{"id":213462,"date":"1999-07-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=213462"},"modified":"2019-03-12T20:37:10","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:37:10","slug":"auto-insert-213462","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-213462\/","title":{"rendered":"Mideast\/Drugs control – ODCCP Press release"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

MIDDLE EASTERN LEADERS SAY COOPERATING TO FIGHT CRIME<\/p>\n

AND ILLICIT DRUGS WOULD BOOST PEACE<\/p>\n

(Reissued as received.)<\/p>\n

  VIENNA,  8  July  (UN Information  Service)  —  Israeli  and  Palestinian<\/p>\n

leaders  have agreed  in separate  talks with  Under-Secretary-General  Pino<\/p>\n

Arlacchi, Executive  Director  of the  Office  for  Drug Control  and  Crime<\/p>\n

Prevention  (ODCCP),  that cooperating  to  fight  drug abuse  and organized<\/p>\n

crime would significantly contribute to the peace process.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  During the first leg of his official visit to the Middle East, from 4 to<\/p>\n

7 July,  Mr. Arlacchi  met initially  with Israeli  President Ezer  Weizman,<\/p>\n

Israeli Foreign Affairs  Minister David Levy,  Shimon Peres,  Israel's newly<\/p>\n

appointed Minister  for Regional  Cooperation, and  subsequently with  Yasser <\/p>\n

Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority,  as well as senior  officials <\/p>\n

of the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  Officials from both parties agreed that  transnational crime and the  drug<\/p>\n

problem  can  only  be tackled  at  the regional  level,  with successes  in<\/p>\n

combating these  problems  by  both  Israel and  the  Palestinian  Authority<\/p>\n

leading to progress and stability in the entire Middle East.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  "Drug trafficking  and crime are  problems that know  no boundaries.   We,<\/p>\n

therefore, have to work  together in the Middle East to counter this  threat<\/p>\n

to  the welfare of  our societies", Mr. Arlacchi said  in a meeting with Mr.<\/p>\n

Arafat on 7 July.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  During his meetings with officials from the Palestinian Authority,<\/p>\n

Mr.  Arlacchi  expressed  strong  support  for  its  efforts  to  set  up  a<\/p>\n

functioning drug control system.  The recently established  Interministerial<\/p>\n

Committee  on   Drug  Control  testified  to   the  "determination  of   the<\/p>\n

Palestinian leadership in this regard", he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  He pledged to substantially increase ODCCP assistance to the Palestinian<\/p>\n

Authority to  combat drugs  and crime  in the  area.   Through a  three-year<\/p>\n

project,  the ODCCP is  currently providing  equipment and  training for the<\/p>\n

Palestinian  drug police,  setting up  drug-abuse prevention  and  treatment<\/p>\n

centres and helping the Palestinian Authority draft and harmonize drug control laws.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  In  his  meetings  with  Israeli  officials,  Mr.  Arlacchi  praised   the<\/p>\n

country's successes  in fighting  crime and illicit drugs,  and particularly<\/p>\n

welcomed its efforts  to reduce  drug  abuse among  youth.   He  discussed the  need  for<\/p>\n

regional  cooperation in  combating illicit  drugs  and organized  crime  at<\/p>\n

length with Mr. Peres.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  Israel's Attorney-General, Elyakim Rubinstein, and other top officials  of<\/p>\n

the  Justice Ministry reviewed  with Mr.  Arlacchi the  country's efforts in<\/p>\n

combating money laundering.  The Israeli authorities said  they had set up a<\/p>\n

task force  and were  preparing a  bill —  which  could be  adopted in  the<\/p>\n

autumn session of Israeli Parliament — to tackle this problem.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  While  in  Israel,  the  ODCCP  Executive   Director  also  spoke  to  the<\/p>\n

International  Conference  on   Migration,  Culture  and  Crime  in   Ma'ale<\/p>\n

Hahamisha about illegal  migrant smuggling.  "Bad governance and  repression<\/p>\n

push migration.   The international community still  lacks a system to  deal<\/p>\n

with these problems.   This lack has created a large and profitable  illegal<\/p>\n

market for the smuggling of migrants", he noted.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

  On 8  July, Mr. Arlacchi left  for Jordan, Lebanon  and Egypt to  continue<\/p>\n

his discussions with top officials in the region.  He is  expected to return<\/p>\n

to Vienna on 14 July.<\/p>\n

* *** *<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MIDDLE EASTERN LEADERS SAY COOPERATING TO FIGHT CRIME AND ILLICIT DRUGS WOULD BOOST PEACE (Reissued as received.)   VIENNA,  8  July  (UN Information  Service)  —  Israeli  and  Palestinian leaders  have agreed  in separate  talks with  Under-Secretary-General  Pino Arlacchi, Executive  Director  of the  Office  for  Drug Control  and  Crime Prevention  (ODCCP),  that cooperating  to  fight  drug abuse  and organized crime would significantly contribute to the peace process.   During the first leg of his official visit to the Middle East, from 4 to 7 […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[6152],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2097],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-213462","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-press-release","document-source-office-for-drug-control-and-crime-prevention-odccp","document-subject-social-issues","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/213462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/213462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=213462"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=213462"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=213462"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=213462"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=213462"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=213462"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=213462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}