“Beginning in the middle of the last decade,
the international community was alerted to the fact that drug trafficking in West Africa was in danger of spawning a series of
near ‘narco-‐states’: countries whose economies, politics and social structures were being infiltrated and distorted by the drug trade.This policy brief aims to remind any actor or institution that is serious about democracy, sustainable development and
human security that a business as usual’
approach to the problem of trafficking in
West Africa should not be accepted. This is
no longer an issue of crime, law enforcement,
or security, but strikes at the core of the
human rights, democratic and humanitarian
foundations upon which global governance
rests.”
