Director General/Executive Director
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very happy to be here with you today.
I welcome UNODC's partnership with ACUNS Vienna, which has been very valuable in raising awareness about key challenges in the areas of crime prevention and criminal justice.
I further welcome the focus of your conference on perspectives for the post-2015 development agenda.
As the Secretary-General's Synthesis Report emphasizes, we are at a historic crossroads.
The year 2015 - the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations - offers an excellent opportunity for world leaders and people to end poverty and to transform the world.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime is committed to being part of UN system efforts to deliver on this promise.
The broad and inclusive consultations that have been undertaken towards a post-2015 development agenda have made clear the links between promoting security, justice and the rule of law on the one hand, and attaining inclusive and shared prosperity on the other.
In his Synthesis Report, the Secretary-General identified six essential elements to help frame and reinforce the universal, integrated and transformative nature of a sustainable development agenda.
One of these elements is justice, to promote safe and peaceful societies and strong institutions.
UNODC has advocated for a post-2015 development agenda that promotes security, justice and the rule of law, while addressing the factors that directly undermine them, namely drugs, crime and corruption.
These priorities have been clearly reflected in the sustainable development goals proposed by the Open Working Group.
Namely, in goal 16, which focuses on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Among the targets identified under this goal are reducing all forms of violence and related death rates; ending abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence and torture against children; promoting the rule of law and equal access to justice; reducing corruption; and building capacities to combat terrorism and crime.
Moreover, goal three on "ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all, at all ages", highlights the need for strengthening prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse.
These two objectives - justice and health - go to the heart of UNODC's mission, and our contribution to the global development agenda.
UNODC's integrated country, regional and global programmes help to strengthen crime prevention and criminal justice responses, to fight human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, and battle corruption.
We work with governments and civil society to implement a balanced, health and rights-based approach to address issues of drug prevention, treatment and care, and to contain illicit drug trafficking and supply.
We are helping to address emerging crimes that harm the environment and hinder development, including wildlife and forest crime.
Such a comprehensive response by its very nature relies on partnerships, including with civil society and academia.
My colleague Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who is UNODC's Director for Policy Analysis, will be speaking with you on this later today, during the session on peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development.
The forthcoming Crime Congress in Doha in April will focus on crime prevention and criminal justice to address social and economic challenges and promote the rule of law.
It provides a further opportunity for stakeholders, including civil society, to contribute to the debate.
In closing, let me refer back to the theme of this conference, namely the lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals and perspectives for the post-2015 development agenda.
The MDGs galvanized the world, and enabled extraordinary progress by bringing together governments, civil society and ordinary citizens to achieve common aims.
The monitoring framework for the MDGs further made clear that measuring progress is essential to supporting governments in upholding their commitments.
The post-2015 development framework must therefore be based on clear, meaningful targets that can be defined, agreed and customized at the national level.
As the Secretary-General emphasized in his Synthesis Report, we must use the MDGs as "a springboard into the future we want, a future free from poverty and built on human rights, equality and sustainability".
The post-2015 development agenda is a call to action - to take up the unfinished work of the MDGs, to take advantage of innovations and new technologies that have emerged since 2000, and to work together for a better, more just world.
Thank you once again, and I wish you a productive meeting.