The trafficking of narcotics, arms and humans in post-Soviet Central Asia: (Mis)perceptions, policies and realities

Central Asian Survey

Volumn 24, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 39-52

  Jackson, Nicole J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARMS TRADE; SECURITY THREAT; STRATEGIC APPROACH;

ASIA; CENTRAL ASIA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; WORLD;

EID: 18144380286     PISSN: 02634937     EISSN: None     Source Type: Trade Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02634930500050040     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Peter Andreas describes 'clandestine transnational actors' as 'nonstate actors who operate across national borders in violation of state laws and who attempt to evade law enforcement efforts'. Peter Andreas, 'Redrawing the line: borders and security in the twenty-first century', International Security, Vol 28, No 12, Fall 2003, pp 78-111, see p 78.
2. I am referring here to the Copenhagen School's use of the term securitisation. See for example, O. Waever, B. Buzan and J.D. Wilde, Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe (London: Pinter, 1993);
3. Waever, 'Securitisation and desecuritisation', in R. Lipschutz, ed, On Security (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995);
4. Buzan, Waever and Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998).
5. Interview with Barry Johnson, Border Security Senior Advisor, US Embassy, Bishkek, October 2003.
6. The United Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), World Drug Report 2002 (Vienna: UNODC, 2002), p 160.
7. The drug routes change over time and although it is questionable how much of the drugs in post-Soviet Central Asia have come across the Tajik-Afghan border, it seems fair to surmise that a substantial amount does. The Tajik government estimates that 80 per cent of the narcotics produced in Afghanistan are smuggled across the border into Tajikistan. USAID says that this may be overestimated in view of a recent increase in use of the route through Turkmenistan. A certain amount of heroin also continues to flow from Afghanistan directly into Iran or across the Iran/Pakistan border. Hashish from Afghanistan also transits Central Asia en route to Europe.
8. Large-scale opium production in Afghanistan began with the civil war in 1979, but did not explode until after the Soviet withdrawal and civil war in 1992, when it reached almost half of the world's production, i.e. 2000 tons.
9. Iran deploys 30,000 men on its border with Afghanistan to stop drug trafficking. 'Status Report on Afghanistan; Informal Consultations', UNODC, Vienna, 24 June 2003, p 4.
10. Even throughout 2001, the year after the Taliban's opium poppy ban when the area under opium cultivation decreased, the flow of drugs continued because of huge stockpiles. In 2001, the area in Afghanistan under poppy cultivation decreased to 7606 ha because of die ban. In 2002, the area under cultivation drastically increased once again to 74,000 ha (after the defeat of the Taliban). 'Illicit drugs situation in the regions neighboring Afghanistan and the response of the ODC', UNODC Working Paper, November 2002.
11. See also Annual Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2002. www.inch.org/e/ind.ar.htm. (Accessed 2 November 2004).
12. Niklas Swanstrom, 'The Southeast Asia and Chinese connection to drug trade in Central Asia', Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, 27 August 2003. http://www.cacl-analyst.org/view_article.php?articleid=1676. (Accessed 2 November 2004).
13. Bill Rammel, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London. Open Speech for Wilton Park Conference: 'The Caspian and Central Asia: stability and development', Wilton Park, 13 October 2003. The UK also has been leading counter-narcotic efforts in Afghanistan.
14. A 1999 joint report by UNODC and Europol on Central Asia drug trafficking concluded that a 25 per cent of3 drugs from Afghanistan entered Europe and that there were 1.5 million heroin addicts in Europe. See also EU Action plan on drugs 2000-2004. The quote is from 'Background note: short review on EU programme to fight drugs along the heroin route', Brussels, 15 May 2003. AIDCO A.3/SK-PEC/D (2003).
15. For a brief description of each Central Asian state see Stephanie Cooper, Michael von Tangen Page, Helena Vazquez and Lada Zimina, 'Monitoring of the implementation of small arms controls (MISAC: small arms control in Eurasia', Eurasia Series No 3, International Alert, London, January 2004, pp 30-33.
16. J.K. Bailes, B. Hagelin, Z. Lachowski, S. Perlo-Freeman, P. Stalenheim and D. Trofimov, 'Armament and disarmament in the Caucasus and Central Asia', SIPRI, July 2003, p 25.
17. See S. Neil MacFarlane and Stina. Totjesen, 'Awash with weapons'?: the case of small arms in Kyrgyzstan', Central Asian Survey, Vol 24, No 1, 2005, pp 5 -19,
18. and John Heathershaw, 'The paradox of peacebuilding: peril, promise, and small arms in Tajikistan', Central Asian Survey, Vol 24, No 1, 2005, pp 21-38 (both in this issue).
19. For example, in June 2003, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that 'uncontrolled radioactive sources' were 'widespread' in Central Asia's five former Soviet republics. Anxiety over the issue was heightened with the May arrest of Jose Padilla, an American citizen and alleged Al-Queada operative accused of planning to build a so-called 'dirty bomb' to be used in the USA. Padilla reportedly travelled to Central Asia in April hoping to buy radioactive materials. See IAEA website.
20. 'Nations hospitable to organized crime and terrorism', Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, October 2003, pp 61-66.
21. Even NATO has considering leading an alliance-wide policy to coordinate human trafficking efforts. See R. Nicholas Burns and Kai Eide, 'An alliance against the traffic in humans', International Herald Tribune , 12 March 2004.
22. Interview with Michael Tschanz, Chief of Mission, IOM Almaty, October, 2003; and interview with Kakoli Ray, Chief of Mission, IOM Bishkek, October 2003.
23. Conversation with Per Normark, Human Dimension Officer, OSCE Tashkent.
24. OSCE press release, 'OSCE holds training seminars on fights against human trafficking in northern Tajikistan', 3 July 2003.
25. Interview with Kakoli Ray, Chief of Mission in Kyrgyz Republic, IOM, Bishkek, October 2003.
26. Interview with Bjorn Halvarsson, Human Dimension Officer, OSCE Center in Almaty, Almaty, October 2003.
27. See Nicole Jackson, 'A theoretical and empirical explanation of the processes of securitisation and desecuritisation: international and regional organizations' rhetoric and policies towards illegal migration and transnational organized crime in Central Asia', Paper presented at a workshop on Illegal Migration in Asia, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China, 10 October, 2004.
28. See Nicole Jackson, 'A theoretical and empirical explanation of the processes of securitisation and desecuritisation: international and regional organizations' rhetoric and policies towards illegal migration and transnational organized crime in Central Asia', Paper presented at a workshop on Illegal Migration in Asia, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China, 10 October, 2004.
29. The IMU is dedicated to overthrowing the Uzbek regime and to establishing an Islamic state in the Feraghana valley. Tere are alleged reports that the IMU is currently regrouping and that it has recently been involved in attempted attacks in Kyrgyzstan, including on the US base in Bishkek.
30. See for example, 'Central Asia: is IMU still a threat to regional security?', RFE World News, 23 January 2004;
31. Ahmed Rashid, Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), pp 144-145.
32. See for example Svante E. Cornell, 'The nexus of narcotic, conflict, and radical Islamism in Central Asia', Caspian Brief, No 24, June 2002, p 2.
33. See, for example, Michael Fedholm, 'Uzbekistan and the threat of Islamic extremism', K39, CSRC, Camberley, UK, March 2003.
34. 'Involvement of Russian organized crime syndicates, criminal elements in the Russian military, and regional terrorist groups in narcotics trafficking in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Chechnya', Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, October 2002, p 18.
35. Tamara Makarenko, 'Bumper Afghan narcotics crop indicates resilience of networks', Jane's Intelligence Review, Vol 13, No 5, May 2002.
36. Roger N. McDermott, 'Countering global terrorism: developing the antiterrorist capabilities of the Central Asian militaries', Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, February 2004.
37. 'Is radical Islam inevitable in Central Asia? Priorities for engagement', ICG Asia Report, No 72, 22 December 2003, p 8, fn 34.
38. Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow, 1 July 2003;
39. Martha Brill Olcott, 'Central Asia: terrorism, Islamic extremism, and regional stability', Testimony Before the US Congress, Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, 23 July 2003.
40. Personal Interviews with Christopher Ram, Crime Prevention Expert, Crime Prevention Center, UNODC; and Slawomir Redo, Senior Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Expert, Centre for International Crime Prevention, UNODCCP.
41. Tamara Makarenko, 'Terrorism and transnational organised crime: the emerging nexus', in Paul Smith, ed, Transnational Violence and Seams of Lawlessness in the Asia-Pacific: Linkages to Global Terrorism (Hawaii: Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies). http:// www.st-andrews.ac.uk/academic/intrel/research/cstpv/pdffiles/ APCSS%20%20crime%20terror%20confin.pdf (Accessed 2 November 2004).
42. 'Asian organized crime and terrorist activity in Canada, 1999-2002', Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, July 2003.
43. For a detailed review of international organizations' policies see Nicole Jackson, 'the strategies and tactics of international institutions in countering clandestine transnational activities in post-Soviet Central Asia: why a human security approach is needed', Canadian Consortium on Human Security, July 2004.
44. Malcolm Anderson, The Frontiers of the European Union (New York: Palgrave, 2001).
45. See also Anderson's talk at Conference on European Union Enlargement and Security, UBC, 19 September 2003.
46. Author's interviews with members of organizations and missions both at headquarters in Europe and in Almaty and Bishkek, 2003. Please contact author for details.
47. 'Central Asia: the politics of police reform', International Crisis Group, Brussels/Osh, December, 2002.
48. 'Strengthening drug control and crime prevention capacities in the Central Asia States, 2002-2005, strategic programme framework', UNODC, Vienna, 2002.
49. The Agency is funded by the UN and operates outside the states' security services. It comprises over 300 officers, is in its fourth year of operations and is currently taking on a lead role in coordinating the efforts of various national and international agencies and civil groups involved in the war against drug trafficking and abuse. Personal interview with Bahtiar Mambetov, National Coordinator, UNODC Sub-Office in Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, October 2003.
50. Vienna Declaration, 11-12 March 2004, Vienna (from a follow-up meeting to the United Nations Counter-terrorism Committee (CTC) Special Meeting of 6 March 2003).
51. See the Terrorism Prevention Programme of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, (duration: 4 February 2003-31 December 2004). www.osce.org/osceprojects/ (Accessed 2 November 2004).