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UNODC Launches 2018 World Drug Report in Nairobi

Nairobi, 26 June 2018 - Annually, on the 26 th June, the world as a collective community, celebrates the International Day Against Drug Abuse. Against this backdrop, UNODC hosted a high-level Conference launching the 2018 World Drug Report, the most modern version of an annual keynote report published by the UNODC. The global launch of this flagship document was carried out in four international hubs: Nairobi, Vienna, New York and Geneva. This is the first time that the UNODC Regional Office for East Africa (ROEA) has been a global hub for the launch, and stands as a significant marker of the growth of this Office and UN activity within the region.

The large-scale event hosted 151 attendees sourced from civil society, parliament, the diplomatic community and numerous educational institutions. The event was broken down into two groups of presentations, the first of which articulated the nature and context of the drug problem, and was headlined by Honorable Senator Johnson Sakaja, Regional Representative Amado Philip de Andrés, Deputy Solicitor General Marisella Ouma and, in her final global event before departing from her current role, United Nations Office at Nairobi Director-General, Sahle-Work Zewde.

In a second group of technical presentations, Regional Representative Amado Philip de Andrés and Sylvie Bertrand, Head, Health and Social Development Regional Programme, at the UNODC Regional Office for East Africa, provided expert analysis and insight into the content of the report and its contextual implications for the globe and the region. The event was closed by guest speaker and renowned humanitarian George Odalo, founder of A Slum Child Foundation, an organization which seeks to transform the lives of vulnerable children affected by the crisis of extreme poverty, before the audience were presented with an opportunity to engage in a technical discussion with the speakers.

The Launch actively engaged with the youth via invited youth activists and senior students seeking to drive forward change in their communities, paying special, careful attention to the diverse nature of the drug problem and the sectors of society that it negatively affects. Youth empowerment and engagement emerged as a key theme from the presentations, in addition to the vital inclusion of women in the drug debate and in action pertaining to combating drug related challenges.

The presentations were followed by a short press-conference for Keynote speakers and an individual one for Regional Representative Amado Philip de Andrés.

The 2018 World Drug Report itself was distributed to participants, and is accessible on the UNODC website at https://www.unodc.org/wdr2018/.