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heroin . Four district
centers provide similar
services.
Meanwhile, a sizable
narcotics squad struggles to
squelch a never-ending
parade of drug dealers and
smugglers.
Perhaps the most
controversia! attempt to
reduce drug addiction is the
construction of two heroin
houseboats. The houseboats
offer facilities for addicts to
inject free heroin under the
supervision of doctors.
Originators of the plan
hope the dispensation of free
heroin will reduce the
incentive for crime. Critics of
the project give it little hope
for success. There is fear
that free heroin will attract
more addicts from outlying
cities and from abroad.
To further complicate a
desperate situation, cocaine
traffic is threatening to
become a menace worse
!han heroin. Las! November,
the narcotics squad
intercepted a 30kg shipment
of cocaine from South
America.
Apparently the drug was
destined for unknown
laboratories in Holland for
further processing. A catch
this size suggests that South
American cocaine traffickers
hope to use Amsterdam as
their European subsidiary.
*As of 11 / 28/ 84 $1 equals
3.461
O
Dutch guilders. •
Space:
Brazil's Next
Frontier
B
razil's 19-year-old space
program took a giant
leap torward with the
successtul launch ot its
Sonda IV rocket from the
nation's equatorial space
center, Barreira do Interno.
The 15-minute, 380-mile,
suborbital flight proved that
the US$ 1.3 million rocket is
well on its way to giving
July / August 1985
UNESCO
Troubles:
Harbinger
for U.N.?
S
orne experts are
predicting the beginning
of the end of the United
Nations system.
On the las! day of 1984,
the United States dissolved
its membership in
UNESCO-the United
Nations Educational ,
Scientifi c and Cultural
Organization.
Great Britain earlier
began its own termination
process, giving the
mandatory one-year notice
of withdrawal, effective the
end of 1985. And in a
rather sudden
announcement, the
prosperous Southeast Asían
island-nation of Singapore
said that it, too, would
withdraw at the end of
1985, citing the escalating
cost of annual membership.
Severa! other Western
nations are reviewing their
status with UNESCO. West
Germany, tor one, has
announced it may withdraw
unless the world body
becomes " less ideological
and more efficient."
UNESCO is the largest
of 15 U.N.-related
agencies. lt started in 1946
Brazil the ability to
launch its own satellites by
1990.
Sorne observers worry
that the Sonda IV could serve
as a launch vehicle tor
military purposes. They point
out that Brazil should have
the technology to begin
uranium enrichment
processes by the time the
rocket launcher is ready for
service. But Jayme Boscov
of the Space Activities
lnstitute maintains that the
Brazilian program is strictly
civilian •
with 28 nations, with the
purpose ot sharing the
industrial states' ideas and
know-how with developing
nations. Reducing world
illiteracy was a major
objective. Another task was
the preservation ot
endangered cultural
landmarks.
Over the years, UNESCO,
like the United Nations itselt,
has changed. lt now
numbers 161 (two more than
the U.N. itself). and in the
view of sorne observers has
taken on a decidedly
anti-Western tone.
lt has initiated
controversia! measures such
as the "New lnternational
Economic Order," and is
promoting !he "New World
lntormation and
Communication Order,' '
under which journalists would
be licensed by the
governments of nations trom
which they wish to report.
This, say critics, could lead
to censorship of news
reporting.
Perhaps the most
significan! outcome of the
UNESCO affair is that . by
leaving the Paris-based
agency, the United States
could be laying a
philosophical foundation tor
one day leaving the United
Nations itself. This would
mean, ot course, that the
U.N. , headquartered in New
York City since 1945, would
have 'to leave the United
States.
According to one
American journalist, " Leaving
UNESCO [is] a warning that
there are limits to U.S.
tolerance. And leaving would
help Americans get used to
the idea of leaving the United
Nations."
Should the United States
pull out of the U.N. itselt and
the U.N. headquarters be
torced to leave New York
City, sorne observers believe
U. S . departure from
UNESCO cou/d foreshadow
exit from United Nations,
shift in world influence.
its likely new home would be
Vienna , Austria. A gigantic
complex ot buildings, known
officially as the Vienna
Jnternational Center, houses
the U.N. 's second European
operation (after Geneva).
Should the move to Vienna
ever take place, it would
indicate a shift in world
intluence away from the
United States. lt would
enhance the prestige of
Europe and probably play no
small role in any future
ties between nations in
Eastern and Western
Europe. •
43