Media Center

Press Release

OAS ANTI-NARCOTICS AGENCY MEETS TO DRAFT HEMISPHERIC REPORT

Government experts from around the Americas opened a meeting at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington today to draft progress reports on the implementation of recommendations arising from the second round (2001-2002) of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism(MEM).

The OAS Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), which organized this session, had developed the MEM as a tool to measure national and regional initiatives to combat illicit drugs, recommend steps to improve those efforts, and evaluate how countries are complying with the recommendations.

In opening remarks, OAS Secretary General César Gaviria hailed the Governmental Expert Group for its progress with the MEM and stressed that while MEM has achieved much, “it must achieve more.” He added, “It must mature to be the most accepted authority on what progress is being made, on what progress is not being made, and on what must be done about it.”

Gaviria told the experts—whose drafting session will last the entire week—that the progress reports have to be “clear on where significant progress has been made, and just as clear when not; fair in the assessment of obstacles being faced; and objective on assistance, recognizing that sometimes it is indispensable.”

Noting as well that “the public accepts the MEM as something objective, not politically motivated,” he urged the member state experts to safeguard that credibility. The evaluation will not be accepted if it is not credible to a public that has become critical and very skeptical, Gaviria said, adding that drug trafficking and its consequences must be part of national agendas.

The Secretary General challenged the experts to ensure that the MEM remain a relevant tool against drugs in “a future which is almost surely to bring more insidious and more threatening behaviors.”

CICAD Executive Secretary David Beall, who is chairing the session, explained that in the first evaluation round, the MEM used 61 indicators to measure anti-drug progress, while round two involved 83. Round three, which is underway, involves 86 indicators—68 of which have been changed from the review of the previous round. “Things change so fast in the area of drug trafficking and consumption that a thing left alone is very quickly obsolete,” Beall said. “You must not only use your instrument, you must sharpen it. The instrument has been sharpened.”

In May, the experts from the member states will review the information provided by the member countries for the years 2003 and 2004.

Reference: E-032/04