Just days after a US State Department report cited Cambodia as a major conduit for regional drug trafficking, a UN-funded organization noted Cambodia was one of only four Asian nations not party to any of the three major international drug control treaties.
North Korea, East Timor and Bhutan have also not ratified the treaties, the International Narcotics Control Board’s report said.
The three treaties, which seek to control the trafficking of illegal drugs, are the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 and the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.
Cambodia was criticized this week by the US State Department’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement for its weak judicial system and porous borders, which allow drug traffickers to move large amounts of illegal substances throughout the country with ease. About 300 kg to 600 kg of heroin were estimated to have passed through the country each month during 2003, the State Department report said.
The International Narcotics Control Board report did commend Cambodia’s efforts since 2001 to ratify the treaties.
But the ongoing government deadlock, which has prevented the new National Assembly from meeting, is one reason Cambodia hasn’t acted on ratification of the treaties, said Graham Shaw, program officer for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Phnom Penh.
Shaw said Thursday that Cambodia could receive more support to fight drugs if it approved the treaties. “There are nations who are suspicious of those who are not involved in any of the drug treaties,” he said, adding that Cambodia is one of only 13 countries in the world not party to any such agreements.
The INCB report also encouraged Cambodia to strengthen its judicial system.
Lour Ramin, deputy secretary general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, said Wednesday that the country’s drug laws need to be amended.
