Broken Promises and Coca Eradication in Peru
The forced crop eradication policy implemented by the Peruvian government over the past 25 years has failed. The official strategy has exacerbated social conflicts; contributed to various types of subversive violence; jeopardized local economies, also affecting the national economy; and destroyed forests as crops have become more scattered. Worst of all, it has not resolved any of the underlying causes of drug trafficking, such as poverty, marginalisation and government neglect.
Recommendations
- After being in effect for 43 years, the various schemes for reducing supply, which are spelled out in international treaties on drugs, should be reviewed.
- Eradication, spraying and even substitution-based rural development have proven largely ineffective, harmful and indiscriminate, and have seriously violated basic collective rights.
- These measures contradict international, constitutional and legislative norms that seek recognition of and respect for people's culture and traditions.
- Regulations on illicit crops that were drawn up in 1961 and 1988 conflict with higher-level international norms on the protection of collective rights, which were established later. Authorities — judges, police, district attorneys and other officials — should keep these in mind when enforcing policies.
- Countries like Peru and Bolivia should build a solid partnership to work to change the international control system, beginning with the coca leaf, and adopt specific measures for liberalising it, with regard to traditional markets.
Recent publications from Drugs and Democracy
De wankelende ‘Weense consensus’ over drugsbeleidNederland is met zijn drugsbeleid in de achterhoede terecht gekomen. Zo zijn Uruguay en de Amerikaanse staten Washington en Colorado, met hun besluit de cannabismarkt van teelt tot gebruik te legaliseren, Nederland voorbijgestreefd. |
Between Reality and AbstractionAt the International Conference on Alternative Development (ICAD), held 15-16 November 2012 in Lima, the Peruvian Government continued to insist on the relevance of “Alternative Development (AD),” with particular emphasis on the so-called San Martín “miracle” or “model.” |
The illicit drugs market in the Colombian agrarian contextThe distribution of land and its unjust use are the major causes of violence in Colombia. For this reason land issues are the starting point of current peace talks between the Santos government and the FARC guerrillas |
Bogotá’s medical care centres for drug addictsThe opening in September 2012 of the first centre for drug addicts in Bogota is a welcome first step towards more humane and effective drug policies in Colombia’s capital city, but to be effective needs to be integrated into proper overall drugs strategy. |
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