Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala have sent a joint declaration to the United Nations’ Secretary General pleading for an international conference in order to revise UN drug policy.
“The governments of Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, are convinced that transnational organized crime and in particular the violence it generates when carrying out their criminal activities, present a serious problem that compromises the development, security and democratic coexistence of all nations, and that the United Nations must urgently address this issue,” according to the Guatemala Times who published the declaration.
The declaration that was sent October 1 to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon comprised of 11 different points that frame the drug trafficking situation and emphasize the related violence and crime that narcotrafficking breeds. Through these 11 points the declaration’s crux is that the current UN policies have ultimately not been effective in eliminating or diminishing international drug trafficking which, according to Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala, need be addressed by the UN.
All three presidents, Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos, Mexico’s Felipe Calderon and Guatemala’s Otto Perez Molina, articulated the dire situation and “called on the international body to take the lead in the drug fight” last week during the 67th session of the General Assembly in New York.
However, the formal declaration made their concern and the alleged need for an international conference on drug trafficking even more explicit. The declaration’s final assertion after the 11 points was that that the result of the previous points “should culminate in an international conference that will allow them to make the necessary decisions in order to improve the effectiveness of strategies and tools with which the global community faces the challenge of drugs and their consequences.”
