The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a branch of the United Nations focused on addressing issues related to drug control, crime prevention, and criminal justice. As part of the General Assembly, member states can propose, debate, and vote on measures that combat drug trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism. The UNODC also plays a key role in promoting international cooperation, providing technical assistance, and supporting the implementation of conventions and treaties related to its mandate.

While the dangers of human trafficking have been relatively publicized, organ trafficking, its lesser discussed form, is also a growing problem. Generally, the sale and trade of organs is banned around the world, with the notable exception of Iran, but conservative estimates place the industry at generating around $840 million to $1.7 billion every year worldwide. Disproportionately affecting people in developing countries, traffickers often mislead victims with false information on recovery times, the promise of large sums of money, and even, assurances that their organ is “not needed” in order for survival.

Issues with the prevention of organ trafficking generally stem from the fact that there is far more demand for viable organs than supply, and so, the creation of a black market for these goods is developed easily. Whileadvancements have been made in lab-grown kidneys as well as other body parts, their more frequent use in transplants remains rare. Until the supply of organs catches up to the exorbitant demand, the black market for organs is going to be always prevalent. It isestimated that up to 10% of organ transplants around the world are done through the use of organ trafficking. With the covert nature of the procedure, detection, and therefore, prevention of the practice is made more difficult as a result of the nature of the procedure. Regardless, there has been progress made to restrict organ trafficking. The Declaration of Istanbul, a non-binding guidancedocument for policymakers and health professionals, sets out different policy objectives for the reduction and ultimately, prevention of organ trafficking.

a) How can governments leverage emerging technologies to detect when illegal organ transplants have taken place?

b) Given the international nature of this practice, what are some steps that could be taken in order to mitigate or discourage visitors who travel internationally for these procedures?

c) What steps, if any, should be undertaken to compensate or care for victims of organ trafficking?

d) What policy steps should be undertaken in order to combat this issue, given the supply-and-demand constraints?

D4.9.Ethical-case-study-on-profiling-at-the-border.pdf

Ending Human Trafficking in the Twenty-First Century

The consumption of psychedelic and other drugs around the world have typically been responded to with extensive legal and even military measures that often include the criminalization and prosecution of drug users and their consumers. Led largely by the United States, the global “War on Drugs” saw the implementation of drug policies intended to discourage and reduce the production, distribution, and usage of drugs. After decades of  significant spending, drug usage in countries with punitive policies remains concerningly high. Alternatively, countries like Portugal, who have implemented extensive decriminalization, have seen a decrease in their drug usage rates, with significant cost-savings and public health benefits.

While there are philosophical, moral, and ethical questions surrounding either side of the debate, it is clear that something needs to be done in order to curb drug usage, which has been slowly increasing. On one hand, the state “endorsement” of the consumption of illicit and potentially harmful drugs has its obvious downfalls, especially if it’s not paralleled with effective state support for victims and drug users. On the other hand, effective decriminalization targets the demand-side instead of the supply-side, and perhaps more importantly, has already demonstrated effective results in curbing illicit drug usage while promoting more responsible behavior around the practice. Even decriminalization, which has proven to yield positive results, has to be done with full mindfulness of the pros and cons of the approach. Jurisdictions in which decriminalization was hastily pursued have not seen the benefits replicated by the “Portuguese model”. States that aim to direct their anti-drug policy in either direction should be careful to direct their cumulative resources through all or most of the public sector, including all levels of government, in order to ensure maximum effectiveness. Given the international nature of this problem, this UN body is uniquely suited to drive forth a consensus on how nation states can tackle this problem once and for all!

a) What are the moral and ethical hurdles to overcome when trying to criminalize or de-criminalize?

b)  What caused the failure of the “War on Drugs”, and for governments trying to replicate the strategy, what can they do differently to ensure success?

c)  What are some essential elements of “decriminalization” efforts that need to be implemented for a successful policy? Can those elements be successfully replicated in every jurisdiction? If not, what are some countermeasures to ensure that the “decriminalization” efforts are successful?

d)  What drugs should be decriminalized if such a strategy is pursued?

e)  Given the international nature of drug production and transportation, what specific actions can governments undertake to ensure their actions do not impact the drug policies of other countries?

The Relationship between the legal status of drug possession and the criminalization of marginalized drug users: A literature review

Drug decriminalisation: grounding policy in evidence - The Lancet