Director General/Executive Director
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to the Vienna International Centre. We are very pleased to host your conference here at the UN headquarters in Vienna.
Over the years the International Society of Substance Use Professionals has been an important partner in the work of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to support high-quality, evidence-based prevention and treatment of drug use disorders.
You provide a much-needed platform for exchange, and in this way contribute to the development of a well-trained and knowledgeable international network of experts.
The need to "promote the training of personnel in the treatment, after-care, rehabilitation and social reintegration" of drug use disorders is a high priority of the international drug control framework.
Governments have followed up with numerous resolutions emphasizing the importance of trained and qualified service providers, and of supporting mechanisms to ensure that policies can be informed by science and clinical practice. This of course includes strengthening cooperation with the scientific community.
Just last week, we launched the 2019 World Drug Report on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
The theme of this year's International Day is "health for justice - justice for health", emphasizing the importance of health and social services working hand in hand with accountable and inclusive institutions of criminal justice to address global drug challenges.
Health and justice are among the key objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals. Preventing and addressing drug problems are essential to delivering on this promise.
Our report shows that some thirty-five million people are suffering from drug use disorders. More than half a million people, most of them young men and women, are dying from drug use.
There is a clear need to redouble efforts to advance evidence- and human rights-based responses to drugs, as called for by the conventions, especially in developing countries.
I very much welcome UNODC's partnership with you to support such efforts, to protect people and ensure that we leave no one behind.
It goes without saying that you in turn can count on UNODC's support.
Welcome once again to Vienna. You have come here during a heat wave, but I hope you are comfortable at the Vienna International Centre nonetheless. I wish you productive discussions this week.
Thank you.