Position Paper

Introduction

The purpose of this position paper is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures relating to the issues of Drug trafficking and organized crime in the country of Laos. As the representative of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), in the perspective of Laos, we will examine the response to the challenge of Narco-Traffic and Organized Crime in West Africa, we will also examine Drug trafficking and its Role in Fueling Conflict in Central and South, and finally we will explore the effects of Decriminalization Strategies within International Drug Policy.

1. Responding to the Challenge of Narco-Traffic and Organized Crime in West Africa

The West African criminal networks are composed wholly or partly by citizens of the countries in this part of Africa, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. From a demographic and economic viewpoint, this region is dominated by Nigeria.

Furthermore, from the nineties on the African continent networks West African criminal have shown likely to choose South Africa as a base of criminal activity, due to a high level of infrastructure development and communication in comparison with other African countries. It should be noted that this preference has resulted in South Africa itself, which has resulted in increased criminal activity, particularly in areas such as drug trafficking, prostitution and violence associated with it, and fraud (Alhassane, pp. 1-7).

With reference to the situation in Laos, Drug storage in could lead to the creation of a home market. Furthermore, the presence of groups engaged in drug trafficking has contributed to increased imports of synthetic drugs from Europe. Extensive research based on public sources of information has highlighted the role that West African criminal networks played in the field of organized crime in South Africa and the serious threat that such networks pose to the European Union in particular. It appears these organizations are present in almost all major areas of crime and as the data confirm increasingly, are petty criminals from South Africa and other African countries, who then conduct criminal activities such as drug smuggling. Such how to organize these networks has allowed to stay quietly in the level in the field of transnational crimes like drug trafficking, while collecting the profits with them, improve their methods of operation and expand their activities (Andres, pp. 2-5).

2. Drug trafficking and its Role in Fueling Conflict in Central and South America

The criminal networks in Laos prefer to engage in long-term business relationships, distributing products in bulk to minimize risk, even if that reports fewer benefits. As an illustration of this course of action we can cite the relationships established with these Colombian cartels and Pakistanis networks in the field of trafficking in cocaine and heroin respectively. Drug trafficking in Latin America is an economic driver and therefore truly unprecedented. In this sense, drug trafficking taking place in this segment of the world cannot be reduced to a ...