Director General/Executive Director
St. Petersburg, 18 May 2016
Distinguished participants,
Allow me to share with you some observations concerning the UNGASS, the UN General Assembly special session on the world drug problem that was held in April.
This was only the third special session in the GA's history to focus on drugs, so it was a major high level meeting, with the participation of many heads of state and government, ministers, other senior officials and experts.
There are three treaties that form the basis of the international drug control framework - the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, and the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.
These conventions are mutually supportive and complementary, and have as their ultimate purpose the protection and promotion of the health and welfare of humankind.
In 2009, the UN adopted the "Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem", which defined steps to be taken as well as the goals to be achieved by 2019.
The Declaration reaffirmed that the world drug problem can be most effectively addressed in a multilateral setting, and that the three drug conventions remain the cornerstone of the international drug control system.
However, this consensus had come into question in recent years, with some seeking to challenge the established legal framework.
The 2016 UNGASS therefore took place at a critical time, and offered the chance to assess progress and setbacks, and to find a way forward.
And let us be clear: we face many complex and interconnected challenges posed by the world drug problem, whether we are talking about opiates from Afghanistan, the effects of drug trafficking on West and East Africa, or violence in Central America.
Globally, some 27 million people suffer from drug use disorders.
Almost 200,000 people lose their lives each year to overdose and other drug-related causes.
Heroin continues to take the most lives, and some regions are grappling with an alarming rise in use.
Some 13 per cent of people who inject drugs are infected with HIV, compared with less than one per cent among the general population.
Three-quarters of the world's population have little or no access to controlled medicines for pain relief, including an estimated 5.5 million terminal cancer patients and one million end-stage AIDS patients every year.
So the UNGASS had much to address, to say the least.
Preparations for the session took place over the course of two years, encompassing a broad range of topics and bringing in diverse stakeholders, including governments, international and regional organizations and civil society.
These many discussions and meetings, culminating in the April UNGASS and the adoption of its outcome document, resulted in a hard-won, renewed consensus on the importance of a shared framework.
First, the outcome document strengthens the existing legal foundation for collective action, while recognizing that the conventions allow for sufficient flexibility to States parties to design and implement national drug policies.
Second, it establishes a clear consensus for balanced, comprehensive and people-centred approaches to the drug problem, with an emphasis on prevention and health.
Third, it underscores the importance of supply reduction, and effective and fair criminal justice and law enforcement responses that adhere to principles of proportionality, human rights and the rule of law."
The outcome document's operational recommendations focus on areas of demand and supply reduction; access to controlled medicines; emerging challenges, including new psychoactive substances; strengthening international cooperation; and alternative development.
Recommendations, more specifically, address alternative measures with regard to conviction or punishment in appropriate cases; strengthening international cooperation in the areas of extradition and mutual legal assistance, and to go after the financial proceeds of drug-related crime; and ratification or accession of international legal instruments, including the conventions on organized crime and corruption and the counter-terrorism instruments.
UNGASS and its outcome document have thus reconfirmed a strong basis for joint action and international cooperation, and united governments in the recognition that the world drug problem "demands an integrated, multidisciplinary, mutually reinforcing, balanced, scientific evidence-based and comprehensive approach".
UNODC is set to work with all countries to translate these commitments and recommendations into action on the ground, to promote a healthier, safer, more secure and just world.
Thank you.