Mr Shariq Bin Raza

THE new head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Yangon, Mr Shariq Bin Raza, said last week that the agency was seeking to expand its activities in Myanmar and was hopeful it could do so with financial support from international donors.

Mr Raza, who assumed his new post in Yangon in March, said in an interview with The Myanmar Times on April 28 that the UNODC was planning to expand its program in Myanmar to provide alternative development assistance for former opium farmers in Shan State.

In particular, the agency plans to expand the alternative development assistance project in Wa Special Region-2, where it has been working since the mid-1990s to eradicate the production of opium.

“Mere reduction in the production of opium poppy does not mean that the problem is over,” said Mr Raza, whose 15-plus years of work with the UNODC has included a posting in Laos, where the agency operates similar programs. “More important is the sustainability of this reduction, which can only come . . . [when] the ex-growers’ families and communities can sustain their livelihoods without depending on illicit crops.”

A joint survey by the UNODC and the government’s Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control has found that opium cultivation has declined by 57 per cent and production by 62 per cent during the past five years. The last year’s survey by the two agencies found that more than 900,000 people were involved in opium poppy cultivation.

“If [opium production] decreased more it would also indicate that there were more farmers and people who needed assistance with alternative livelihoods to live without falling into the traps of poverty and crime,” Mr Raza said. “If they do not have a process to support their development . . . then in all likelihood they may go back to opium cultivation because it is more the matter of survival for them than anything else.”

Mr Raza said the UNODC was optimistic that funding from international donors would be forthcoming to enable the agency to expand its assistance to former opium growers.

“Irrespective of other issues which may be the subject of debate or controversy, humanitarian assistance is an area which we feel should be maintained,” he said.

“Many of our international partners are open to that kind of approach,” he said, adding that the governments of Japan and Australia have been major contributors to the agency’s projects in Myanmar.

Mr Raza said another area of concern for the agency in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries was the prevalence of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in the region.

“We may have a situation where while we may be tackling the problem of opium . . . at the same time we are moving towards ATS abuse and trafficking, which is quite worrying to the UNODC,” he said.

He said the UN agency also wanted to help Myanmar in its fight against transnational organised crime, including human trafficking.

This help would include providing training for judicial officers and working with neighbouring countries to support Myanmar’s efforts to become more active in regional issues related to drugs and crime, Mr Raza said.

Speaking to reporters in Kengtung in Shan State on April 26, joint secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, Police Colonel Hkam Awng, said his agency was pleased at the level of cooperation it received from the UN and its regional counterparts in the country’s fight against narcotics.

He said Myanmar’s achievements in working for the reduction of opium production has helped to increase country’s image in the West, which frequently accused the government of failing to tackle the problem.

“Even if they are not giving us credit at this stage they still recognise [our achievements],” Police Colonel Hkam Awng said.