Drug abuse. Tendencies and ways to overcome it

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Chapter III. Drug Abuse in the International Law

Par. 1. International Fora and Legal Acts on Drugs

Legal measures figure prominently in the system of actions aiming to combat drugs. It is precisely the legal acts that determine the object, the subject of narco-crime and influence the shaping of measures of preventive-educational and curative interference, as well as the range of drug-related actions, considered dangerous to the public.

Measures against drug abuse rest, first and foremost, on a number of international law acts ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the former USSR. These acts have different names: treaty, pact, convention, agreement, protocol, declaration and so on. From the juridical point of view, the difference in names is of no principal importance. No clear-cut criterion for the use of these names has been worked out in international practice. In each particular case, this question is resolved by the parties (countries) to negotiations, who agree on the definition of relations between them in this or another special field.

Actions against drug abuse are regulated by international law because they involve international relations, as they touch upon the interests of not one but, sometimes, of many countries. As for narco-crimes, they encroach upon the international cooperation, violate human rights, and state interests.

All crimes bearing international nature and coming under the norms of international criminal law, can be divided into two groups by the degree of their danger to the public, and the forms of manifestation: crimes of international character.

International crimes are those posing the biggest threat to the development of peaceful relations and cooperation between nations regardless of their social, political and government systems. They include heinous crimes against peace and security of the mankind, such as aggression, genocide, biocide, ecocide or apartheid.

Crimes of International Character:

Crimes of international character are defined as those covered by the international law but not belonging to the category of crimes against peace and security of mankind, rather those infringing upon normal relations between countries and damaging their peaceful cooperation in various fields, as well as infringing upon relations between organizations and citizens. These crimes are much less dangerous and are hard to compare to crimes against the peace and security of mankind. They are punishable "in accordance with the norms covered by the international agreements (conventions), ratified in the proper order, or by the national criminal codes which conform to these agreements."

Various areas of inter-state relations are the objects of crimes of international character. This factor makes it possible to divide these crimes into four rather relative sub-divisions:

1) Crimes that infringe upon the peaceful cooperation and normal conduct of international relations (terrorism, hijacking and other crimes);

2) Crimes that damage in a variety of norms international economic, social and cultural development, such as smuggling, illegal emigration, counterfeiting and dissemination of narcotics through illegal trade;

3) Crimes that against property, moral values, and rights of individuals, such as trafficking, piracy, pornography and other crimes covered by international conventions and agreements;

4) Other crimes of international character, such as crimes committed on board of aircraft, damage to underwater cables, collision of ships and the failure to provide help at sea etc.

This classification rules out an identical approach to crimes that are crimes against humanity, and crimes that are of international character. This classification allows to examine them in conformity with the set of laws they infringe upon and in conformity with the extent of harm they do to international relations. Moreover, this classification largely helps prevent any broader interpretation of the notion of international crimes.

The categories - listed above of these are not something permanent, as these crimes are of the changeable and dynamic nature. The extent of danger they pose can move them from one category to another. At present any crimes encroaching upon the vital interests of all nations and countries can be considered as international crime or crime of international character.

Реферат опубликован: 14/12/2009