'II buon governo' - A Commitment to Good Governance - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

UN Chronicle, Dec, 2002 by Antonio Maria Costa

When the UN Secretary-General appointed me to head the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, I felt honoured. I also felt a sense of trepidation, thinking: "This is half job and half mission." But the job part had to come first. On my first day in office on 7 May, in a town-hall meeting with all staff members of the UN city-as our building complex is known here--I spoke of the internal priorities that we must address in order to work on global priorities more effectively. I stressed the concept of good governance as a fundamental requirement for the credibility the Office must have. And I used history and arts to make that point.

I told them: "Many of you may have visited the town of Siena, in Tuscany--one of the foremost centres of Italian Renaissance. In the town hail, II Palazzo Pubblico, are the much admired Ambrogio Lorenzetti's two famous frescos: il buon governo (the good government), and il cattivo governo (the bad government). There is no better way to represent the very modem notion of governance than by going back a few centuries and appreciating its artistic portrayal in Siena's il buon governo. (Incidentally, and perhaps symbolically, the representation of the il cattivo governo did not survive the centuries and was dam aged beyond repair.) Why is this relevant half a dozen centuries later? Because Member States are the stakeholders of this UN city, which we must run effectively on their behalf."

This is a guiding principle of the work I have been doing in Vienna since joining the Office. From previous professional incarnations, I have learned that management can be a very lonely experience, no matter how large and well staffed the office is. So during my first week in office, together with senior colleagues, I decided to establish a key management deliberating body--the Executive Committee--which meets weekly and is empowered with main decisions, acting in a collegial, transparent and accountable manner. In order to face the global challenges of drugs, crime and terrorism in a systematic way, we have undertaken an effort to produce a guide on our operations during the next couple of years or so. This road map will be a management tool, showing how we intend to implement programmes and projects-where, to what extent and for what purpose, including evidence of the expected results.

Afghanistan is probably the best example, a real-life display, of what the Office needs to do to assist Member States in the fight against anti-social behaviours. We have a decade-long experience in the country and have been an integral part of the overall United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), tasked with coordinating reconstruction of the country devastated by 23 years of war. Since reopening in Kabul in February 2002, the Office has been engaged in a broad range of anti-narcotics activities that start with monitoring. Our opium poppy assessment survey has been the most reliable estimate of the extent of growth, providing a factual basis for policy decision-making.

Then there is our work on creating a judicial framework consistent with the international law-our experts are analyzing existing laws and drafting new ones. This is complemented by capacity-building, assisting Afghan authorities to set up national and regional drug control bodies and law enforcement agencies. We also help develop drug demand reduction strategies. Afghanistan is not only the largest global producer of opiates but is also increasingly affected by drug abuse, so the Office monitors those trends and initiates prevention and treatment activities. In the long term, the only solution, we believe, is to provide Afghan farmers with a sustainable alternative to opium poppy cultivation.

We are therefore working with all other UN agencies involved in UNAMA to include drug control measures in the overall reconstruction and development strategy. Finally, there is the regional dimension in the fight against drugs. The Office has been actively involved in strengthening crossborder cooperation between Afghanistan and neighbouring countries and in enhancing their capacity to interdict illegal drug trafficking.

I went to Kabul in late July 2002 and, in a private meeting, President Hamid Karzai assured me of the Transitional Authority's commitment to implement his ban on opium poppy cultivation, as well as on the processing, trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. That commitment was demonstrated to me in a symbolic way. Afghan Minister of Interior Taj Mohammed Wardak invited me to accompany him to a ceremonial burning of an equivalent of four tonnes of seized opium at Kabul stadium. Their courage in undertaking the opium poppy eradication campaign last spring and their commitment to prevent the planting of opium poppy next fall call for strong international support. That is probably the most challenging task my office currently faces.

Since joining the Office, I have participated in substantial deliberations of other issues high on the global priority list. I will mention just two of them: terrorism and corruption.