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Martin Jelsma

Martin Jelsma
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Email: mjelsma [at] tni.org
Telephone: +31 20 662 6608

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Drugs and Democracy
Peace & Security
Martin Jelsma

TNI Drugs and Democracy Programme Coordinator

Martin Jelsma is a political scientist who has specialised in Latin America and international drugs policy.  In 2005, he received the Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship, which stated that Jelsma "is increasingly recognized as one of, if not the, outstanding strategists in terms of how international institutions deal with drugs and drug policy."

In 1995 he initiated and has since co-oordinated TNI's Drugs & Democracy Programme which focuses on drugs and conflict studies with a focus on the Andean/Amazon region, Burma/Myanmar and Afghanistan, and on the analysis and dialogues around international drug policy making processes (with a special focus on the UN drug control system). Martin is a regular speaker at international policy conferences and advises various NGOs and government officials on developments in the drugs field. He is co-editor of the TNI Drugs & Conflict debate papers and the Drug Policy Briefing series.

Illicit Drugs Trafficking & the War on Drugs in Latin America; Drugs and Conflict; Democratisation & Demilitarisation in Latin America; Chemical and Biological War on Drugs; Alternative Harm Reduction Policies; Afghanistan, Burma, Andes

Alfred R. Lindesmith Award for Achievement in the Field of Scholarship

English, Dutch, Spanish

Martin is an experienced interviewee and publishes in several Dutch newspapers including Vrij Nederland and NRC Handelsblad.

 

Selected publications: 
Trouble in the Triangle
Democracias bajo fuego

Recent content by Martin Jelsma

In memoriam: Adrian Cowell (31 Oct 2011)

Adrian Cowell, a groundbreaking documentary film maker and good friend, died early October in London.

Treaty guardians in distress (12 Jul 2011)

The guardian of the UN drug control treaties has proved unable to respond in a rational manner to the need for radical reform of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. 

Fifty Years of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs: A Reinterpretation (15 Mar 2011)

Fifty years after its entering into force, it is time for a critical reflection on the validity of the Single Convention today: a reinterpretation of its historical significance and an assessment of its aims, its strengths and its weaknesses.

Lifting the ban on coca chewing (10 Mar 2011)

This briefing paper analyses the reasons behind Bolivia’s proposal to remove from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs the obligation to abolish the practice of coca chewing and the opposing arguments that have been brought forward.

Mixed thoughts about the INCB's latest report (3 Mar 2011)

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) just released its annual report. Martin Jelsma - who has followed the Board's policy for many years now with a critical eye - examines its negative stance towards harm reduction and decriminalization, and questions the Board's tendency to overstep its mandate.

The development of international drug control (22 Feb 2011)

TNI's paper for the Global Commission on Drug Policy describes the foundations of the global drug control system, its degeneration into the 'war on drugs', and how international drug policy can be made both more effective and more humane.

The development of international drug control (15 Feb 2011)

The emergence of more pragmatic and less punitive approaches to the drugs issue may represent the beginning of change in the current global drug control regime.

D-Day for Bolivia’s coca chewing amendment (3 Feb 2011)

Bolivias proposed amendment to the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) lays bare U.S. hypocrisy and the European divide.

Redefining Targets (7 Dec 2009)

Afghanistan remains the world’s largest producer of opium and has an under-reported but growing heroin-use problem. Current drug control policies in Afghanistan are unrealistic, reflecting a need for immediate signs of hope rather than a serious analysis of the underlying causes and an effort to achieve long-term solutions.

Corruption: a ‘friend’ you can’t do without in Afghanistan (30 Nov 2009)

Corruption is a part of life in Afghanistan

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