Drug strategy
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The government regards the need to tackle the menace of drugs and crime as a top priority and is devoting significant resources to overseas anti-drugs and international crime work.
The primary aims of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are:
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To reduce the flow of illicit drugs to the UK (particularly the Class A drugs, heroin and cocaine)
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To reduce the impact of international organised crime affecting the UK
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To promote and enhance effective international co-operation against all aspects of international crime
The Home Office leads on drugs and crime policies overall. The Foreign Office, through its Drugs and International Crime Department (DICD) works to co-ordinate the implementation of the UK' international effort against drugs and organised crime, in partnership with the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), Her Majesty' Customs and Excise (HMCE), the Immigration Service (IS), the Home Office, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Department for International Development (DfID).
The Drugs and Crime Fund
DICD disburses the Foreign and Commonwealth Office' largest discretionary dedicated programme budget, the Drugs and Crime Fund. In FY 2003/04 this will total £9.4million. The Drugs and Crime Fund finances bilateral project activity directly in countries of concern and multilateral activity through contributions to programmes executed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The bulk of the resources available to us are used to assist law enforcement and other agencies in the key production and transit countries to:
- improve their capability to disrupt the flow of Class A drugs
- dismantle trafficking groups
- identify and recover laundered drug-related assets
We also use Drugs and Crime Fund money for bilateral project work to raise awareness of and combat organised immigration crime (people trafficking), money-laundering and paedophile crime.
In addition to managing and disbursing the Drugs and Crime Fund, DICD:
- contributes to the UK analysis of the global drugs trade and of the political frameworks within which individual countries operate
- oversees the UK' overseas Law Enforcement Liaison Officer (LELO) network, which consists of more than 100 drugs, fiscal and immigration officers from NCIS, HMCE and the Immigration Service, working from Diplomatic Missions overseas to assist the exchange of information on transnational organised crime between host governments and UK law enforcement agencies
- helped launch a UK initiative to reinforce EU co-operation with the border authorities in the Western Balkans against illegal immigration and trafficking in people. EU immigration officers are now posted in the region
- played an active role in negotiating the UN Convention Against Transnational Crime (UNTOC)and its three associated Protocols which cover the trafficking and smuggling of people and the illegal production of and trafficking in firearms and ammunition
- negotiates bilateral Memoranda of Understanding to assist the exchange of information between UK law enforcement agencies and overseas counterparts
- leads on UK drugs policy in the UN and G8. As a member of the elected Commission on Narcotic Drugs since 1947, the UK helps to form the policy of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The UK has consistently been amongst the UNODC' five largest donors in recent years
- lobbies for the widest possible adherence to the three main UN Drugs Conventions (1961, 1971 and 1988) which set the legal framework for international co-operation
For further information visit the Foreign and Commonwealth website (new window)
