About the Drug Control  Coordination Unit (DCCU)

    
     In February 1992, the Council of Ministers of the ECO Member States set up a new Technical Committee on Drug Control. Drug control was also included as a major policy field in the Istanbul Declaration adopted by the ECO Council of Ministers in its special meeting held in Istanbul in July 1993. On 15 March 1995, ECO and UNDCP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on their drug control cooperation, inter alia, in improving drug control coordination within the ECO region. The Consultative Session of the ECO Technical Committee on Drug Control (Tehran, 5-7 November 1995) requested UNDCP’s assistance in the creation of a DCCU at the ECO Secretariat. Based on the ECO-UNDCP MOU and following specific requests from the ECO Secretariat, UNDCP formulated an Outline of a Project Idea to assist ECO in creating the DCCU, which was approved by the UNDCP Project Review Committee. Following consultations with the ECO Secretariat, UNDCP Offices in Islamabad and Tashkent, and UN/UNDP Office in Tehran, UNDCP developed the Project Idea into a full-fledged Project Document.

The 6th COM Meeting held in May 1996 in Ashgabat after various Expert Groups and Technical Committee Meetings finalized and adopted an ECO Plan of Action on Drug Control. It provides a framework for measures to be taken at national and regional levels such as: 

-    Eradication of opium poppy crop; 

-    Elimination of heroin laboratories; 

-    Strengthening control of drugs and psychotropic substances used for licit purposes, as well as control of essential chemical precursors; 

-    Fight against illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, including promotion of national drug control legislation, strengthening national and regional structures and institutions, exchange of drug liaison officers between member states; exchange of information and experience; training of law enforcement staff, improvement of interdiction capacities, introduction of a reward system by member states, measures against money laundering; 

-    Reduction of illicit demand, promotion of treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts.

            On the other hand,  ECO Plan of Action calls for the establishment of a Drug Control Coordination Unit (DCCU), which “will operate under the Secretary General” and shall “in consultation with the UNDCP and other relevant agencies, prepare and implement projects and programmes to strengthen national law enforcement agencies and promote cooperation among them. It may also engage in instructive programmes and activities aimed at full implementation of the international drug conventions. The Unit shall serve as a channel of information and legal and technical assistance to Member States” (ECO Plan of Action on Drug Control, Chapter II, Section (iii), item “a”).    Accordingly, a project titled “Assistance in Establishing a Drug Control Coordination Unit (DCCU) at the Secretariat of ECO” was concluded with the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) in Vienna on March 5, 1998. The Project is expected to promote coordination of drug control activities within the ECO Region, enable ECO to launch a continuous drug control dialogue with ECO Member States and thus to obtain an additional tool for monitoring the implementation by the Member States of ECO Plan of Action on Drug Control. The UNDCP is the funding and executing agency for this Project, and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is associated agency for provision of certain equipment and services.

           The Unit has become operational on July 25, 1999, following the debriefing session from Mr. Jean-Luc Lemahieu, UNDCP Consultant who visited the ECO Secretariat Headquarters from 7 to 25^th of July, 1999.

After successful completion of the first phase on December 31, 2000, the second phase of the Project which is envisaged to last two years, started as a continuation of the first phase on December 1, 2002 to enhance regional drug control cooperation and coordination among ECO Member States by strengthening the technical capabilities of the DCCU in providing narcotics control related coordination services to National Focal Points (NFPs) of the ECO Member States.

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