WRITTEN QUESTION E-2431/03 by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission. HIV/AIDS situation in Central Asian countries.
Date: 2003-07-22
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: AIDS, Central Asia, action programme, drug addiction, drug traffic, fight against crime, judicial cooperation, police cooperation

3.4.2004

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/489

(2004/C 84 E/0567)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2421/03

by Kathleen Van Brempt (PSE) to the Commission

(21 July 2003)

Subject: Bullfrogs

According to nature conservation associations, large colonies of bullfrogs are threatening the fauna in
Belgium. Given that the import of these animals has been prohibited since 1997, it is highly likely that
they are being imported under another name. According to nature conservation organisations, sellers use
the term ‘giant frog larvae’ and other names in order to smuggle bullfrogs into Europe and to sell them at
garden centres and markets. These frogs are driving out native species.

Is the European Commission aware that, despite the EU ban, bullfrogs are still being imported into Europe?

What measures is the European Commission taking in order to tackle this illegal trade?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(10 September 2003)

The Commission is not aware that bullfrogs are being smuggled into Europe under other names where
they are sold to garden centres and markets. A recent study carried out for the Commission on the
application of Union wildlife trade regulations in relation to species which form an ecological threat to
Union fauna and flora concludes that American bullfrogs ‘appear to be no longer sold for garden ponds’.
The Commission has not received any information on illegal imports of bullfrogs from other sources
either.

if the
Combating the smuggling of animals is mainly the responsibility of Member States. However,
Commission receives relevant information on illegal trade in a species listed on the annexes of Council
Regulation 338/97 (1), it can draw Member States’ attention to matters whose investigation it considers
necessary.

The Commission thanks the Honourable Member for this information and will
competent Belgian authorities.

transmit

it

to the

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97 of 9 December 1996 on the protection of species of wild fauna and flora by

regulating trade therein, OJ L 61, 3.3.1997.

(2004/C 84 E/0568)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2431/03

by Marco Cappato (NI) to the Commission

(22 July 2003)

Subject: HIV/AIDS situation in Central Asian countries

According to the United Nations, its specialised agencies and non-governmental organisations active in the
field of harm reduction, HIV is spreading rapidly through the Central Asian countries. While the number
of HIV cases remains small, it has grown exponentially in the past four to five years primarily through
injecting drug use (IDU). In Uzbekistan there were almost as many new HIV cases reported in the first six
months of 2002 as in the whole of the previous decade; injecting drug users (IDUs) accounted for 90 % of
these cases. Neighbouring Kyrgyzstan reported four HIV cases in 1996; by the end of 2002 there were
825 cases, 82 % among IDUs. In Kazakhstan, IDUs comprise 87 % of the 2 870 reported HIV cases and in
Tajikistan they comprised 73 % of the 45 registered cases. These statistics, however, do not indicate true
HIV prevalence rates in the region, which are estimated to be up to ten times higher than those officially
reported. Underreporting is caused by poor epidemiological surveillance.

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Injecting drug use is rampant in the region partially because Central Asia is a crucial drug trafficking route
through which drugs produced in Afghanistan and Pakistan filter into other markets. Studies show that,
along trafficking routes across the world, when heroin is present a certain percentage of people will try it
and become users. This growing HIV epidemic in the Central Asian countries can and must be contained.

Is the Commission involved in trying to reduce drug supply through seizures and the passage of punitive
drug laws for possession of small quantities, driving in this way IDUs further underground where they are
harder to reach and unable to access services, or is it pondering the possibility of providing access to drug
treatment and needle exchange programmes therefore honouring its supposed balanced approach to the
drug question?

Does the Commission not believe that the time has come to evaluate the ways in which drugs are
currently ‘controlled’ by the prohibitionist arsenal of the three UN Conventions and the various national
legislations deriving from them?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(18 September 2003)

The European Union’s strategy to fight drugs along the heroin routes was drawn up under its Action Plan
on Drugs (2002-2004) which clearly sets out the measures to be taken over the five-year period by the EU
institutions and the Member States.

These measures cover both demand and supply reduction and focus on the need for international
cooperation and effective information, evaluation and coordination at all levels.

Under point 5 of the European Union’s Action Plan in respect of external action, the Commission regards
international cooperation as a key element in the fight against drugs. The Commission will give particular
importance to the main trafficking routes supplying the European Union.

Since Afghanistan continues to be the main heroin producer in the world despite measures taken by the
international community to eradicate drug production, the long-term objective is to set up a system of
‘filters’ between the main sources of opiates and heroin, Afghanistan, and Europe.

To attain this objective a number of technical assistance programmes and initiatives have been put in place
either directly through specific measures to combat drugs or through complementary measures to
strengthen border controls and customs control in the Newly-Independent States, the Balkans and Central
and Eastern Europe.

The Commission has launched three coordinated anti-drug programmes in the three regions on the heroin
routes: BUMAD (Belarus, Ukraine and Moldavia), SCAD (South Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia) and CADAP (Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).

The overall objective of these three programmes is to reduce and prevent drug trafficking in the regions
supplying the European Union.

The strategy adopted under these programmes is threefold:

(cid:1) provide greater assistance to ensure balanced and comprehensive monitoring of drugs in the region:
each programme will mount specific projects in four sectors which are the prerequisites for effective
and modern methods to combat drugs:
framework,
(b) effective border control, (c) reliable information on drug use and effective information on drug
trafficking, (d) modern measures to combat drug use and reduce demand and its effects;

(a) an appropriate legal and institutional

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(cid:1) encourage compatibility between measures taken to combat drugs by the European Union and the
beneficiary region by promoting European Union methodologies and standards to control and combat
drugs. This objective will be attained through the use of European Union experts in the four sectors
and through training, study trips and exchange programmes for officials in the European Union;

(cid:1) promote cooperation at national and regional level: cooperation between beneficiary countries will be
made possible through a coordinated programme of assistance for harmonised control of drugs for the
ten beneficiary countries in question. Each programme will also be tailored to national needs. Under
each project inter-institutional cooperation will be encouraged at national and regional level through
training and joint study trips.

To amplify the impact of these measures the Tacis anti-drug programmes will be closely coordinated with
parallel customs and border control programmes, i.e. BOMCA (border management programme in Central
Asia).

The action programme to combat drugs in Central Asia (CADAP) was launched in January 2001 with the
appointment of a coordinator for the programme at the Commission Delegation in Almaty. He will soon
be replaced and will join the BOMCA coordinator in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

In the first phase of the CADAP programme (CADAP I) some EUR 3,5 million was provided to fund the
following projects:

(cid:1) control of airports: supply of surveillance and control equipment and training in the four principal

airports in the region;

(cid:1) system of information on drug use: the current NADIN project is aimed at providing the countries in
question with the capacity to carry out epidemiological studies of drugs in order to draw up their own
drug prevention and treatment/rehabilitation policies;

(cid:1) following the recent events in Afghanistan, CADAP I has provided support to set up a new anti-drug

agency in Tajikistan,

(cid:1) a coordination office has been set up in Almaty at the Commission Delegation. This will move to

Bishkek to facilitate coordination with the new BOMCA programme.

The second phase of the CADAP programme (CADAP II) which will receive funding of EUR 4,5 million
from Tacis will start in the autumn of this year.

This will be followed one year later by CADAP III with funding of EUR 3 million.

The following projects will be mounted under CAPAP II and CADAP III:

(cid:1) legal assistance: this project will

improve anti-drug legislation in the region and strengthen the
judicial
operational capacity of
assistance and monitoring of movements of drugs). The United Nations International Drug Control
Programme (UNDCP) will be involved in implementing this project;

judges and public prosecutors for judicial cooperation (mutual

(cid:1) control of airports: this project follows on from CADAP I. Its aim is to set up information units at the
principal airports in the region to improve analysis of and sharing of information on drug trafficking
(equipment and training will be provided by the project);

(cid:1) control of ports: this project will strengthen the inspection and information capacities of the port of

Aktau (Kazakhstan);

(cid:1) land border posts: the project will provide support for border posts along the trafficking routes. In
each country key border posts will be selected for training and equipment assistance to strengthen
their operational capacity. The project will be implemented in close cooperation with the UNDCP;

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3.4.2004

(cid:1) police intelligence: this project will support the development of an intelligence system within law

enforcement services in the region to more effectively combat drug trafficking;

(cid:1) prevention of drug abuse in prisons: this project will support prevention, treatment and rehabilitation
and probation in certain prisons in Central Asia. Assistance for prevention measures by the authorities
will be considered.

The Commission is also one of the main participants in, and contributors to, the United Nations Global
Fund to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Funding will be used to support measures taken by the
countries concerned including Central Asia.

At a more general level, the Commission has also focused its local development programmes in Central
Asia in the southern regions of Tajikistan and in the Kyrgyz and Tajik areas of the Ferghana valley which
are the main transit areas and where severe poverty makes the population even more vulnerable to
traffickers and drug trafficking.

Finally, the Community is not party to the United Nations drugs conventions (with the exception of
Article 12 of the 1988 Convention against the Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances in
respect of chemical precursors) and it is therefore up to the Member States to propose any amendments to
these Conventions.

(2004/C 84 E/0569)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2445/03

by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission

(22 July 2003)

Subject: Illegal importations of bushmeat

Can the Commission report on levels of illegal importation of bushmeat into Member States, indicating
recent trends in import volumes; animal meat-source composition; originating source and destination
patterns; transportation routes/methods; and detection levels?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(15 September 2003)

The Commission regrets that the information requested by the Honourable Member is not available.
Almost by definition, illegal imports rarely appear in the statistics.

The Commission has information on legally imported CITES (1) listed species, as importers are obliged to
notify their authorities and to present permits or notifications. However, the import of specimens of
CITES-listed species for use as bushmeat is illegal, and importers are not going to reveal that they are
breaching the rules.

Nor is it possible to extrapolate from the number of confiscations as there is no reliable way of
determining what proportion of the commodity is accounted for by confiscated material (cid:1) contraband
which evades the system is never recorded.
there have only been two
confiscations since 1999.

In the case of bushmeat,

(1) Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.