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The illicit drugs market in the Colombian agrarian context
Why the issue of illicit cultivation is highly relevant to the peace process
Amira ArmentaTNI Drug Policy Briefing Nr. 40
February 2013
The 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. Remedying these structural problems at the heart of rural Colombia is the best guarantee of progress of the current peace negotiations that could bring an end to a half-century-old violent conflict.
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Between Reality and Abstraction
Guiding Principles and developing alternatives for illicit crop producing regions in Peru
Mirella van Dun, Hugo Cabieses Cubas and Pien MetaalTNI Drug Policy Briefing Nr. 39
January 2013
At 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 model, started with the support of international cooperation, is proposed by Peru as a paradigm to be followed worldwide by regions and countries that also deal with problems associated with crops grown for illicit purposes.
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UN International Guiding Principles on Alternative Development: Part II
Coletta YoungersWednesday, November 21, 2012
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The International Guiding Principles on Alternative Development approved last week at an international meeting in Lima, Peru, represents a lost opportunity to promote equitable economic development in some of the world’s poorest regions. The final document on the Guiding Principles bears little resemblance to the document that was originally drafted in November 2011 in Thailand by a group of more than 100 governmental and non-governmental experts. -
An opportunity lost
Guiding Principles on Alternative Development and the ICAD Conference in Lima Peru
Pien MetaalMonday, November 19, 2012
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At the International Conference on Alternative Development (ICAD), held in Lima from 14 to 16 November, the Peruvian Government supported by the UNODC claimed that currently in Peru the surface planted with alternative development crops is superior to the amount of coca, used for the production of cocaine. Allegedly, the 80 thousand hectares with cocoa and coffee have successfully replaced an illicit economy, or prevented it to establish itself. -
Valencia Declaration on Alternative Development
Observatory of Crops Declared Illicit (OCDI)
Valencia, November 10, 2013
Producers of crops declared illicit, such as opium, coca and cannabis, from throughout the world convened at the Observatory of Crops Declared Illicit (OCDI) in Valencia (Spain) on November 9-10, 2012, to discuss alternative development and the Guiding Principles for Alternative Development, to be approved at the ICAD II (International Conference on Alternative Development), in Lima on November 15-16, 2012. Out of these discussions came the Valencia Declaration on Alternative Development . -
UN International Guiding Principles on Alternative Development
Coletta YoungersFriday, November 9, 2012
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In November 2011 I was invited by the Thai government to take part in an international delegation to develop a set of UN International Guiding Principles on Alternative Development. Our work began with a five-day journey along the Thai-Burma border to see first-hand the development programs that have been successful in virtually eliminating poppy production in that country. Over 100 government officials and experts from 28 countries visited the Thai “Royal Project,” which has research stations and development projects in five Northern provinces of the country.
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Financing Dispossession - China’s Opium Substitution Programme in Northern Burma
Kevin Woods Tom KramerTransnational Institute
February 2012
China’s opium crop substitution programme has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers. Financing dispossession is not development.
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Report of the workshop portion of the International Workshop and Conference on Alternative Development (ICAD)
The International Workshop and Conference on Alternative Development (ICAD)
November 16, 2011
The present report has been prepared pursuant to Commission on Narcotic Drugs resolution 53/6 entitled “Follow-up to the promotion of best practices and lessons learned for the sustainability and integrality of alternative development programmes and the proposal to organize an international workshop and conference on alternative development” and resolution 54/4, entitled “Follow-up on the proposal to organize an international workshop and conference on alternative development”.
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USAID's Alternative Development policy in Colombia
A critical analysis
Ricardo VargasTNI Drug Policy Briefing Nr. 38
October 2011
Alternative Development (AD) must not be part of a militarised security strategy, which is the predominant approach in Colombia. Instead of simply attempting to reduce the area planted with illicit crops, Alternative Development programmes should operate within the framework of a rural and regional development plan.
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Alternative development from the perspective of Colombian farmers
Susana OjedaTNI Drug Policy Briefing Nr. 36
May 2011
Alternative Development programmes have been widely discussed from the point of view of experts, technocrats, politicians and academics, with advocates and detractors debating whether such programmes contribute to decreasing the cultivation of illegal crops. However, little is known about the opinions of the people targeted by these programmes and the implications that they have for their daily lives.
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