The Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies (HONLEA), Africa, came together for their 26th Meeting from 19 to 23 September 2016 at the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa. Participants from the law enforcement, foreign affairs and health sectors discussed the status of drug control and treatment in the region and adopted a number of expert recommendations, which will be submitted to the sixtieth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in 2017 for its consideration.
The working groups, held during the Meeting, focused on and adopted operational recommendations on effective national and regional strategies in addressing drug trafficking by sea and challenges in addressing new psychoactive substances, amphetamine-type stimulants and the diversion of precursors and pre-precursors and the non-medical use and misuse of pharmaceuticals containing narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. In addition, two post-UNGASS working groups discussed best practices in promoting measures to ensure the availability and accessibility of internationally controlled drugs for medical and scientific purposes and practical measures tailored to the specific needs of children and youth to prevent and treat drug abuse among them and to address their involvement in drug-related crime, including cultivation and trafficking.
The 26th Meeting of HONLEA, Africa, also discussed the follow-up to the special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem held in April 2016. Speakers noted their continued commitment to the implementation of the Political Declaration and Plan of Action and to the fight against drugs, and referred to national and multilateral efforts to fight the cultivation of and trafficking in cannabis. The need for alternative development programmes to address that issue was noted, as were the constraints faced by Governments in that regard. Reference was also made to the drug situation in some of the Maghreb and Sahel countries and to the need to improve cooperation, especially at the operational levels, in order to disrupt international drug trafficking networks.
List of documents (available in the languages of the Meeting: Arabic - English - French)
Document Symbol |
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Questionnaire on the recommendations adopted by the Twenty-fourth Meeting of HONLEA, Africa |
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Information for Participants (English/French) |
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Provisional agenda and annotations |
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Report of the Secretariat on statistics on drug trafficking trends in Africa and worldwide |
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Note by the Secretariat on current situation with respect to regional and subregional cooperation countering drug trafficking |
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Note by the Secretariat on the Implementation of the recommendations adopted by the Twenty-fourth Meeting of HONLEA, Africa |
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Note by the Secretariat on the organization of the Twenty-seventh Meeting of HONLEA, Africa | |
Report of the Twenty-sixth Meeting of HONLEA, Africa |
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Background note by the Secretariat - Working Group on best practices in promoting measures to ensure the availability and accessability of internationally controlled drugs for medical and scientific purposes |
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Background note by the Secretariat - Working Group on the practical measures tailored to the specific needs of children and youth to prevent and treat drug abuse among them and to address their involvement in drug-related crime, including cultivation and trafficking | |
Outcome document adopted by the General Assembly at its special session on the world drug problem (19-21 April 2016, New York), entitled "Out joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem" |
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Joint Ministerial Statement of the 2014 High-Level Review by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the Implementation by Member States of the Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem |
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Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an integrated and balanced strategy to counter the world drug problem |