United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a United Nations agency that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna. It was renamed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2002.

Organizational structure
The agency, employing about 500 staff members worldwide, is headquartered in Vienna/Austria, with 21 field offices and two liaison offices in Brussels and New York City. The agency is led by an Executive Director appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General. Presently, that position is filled by Yuri Fedotov, the Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Following his appointment in 2010, Fedotov succeeded Antonio Maria Costa in this capacity, and also as Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna. The long-term aims of the office are to better equip governments to handle drug-, crime-, terrorism-, and corruption-related issues, maximise knowledge on these issues among governmental institution and agencies, and also to maximise awareness of said matters in public opinion, globally, nationally and at community level. Approximately 90% of the Office's funding comes from voluntary contributions, mainly from governments.

UNODC also incorporates the secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

Aims and Functions of UNODC
UNODC was established to assist the UN in better addressing a coordinated, comprehensive response to the interrelated issues of illicit trafficking in and abuse of drugs, crime prevention and criminal justice, international terrorism, and corruption. These goals are pursued through three primary functions: research, guidance and support to governments in the adoption and implementation of various crime-, drug-, terrorism-, and corruption-related conventions, treaties and protocols, as well as technical/financial assistance to said governments to face their respective situations and challenges in these fields.

These are the main themes that UNODC deals with: Alternative Development, Corruption, Criminal Justice,Prison Reform and Crime Prevention, Drug Prevention,-Treatment and Care, HIV and AIDS, Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, Money Laundering, Organized Crime, Piracy, Terrorism Prevention.

The World Drug Report
The World Drug Report is a yearly publication that presents a comprehensive assessment of the international drug problem, with detailed information on the illicit drug situation. It provides estimates and information on trends in the production, trafficking and use of opium/heroin, coca/cocaine, cannabis and amphetamine-type stimulants. The Report, based on data and estimates collected or prepared by Governments, UNODC and other international institutions, attempts to identify trends in the evolution of global illicit drug markets.

Through the World Drug Report, UNODC aims to enhance Member States' understanding of global illicit drug trends and increase their awareness of the need for the more systematic collection and reporting of data relating to illicit drugs.

Treaties
United Nations Conventions and their related Protocols underpin all the operational work of UNODC.

United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols Thereto
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime is a legally-binding instrument through which States parties commit to taking a series of measures against transnational organized crime. These include the creation of domestic offences to combat the problem, the adoption of new, sweeping frameworks for mutual legal assistance, extradition, law enforcement cooperation and technical assistance, and training.

United Nations Convention against Corruption
In its resolution 55/61, the General Assembly recognized that an effective international legal instrument against corruption, independent of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime was desirable. The text of the Convention was negotiated during seven sessions held between 21 January 2002 and 1 October 2003. The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 31 October 2003. In 2003, the United Nations adopted the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). This entered into force in December 2005. As of 23 July 2009, 140 countries had signed and 136 countries (States Parties) had ratified the UNCAC [3] UNODC serves as the Secretariat for the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) to the UNCAC.

UNODC, as the custodian of UNCAC, is also one of the main initiators of the establishment of the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA), whose main function is to, inter alia, facilitate more effective implementation of the UNCAC.

Drug-related treaties
There are three drug related treaties that guide UNODC's drug related programs. These are: The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol ; the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.

These three major international drug control treaties are mutually supportive and complementary. An important purpose of the first two treaties is to codify internationally applicable control measures in order to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes, and to prevent their diversion into illicit channels. They also include general provisions on trafficking and drug abuse.

“Do Drugs control your life”? – World Drug Campaign
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) started this international campaign to raise awareness about the major challenge that illicit drugs represent to society as a whole, and especially to the young. The goal of the campaign is to mobilize support and to inspire people to act against drug abuse and trafficking. The campaign encourages young people to put their health first and not to take drugs.

“Your No Counts” – International Anti-Corruption Campaign
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has teamed up with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to run this campaign as a focus on how corruption hinders efforts to achieve the internationally agreed upon MDGs, undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to human rights violations, distorts markets, erodes quality of life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish.

“Think AIDS” – World AIDS Campaign
Young people aged 15 to 24 account for an estimated 40 per cent of new adult (15+) HIV infections worldwide. In some parts of the world, and in some marginalized sub-groups, the most frequent modes of HIV transmission for these young people are unsafe injecting drug use and unsafe sexual activities.

Because young people are also often more likely to use drugs, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) targets this population with a campaign to raise awareness about drug use and its connection to the spread of HIV and AIDS. The slogan: "Think Before You Start ... Before You Shoot ... Before You Share" is used to provoke young people to consider the implications of using drugs, and particularly injecting drugs.

Blue Heart Campaign Against Human Trafficking
The Blue Heart Campaign seeks to encourage involvement and action to help stop trafficking in persons. The campaign also allows people to show solidarity with the victims of human trafficking by wearing the Blue Heart. The use of the blue UN colour demonstrates the commitment of the United Nations to combat this crime.

Criticism
The biggest contributors to UNODC's budget are proponents of a zero tolerance drug policy like Sweden and the United States. According to the Transnational Institute this explains the fact that – unlike other United Nations bodies like WHO and UNAIDS – UNODC did not – until recently – promote evidence-based harm reduction policies (e.g. needle exchange and Heroin-assisted treatment).

Furthermore, UNODC has been accused of trying to rewrite history in its reports in order to conceal the failure of its prohibitionist policies.

The UNODC World Drug Report 2009 promotes deceptive practices, such as distributing fake drugs, in order to disrupt illicit drug markets:
 * “Other techniques for breeding mistrust, such as the distribution of inert substances packaged to look like drugs (e.g. copycat ecstasy pills with popular logos) or the infiltration of user chat groups could also dampen the spread of the market.”