http://css.unodc.org/unodc/feed/costas-corner.xmlCosta's CornerMon, 09 Nov 2009 10:30:52 AM CEThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2009-09-11-seal-the-deal-in-doha---from-words-into-deeds-.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2009-09-11-seal-the-deal-in-doha---from-words-into-deeds-.htmlI would like to begin by thanking the Heir Apparent of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamin Bin Hamad Al-Thani, for his vision, hospitality and leadership in hosting us in his beautiful country. I also welcome Attorney General Dr. Ali Al-Marri, the incoming President of the Conference of Parties, who will guide us through this Doha meeting and into the next Session in 2011. And we should all take this opportunity to thank Indonesia for its Presidency since Bali.Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:30:52 AM CETFri, 09 Oct 2009 11:54:00 AM CESThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2009-07-10.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/speeches/2009-07-10.htmlIn my view, it is both. Change for the better has happened. Yet, more is necessary and possible. No doubt, over the past ten years we have learned and demonstrated that drugs can be contained by improving health, there can be justice where there has been crime, and security can prevail over terror. But these improvements do not come by themselves: we need to nurture, foster and promote them with unmitigated commitment. And then we have to build operational alliances among Member States, and with all other stakeholders. Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:54:00 AM CESTThu, 24 Sep 2009 12:29:52 PM CESThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/drug-control-we-need-a-balanced-approach-covering-health-development-and-security.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/drug-control-we-need-a-balanced-approach-covering-health-development-and-security.htmlThere is a growing chorus, not least in the pages of the Observer, calling for an end to drug control. The arguments are by now well known: too many people are going to jail and not to treatment. Eradicating the supply of illicit drugs is meaningless without reducing demand. Drug control has spawned a massive criminal black market. Some even say that the costs of prohibition far outweigh the benefits (although there is no body count of people who haven't died thanks to drug control versus those who have been killed in the crossfire).Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:29:52 PM CESTSun, 13 Sep 2009 10:28:00 AM CESThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/making-up-for-a-lost-decade.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/making-up-for-a-lost-decade.html On 13 September, I made the following speech in Rome to G8 Speakers of Parliament, as well as quests from a number of other states: Thank you all for this invitation. It is a honour to meet with the representatives of the people from 3/4 of humanity and review what can be done against one of today's most salient threats: transnational organized crime. We all are familiar with the origin of the problem. Initially, in Italy we called it mafia. Elsewhere in Europe, North America and the Far East the jargon evolved into cartels, mobsters, syndicates, yakuza, triads etc. This was the time when criminal groups were domestic in size and culture, imbedded in the fabric of wealthy nation-states, with limited cross-border ties. A quarter century later, the threat looms larger, more serious and widely spread.Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:28:00 AM CESTWed, 20 May 2009 6:04:08 PM CESThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/a-plea-from-zeinab.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/a-plea-from-zeinab.html On my way back from Afghanistan recently, I visited the Iran-Afghan border where there is a trench, 1000km long, four metres wide and four metres high. It is like one of the wonders of the world - you can probably see it from space; the inverse of the Great Wall of China. Iran has built these earthworks to slow the trafficking of drugs out of Afghanistan. This is the front line in preventing the spread of opiates into the West. This effort has come at a great cost - both financial and human. More than 3,500 Iranian border guards have been killed in the past generation, fighting well-armed drug gangs along the border. This tragedy was given a human face when, at a border post, an 11-year old girl named Zeinab, dressed in black and carrying a picture of a handsome man in uniform, read out a letter to me. Here is what she said:Wed, 20 May 2009 6:04:08 PM CESTFri, 15 May 2009 4:24:23 PM CESThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/what-to-do-about-organized-crime.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/what-to-do-about-organized-crime.htmlThere is a growing focus on, and concern about, organized crime: in public opinion, the media, and among policymakers. I have addressed the issue lately in a number of speeches, for example at the 2009 Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Have a look at my outline. I welcome your comments.Fri, 15 May 2009 4:24:23 PM CESTTue, 14 Apr 2009 11:45:00 PM CESThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/birds-of-prey-on-congo.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/birds-of-prey-on-congo.html14 April 2009 - I recently travelled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where centuries of exploitation by warlords and profiteers have taken their toll. I witnessed the effect of organized crime and saw "modern slaves".Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:45:00 PM CESTSat, 24 Jan 2009 12:00:00 AM CEThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/descent-into-the-heart-of-darkness.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/descent-into-the-heart-of-darkness.html "We lined up the villagers, about 20 of them, and chopped their hands with a machete. They dropped to the ground screaming. We cracked their skulls." Opoko is a handsome boy with vivid eyes, in his late teens and a former child-soldier whom I met at a camp in the town of Gulu, northern Uganda, organized by UNODC and the ICC Trust Fund for Victims. Child-soldiers, their victimization and exploitation for violence against civilians, are a dramatic case of contemporary slavery - one that UNODC is committed to fight in the four corners of the world as part of our anti-human trafficking initiative (UN.GIFT). Read about the Executive Director's mission to Uganda and the dramatic stories reported to him by dozens of children in conflict. There is no return from the heart of darkness.Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:00:00 AM CETWed, 31 Dec 2008 11:16:43 AM CEThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/costas-corner/london.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/costas-corner/london.html Good to be back in London. In this wonderful city I had my first real job -- as a chef, believe or not, in a McDonald's-type joint.  Much later, namely when I was about three times older, I spent many years as Secretary-General of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:16:43 AM CETWed, 03 Dec 2008 11:55:46 AM CEThttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/sub-prime-crisis-or-solution.htmlhttp://css.unodc.org/unodc/en/costas-corner/sub-prime-crisis-or-solution.htmlMoney is tight these days. Creditors have been badly burned, and banks are wary of lending to each other or to risky clients. And yet, in many parts of the world, sub-prime lending is exactly what is needed to foster development and reduce vulnerability to drugs and crime. Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:55:46 AM CET