[Lasnetmail] UN Urges Bolivia to MakeCoca Chewing a Crime, Report Says

[LASNET]

I enclose a press release by TNI condemning the UN's call on Bolivia to prohibit coca chewing and the manufacture of coca tea. Below is a report in Bloomberg. There is more information on the background including the original texts at www.ungassondrugs.org The only good thing about this bizarre unreal announcement is that it could propel the campaign to remove coca from the list of narcotics drugs and I understand the government is launching a campaign to collect a million signatures to this effect.

Abolishing Coca Leaf Consumption?        
The INCB needs to perform a reality check

TNI Press Release
March 5, 2008


The Transnational Institute condemns the decision by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in their 2007 annual report released today, which calls on countries to 'abolish or prohibit coca leaf chewing and the manufacture of coca tea'.

The Transnational Institute condemns the decision by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in their 2007 annual report released today, which calls on countries to 'abolish or prohibit coca leaf chewing and the manufacture of coca tea'. [1]

According to Pien Metaal, researcher specialising in coca issues at the Transnational Institute:

"The Board is displaying both arrogance and blindness by demanding that countries impose criminal sanctions on distribution and possession for traditional uses of the coca leaf, which is a key feature of Andean-Amazon indigenous cultures. Isn't it time for this UN treaty body to get in touch with reality and show some more cultural sensitivity?"

Coca chewing and drinking of coca tea is carried out daily by millions of people in the Andes as well as considered sacred within indigenous cultures. The INCB's statement therefore clearly puts it at odds with the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights approved last year, which promises to uphold and protect indigenous cultural practices.[2] It also contradicts the 1988 convention which recognized traditional uses[3] as well as statements within the current 2007 INCB report which talk about "respect for national sovereignty, for the various constitutional and other fundamental principles of domestic law – practice, judgments and procedures –and for the rich diversity of peoples, cultures, customs and values." [4] 

TNI also condemns the demand within the INCB report that countries should "establish as a criminal offence, when committed intentionally, the possession and purchase of coca leaf for personal consumption",[5] which if it were implemented would mean the prosecution of several million people in the Andean-Amazon region. It targets not just consumers but also peasants who grow coca: "Governments should establish as criminal offences under its domestic law, when committed intentionally, the cultivation of coca bush for the purpose of the production of narcotic drugs contrary to the provisions of the 1961 Convention",[6] reflecting all uses of the coca leaf.

"Given that the Board in the same report talks about proportionality in sentencing, the Board's position makes no sense. It would criminalise entire peoples for a popular tradition and custom that has no harm and is even beneficial," says Pien Metaal.

Earlier reports by the INCB have pointed to the inconsistencies between traditional uses of the coca leaf and the 1961 Single Convention on drugs (which included the coca leaf as "narcotic drug"), but no state has made serious efforts to abolish a habit that has no risk to public health.[7] Moreover, beneficial uses of the plant have growing markets worldwide.

It is understood that the Board was responding to Bolivia's political decision to give the coca leaf a status as a valuable natural resource, reflected in the new proposed Constitutional text and in its national policy that allows a limited number of farmers to grow a small plot of coca for this traditional use.

According to Martin Jelsma, coordinator of the TNI drugs programme:

"The inclusion of the coca leaf in Schedule I of narcotic drugs of the 1961 Convention was based on an ECOSOC study done back in 1950, inspired by colonial and racist sentiments rather than science. [8] It is time the Board asks the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the World Health Organisation for guidance on this matter instead of casting its own narrow-minded judgement and retreating to the obsolete thinking of the 1961 Convention."

Please contact:

Drugs & Democracy Programme (TNI)

Tel +31-20-6626608

Pien Metaal +31-6-40798808 pmetaal at tni.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Martin Jelsma +31-6-55715893 mjelsma at tni.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

See also TNI's website www.ungassondrugs.org  launched to coincide with the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)'s meeting in Vienna to review UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs for more background.

[1] "The Board calls on the Governments of Bolivia and Peru to consider amending their national legislation so as to abolish or prohibit activities that are contrary to the 1961 Convention, such as coca leaf chewing and the manufacture of mate de coca (coca tea)." INCB annual report 2007, para 217
[2] A/61/L.67, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the General Assembly on September 13, 2007

[3] 1988 Convention, article 14, paragraph 2

[4] Foreword, INCB report 2007:www.incb.org

[5] Idem, paragraph  219

[6] Idem, paragraph 219

[7] WHO/UNICRI Cocaine project

[8] The 1950 ECOSOC Commission of Enquiry on the Coca Leaf claimed that the habit of chewing could be held responsible for malnutrition and immoral behaviour of the 'Andean man', while reducing his productive capacity. See: Report of the findings of the Commission of Enquiry of the Coca Leaf, ECOSOC 1950.



Bloomberg.comMarch 4, 2008UN Urges Bolivia to Make Coca Chewing a Crime, Report SaysBy Joshua GoodmanMarch 4 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations
 called on Bolivia and Peru to criminalize the chewing of coca leaves, a practice used by Andean peasants for centuries.The report by the UN agency charged with enforcing narcotics treaties also urges the governments ``to establish as a criminal offense'' using 
the leaf to make tea, flour and other products. The report says consuming the leaves from the bushy Andes plant used to make cocaine plays a role ``in the progression of drug dependence.''The annual report by the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control 
Board, an update on drug control efforts worldwide, may anger the leaders of Andean nations where coca is grown, especially Bolivian President Evo Morales, a former coca grower who has called for the legalization of the leaf.
``In Bolivia, there will never be a policy of zero coca,'' said Hilder Sejas, spokesman for the vice ministry of social defense. ``To do so would walk
 over the rights of millions of Bolivians for whom coca is a symbol of our cultural identity.''The coca plant contains trace amounts, less than 1 percent, of the alkaloid that in large quantities can be used to make cocaine. Andean 
peasants chew it for its mild stimulant effect, which helps ward off hunger.A 1961 UN treaty stipulates governments must gradually eliminate coca chewing and other traditional uses of the leaf as well as attempt to 
eradicate the plant. Trade in coca leaves is allowed only for scientific purposes or as a flavoring agent as long as the alkaloids are removed.Narcotics Treaty``Nobody doubts the medical value of coca, heroin or cocaine, just as 
nobody denies their illegality under the 1961 convention,'' Philip Emafo, the Nigerian president of the INCB, said in a telephone interview from Vienna. ``If the provisions of the convention are being breached, 
the board
 in its wisdom, or lack of wisdom, is obligated to act.''Referring to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs ratified worldwide, the report calls on Peru and Bolivia -- the second and third 
largest cocaine producers in the world, after Colombia -- to ``consider amending their national legislation so as to abolish or prohibit coca leaf chewing and the manufacture of coca tea.''Emafo said the agency can recommend an embargo on the import and export 
of drugs for countries with serious drug policy breaches. No action against Peru and Bolivia has been discussed, he said.Bolivian LawBolivia -- in violation of its treaty obligations -- currently allows 
the use of coca in its natural form.Wade Davis, a Washington-based author and botanist who studied coca in Colombia for his 1996 book ``One River,'' said coca's treatment as a narcotic as dangerous as heroin and cocaine in the UN
 convention is ``absurd.''``Coca is as vital to the Andes as the Eucharist is to Catholics,'' said Davis, who is also a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence. ``There's no evidence of toxicity or addiction in 4,000 years of use.''
Policy Consortium, a network of drug policy experts, said the ban on coca was based on outmoded science and reflects ``harsh and narrow judgments that condemn countries that permit traditional coca use and 
the industrialization of coca.''In a 2006 speech before the UN General Assembly, Morales lashed out at the criminalization of the coca leaf.``This coca leaf represents Andean culture, it is a coca leaf that 
represents the environment and the hope of our peoples,'' Morales said, holding up the leaf.Coca CakeFor his 80th birthday, Cuban President Fidel Castro received a cake baked with coca flour from Morales.
Venezuelan
 President Hugo Chavez, also a critic of the U.S.-backed policy of forced coca eradication, said on Jan. 11 that he chews coca daily. The Venezuelan leader is also paying for the construction of a factory in Bolivia to produce coca tea, flour and other natural products.
David Johnson, U.S. assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said the U.S. is concerned about Bolivia's stated goal to increase coca production for traditional uses from 12,000 
to 20,000 hectares.``We believe that the policy, as it's been articulated to me, is not consistent with Bolivia's obligations under international law,'' he said at a Washington press conference Feb. 29 to present the State 
Department's annual report on international anti-narcotic progress.To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Goodman in Bogota at Jgoodman19 at bloomberg.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.latinlasnet.org/pipermail/lasnetmail/attachments/20080308/bb436838/attachment.htm