UN Drug Report points a finger at the Balkans

At the recent EFB/Gallup Learn@Lunch event on “Governance and corruption – breaking the cycle”, Dušan Reljić of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs examined some of the fundamental problems in the Balkans. He stated that since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the region has become a key link in the chain in the transport of heroin, from Afghanistan to the West; Reljić saw this as a side effect of “economic globalisation”.
Further confirmation comes with the publication of the 2010 World Drug Report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime; it states that 37% of all Afghan heroin is annually trafficked via the “Balkan route” towards the European market. The full report can be found here.
With a relatively small quantity of drugs being seized in the Balkans, the UN report raises the issues of corruption and a lack of regional cooperation. The Gallup Balkan Monitor surveys have consistently highlighted these problems. More than two-thirds of respondents in all countries of the Western Balkans (with the exception of Montenegro) saw corruption as widespread within businesses and government and these figures – especially in the business world – have tended to rise across the board since 2006. The survey also showed strong support for greater neighbourhood ties; in Macedonia, for example, 63% of respondents wanted more regional cooperation, up from 57% in 2008.