and is crucial in fostering
international collaboration in the fight against illicit drugs.
The Republic of Tajikistan's policy aims to fight drug trafficking, prevent drug addiction, and
reduce drug demand.
The 2010 UNODC report The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime
Threat Assessment, finds that while the emphasis has been on combating organized criminal
groups through investigation, arrest, and detention, these efforts have done little to lessen the
threats and minimize the impact of organized crime. Eliminating the networks and people
responsible for illicit trafficking is insufficient on its own. Law enforcement efforts will have
little effect as long as there is a market for illegal products and services and the high rewards
associated with them continue to serve as significant motivators.
Instead, to combat global trafficking, multifaceted global solutions including both public and
private players are needed.

The international community has helped to fight against drug trafficking, with China and
Russia bring involved in bilateral and multilateral cooperation under the shanghai
cooperation organization and the US spending about 200 million dollars on security
assistance for Tajikistan since 2001.

We strongly stand to combat unlawful trafficking of drugs and the main aim is to
significantly reduce smuggling of drugs and their non-medicinal use in the country and
internationally. The government of Tajikistan has recognized this problem and has set up
(and is still doing so) coordination bodies at various levels to keep a check and coordinate
with law enforcement agencies to combat the issue. In order to further strengthen the anti-
drug law enforcement agencies, in 1999, the agency for drugs control was set up.

There has been cooperation with the Russian federal border service to prevent drug
traffickers and this also plays an important role in border protection through international
cooperation. Tajikistan is also unified with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s
Partnership for Peace Programme, promising cooperation with other central Asian countries
for drug interdiction. Tajikistan has also been working on bettering the interval security
capacity by receiving training from US, NATO and the EU. We have also acknowledged the
relationship between corruption of border guards and trafficking and many efforts have been
made to eliminate this, including leadership changes within the BPC(border protection
committee). Adding on, Tajikistan has worked together united nations sponsored drug control
agency, engaging in combined efforts against drug trafficking, which includes creating
databases of drug traffickers and organized crime groups.
Tajikistan was appreciated for taking on a dangerous task as we are the first line of defense
for the flow of drugs from Afghanistan which is a serious security threat for the whole of
central Asia and beyond.

We have also highlighted the issue of drug demand and put forward programmes that target
the general population.

United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances

In 2013 our government with an initiative along with the UNODC it was decided to establish
a multilateral, integrated regional anti-drug strategy, a network of drug control liaison officers
among member nations, and a coordination hub in Afghanistan's drug control police. The
"Dushanbe dialogue," which brought together 12 nations, signaled the start of a new model
for international conferences to coordinate efforts to address problems connected to illicit
drug trafficking.

CARICC was established in 2009 to act as a forum for information sharing and cooperative
operations among numerous Central Asian nations, to combat drug trafficking in the region.
Tajikistan has contributed to construct the Central Asian Regional Information and
Coordination Centre (CARICC) to combat the illicit trade of narcotics and psychotropic
substances.

There are a lot of cases of smuggling going on, and we are aware that the people who do this
are called drug dealers, or barygy(locally) in Tajikistan, but the people who are supposed to
control this crime and propose solutions to reduce this, are the real culprits. Many agencies
cooperate with networks and use dealers to their advantage, whether it may be for meeting
arrest quotas or sexual favours. This shows that to neutralize smuggling, there is a need for
establishing corruption free institutions. This being a problem the first strategy adopted by us
is fundamental policy document which regulates activities of institutions responsible for drug
control

Moreover drug trafficking will not reduce without reduce in socio-economic and poverty
issues of the world, again calling for strong commitments from the international
communities.

UNODC’s counternarcotics efforts in Central Asia aim to strengthen national drug enforcement
agencies to address the drug-related threats and challenges effectively. The foremost
coordinating institute of drug control, prevention and enforcement-related activities in
Tajikistan is the Drug Control Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan (DCA),
established in 1999. UNODC has supported it since then to enhance its capacities to counter
drug trafficking, including strengthening institutional and human resources capabilities to
cope with emerging challenges related to the regional drug situation.