Director General/Executive Director
Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to Vienna.
I am happy to see this international group of young people and representatives of substance abuse prevention organizations here at the 2014 Youth Forum.
Welcome to Ambassador Shamaa of Egypt, Chairperson of the 57th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
My thanks to the Member States' Permanent Missions to the UN in Vienna for their contribution to the nomination process and helping to make this event possible.
I would also like to welcome the group of students from the Vienna International School, and offer my sincere thanks to the Director, Mr. Peter Murphy, and the families of the VIS students for their kind and generous offer to host the international participants.
And welcome to Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who is also speaking at the Youth Forum here today.
UNODC promotes evidence-based drug use prevention interventions and policies in a range of settings to help ensure the well-being of children and young people.
This work takes place at schools, in the workplace and the community, and at home, among families.
The Youth Forum is part of the Youth Initiative launched in January 2012 to empower young people to be part of these endeavours, to become active in their schools, communities and peer groups, and to advocate for substance use prevention.
I would like to commend the work of the many young people and youth groups for their excellent work in 2013 under the Youth Initiative's Drug Abuse Prevention Centre - DAPC grant awarding mechanism, which is administered by UNODC.
Under this initiative, young people and communities were mobilized to address important drug prevention issues in more than 40 countries. Substantive support was provided to 25 youth organizations through grants totalling some 180,000 dollars.
Young people involved in the drug prevention discussion have also remained engaged through the Youth Initiative Facebook page, which has provided a forum for interaction and for you to learn from each other about ways to promote safe and healthy lifestyles.
This Youth Forum continues to provide an important space for youth leaders to be heard by the decision makers and to address the challenges you face with respect to drug prevention.
I am looking forward to hearing your new ideas, your visions for the future and your suggestions for how we can support you and your efforts to take action against substance abuse in your communities.
I wish you a successful and productive 2014 Youth Forum, and all the best in your future endeavours.
Thank you.