Director General/Executive Director
Madam Chairperson,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to report to the Third Committee on the work of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime at this pivotal time.
How the challenges of transnational organized crime, illicit drugs and corruption can be best addressed is the focus of two high-level meetings, namely the 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in April 2015, and the UNGA Special Session on the world drug problem in 2016.
Ongoing discussions on the post-2015 development agenda, leading up to the UN Summit next September, have further highlighted the links between security, justice and the rule of law and the attainment of a better, more equitable world.
I strongly believe that these milestone events represent crucial, much-needed opportunities to advance global cooperation in these areas in a meaningful, coordinated way.
As the lead entity of the UN Secretariat in assisting countries to address global challenges of drugs and crime, UNODC stands ready to support Member States to help ensure that these opportunities do not pass us by.
UNODC and its field offices continue to provide technical assistance and comprehensive support to implement the international conventions on drugs, transnational organized crime and corruption, as well as the universal instruments against terrorism.
I am grateful for the support and trust you have shown in UNODC over the past years, and count on your continued support.
Against a rapid rise in voluntary contributions, mostly earmarked, we have to review our funding in order to achieve overall strategic and operational coherence, as well as efficiency and transparency in delivering our services.
To continue to operate effectively, UNODC needs a solid stream of predictable and stable resources.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The sustainable development goals proposed by the Open Working Group include a goal on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Key objectives elaborated under this goal - including ending trafficking and all forms of violence against children, reducing illicit financial and arms flows, strengthening recovery and return of stolen assets, combating all forms of organized crime and reducing corruption - go to the heart of UNODC's mandates. That could be our practical contribution to the integrated UN development agenda.
The theme of the 13th Crime Congress is integrating crime prevention and criminal justice into the wider UN agenda, to address social and economic challenges.
The Congress, taking place just ahead of the Summit on the post-2015 development agenda, thus presents a chance to strengthen the global response to human trafficking, migrant smuggling, wildlife crime and many other forms of transnational organized crime, as well as support development progress.
Guided by the same objectives, Member States have come together this week in Vienna at the Seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to discuss how to make implementation of this Convention more efficient and effective.
In the same spirit, we are assisting Member States in implementing the UN Convention against Corruption, including through its well-functioning review mechanism.
UNODC also continues to provide analysis of the current trends in different areas of organized crime. We recently launched a new research initiative on wildlife crime, to complement our Global Programme and help inform responses to this growing threat.
The second Global Report on Trafficking in Persons will be published next month under the framework of the Global Plan of Action to combat human trafficking.
We also manage the UN Voluntary Trust Fund created under the Global Plan, which helps to provide legal and financial aid to trafficking victims.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Illicit drugs represent a challenge with many dimensions.
To meet this challenge, we must always remember the goal enshrined in the international drug control conventions: namely, to protect the health and welfare of humankind.
As we move towards the 2016 UNGASS on the world drug problem, we have seen governments and civil society increasingly engaged in a debate on how to advance global action in this area.
At the 2014 high-level review of the UN Political Declaration and Plan of Action on the world drug problem, we heard from many of these voices.
More than 1,300 participants from 129 countries as well as international organizations, UN entities, the scientific community, civil society and the media attended the sessions and numerous side events.
The open, inclusive and informed discussions that have taken place at the high-level review and the intersessional meetings since are a credit to the Chair of the CND, Ambassador Khaled Shamaa of Egypt, and all delegations.
This is very much in the spirit of resolution 2014/24, recommended by ECOSOC for adoption by the GA, which tasks the CND with leading an inclusive preparatory process.
The review outcome document, a Joint Ministerial Statement, while reaffirming the value of the conventions, has put an emphasis on the need to focus on prevention and health.
The UN advocates a re-balancing of international policy on drugs, to increase the focus on public health, prevention, treatment and care, as well as economic, social and cultural measures, within the framework of the conventions, in full compliance with human rights standards.
As presented in the Secretary-General's report, UNODC is supporting countries to strengthen capacities and scale up services to achieve this.
This includes promoting access to controlled medicines to relieve pain and suffering, while preventing their diversion and abuse.
Substance use disorders are a complex health and social issue, and we must do more to link policy, science, clinical practice and grassroots interventions on the ground, to provide a continuum of care that is evidence based, effective, accessible and affordable.
Civil society and community-based organizations are essential partners of UNODC in these efforts.
In 2013, we worked with 382 NGOs from around world to deliver such services in the field.
As reported in the 2014 World Drug Report, there remain serious gaps in service provision, with only one in six problem drug users accessing drug dependence treatment services each year.
Interventions that seek to minimize the risk of substance use disorders and to prevent the spread of HIV are part of such services.
A public health response should also consider alternatives to penalization and incarceration of people who use drugs.
The focus of law enforcement efforts should be on the real criminals, the druglords involved in the supply of narcotic substances, including crop cultivation, production and trafficking.
To support more effective international cooperation, UNODC works to connect drug control efforts through its country, regional and global programmes, as well as through new initiatives such as "networking the networks" and the Maritime Crime Programme.
Promoting alternative livelihoods, which should be integrated in broader development frameworks, is essential to achieving sustainable reductions in illicit crop cultivation.
The 2015 World Drug Report will also sharpen this focus on health and development, with a thematic chapter dedicated to alternative livelihoods.
It is clear there is no simple panacea for addressing the cultivation, manufacture, trafficking and consumption of illicit drugs.
But we must strive to address all aspects of supply and demand, through balanced, integrated, comprehensive and coordinated global action.
Such action must take into account countries with weak public health sectors, which may be unable to cope with the social and health consequences of use.
Approaches must deal with challenges including criminal violence in Central America, as well the nexus of drugs, crime and terrorism destabilizing regions such as West Africa and the Sahel.
Strategies must grapple with record levels of opium poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan, which undermine development in the country and impact on the whole region and beyond.
Solutions must tackle the linkages with corruption, and connect with development interventions to support opportunity.
What we cannot afford to do is work in silos. And while strategies should be targeted and flexible, they must account for all aspects of the world drug problem, in production, transit and consumption countries, working on the basis of the conventions, to protect the health and rights of people everywhere.
As ever, UNODC remains committed to supporting Member States in these endeavours.
Thank you.