Страница: 20/49
Virtually all countries recognize the need to combat international crimes and crimes of international character, including the illegal dissemination of and trade with narcotics. The binding nature of this effort stems from the universally recognized principles of international law, including the international duty of all countries to maintain peace and promote security of all nations, as well as to hold persons guilty of committing crimes against the peace and security of mankind and other crimes of international character accountable for their actions.
All international legal acts against drug abuse can be divided into general and specific. General acts regulate various types of international relations, particularly, those formed in connection with actions against international crimes and crimes of international character, including the dissemination of and trade with drugs. Specific acts of international law bear direct relation to actions against drug abuse and its most dangerous aspect- narco-crime.
General Acts of International Law:
General acts of international law lay the legal foundation for cooperation among nations, in actions against international crimes and crimes of international character, the dissemination of narcotics among others. One of these acts is the UN Charter. Its Preamble urges all UN members to join in a common effort to maintain international peace and security. The UN Charter stresses the need to use international machinery for promoting the nations' economic and social progress and sets the goal "to practice international cooperation in resolving international problems of economic, social, cultural and humanitarian nature and in encouraging and promoting respect for human rights and basic freedoms for all regardless of race, sex, language and religion"
The UN Charter (part 2 art. 2) also calls on nations to strictly and unswervingly observe international commitments that they have taken upon themselves voluntarily and among them, as the Preamble points out, to the commitments stemming from treaties, agreements and other sources of international law.
One of the major historically evolved principles of international law states that international agreements must be observed. Stemming from this principle is a member nation's duty to cooperate in combating crime, international crimes and crimes of international character, including the dissemination of and trade with narcotics.
These crimes have certain particularities. This has a bearing on the question of accountability if such crimes are committed. According to I.I. Karpets, there is a need to single out crimes covered by conventions or other signed and ratified international agreements, especially, if national legislation have been brought in accord with them. The existence of both is a good reason for making those guilty of committing these crimes to be held accountable. A failure to do so must be qualified as a violation of both international law and national legislation.
In case there are no coordinated norms of accountability, the involved countries should proceed from the general principles that had developed among nations and resolve questions of cooperation against crime on that basis. Specifically, they may determine the forms of this cooperation, its confines, the need to institute criminal proceedings in view of the committed crimes of international character, etc.
Special Acts of International Law:
Special norms of international law dealing with measures to combat drug abuse have been taking shape gradually. The history of their development is uneven- from establishing international control over the lawful distribution and use of drugs to introducing control over illegal drug trafficking.
It is not accidental that crimes bearing on drug abuse are qualified as crimes of international character. This can be attributed to a number of circumstances.
As an age-old phenomenon, drug addiction has spread over large territories. As it kept crossing national borders, whole areas appeared that specialized in growing and processing drug-bearing plants, manufacturing and distributing narcotics. Recently, areas where drug money can be laundered at a profit have emerged. In short, drug addiction has become widespread practically on all the continents. Drug abuse has acquired a transnational nature. At the turn of last century it had already been clear that drug addiction endangered not only the lives of individuals and social groups but also the economic advancement of many countries, as it is bound to inflict considerable damage on agriculture and trade and undermine whole industries. (chemical, pharmaceutical or pharmacological).
Реферат опубликован: 14/12/2009