Director-General/Executive Director
Mr. Chair,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Congratulations on the successful conclusion of the 66th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
This session of the CND has been encouraging in many ways.
As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a pleasure to see so many of our participants back in Vienna in person, to resume the lively formal and informal debates that have always characterized this forum.
This year the CND has garnered a great level of interest, with 139 Member States represented and almost 2,500 participants taking part, including 20 ministerial-level participants.
We also had 132 non-governmental organizations bringing their important voice to the conversation.
A record 155 side events were held on the margins of the session, along with 27 exhibitions.
They covered topics that ranged from legal reform, to health and treatment, to law enforcement, to capacity-building, to international cooperation, to art as a force for rehabilitation, and beyond, reflecting the breadth of the responses that we need and the tools that we have to address the world drug problem.
Dear colleagues,
Your strong and continued interest in the work of this Commission, and your commitment to its success, are of vital importance during these times of crisis.
We have a collective responsibility to maintain drug issues on national and international agendas, to help and protect all of those affected, and to carry out the important work of this body.
Despite a complex global situation, the CND was able to come together once again this year to carry out its important mandate on the scheduling of substances.
You also reached consensus on a number of important resolutions, including on alternative development, safe disposal of synthetic drugs, and information-sharing across borders.
Crucially, you were able to agree on the modalities of the mid-term review that will take place at next year’s CND, paving the way for that vital discussion and its outcomes.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Chair of the CND, Ambassador Ruiz Blanco of Colombia, for his steadfast and devoted leadership of this session.
I am also grateful to Ambassador Johnson of Ghana for so ably chairing the Committee of the Whole.
Now, we must carry forward the success of this CND session.
I hope that Member States will approach the upcoming mid-term review with open minds, to focus on what unites us and address what divides us, and to reinvigorate the global consensus on drug issues.
I also call on Member States to dedicate the necessary resources to addressing drug challenges, and to providing evidence-based treatment and care to those who are affected, marginalized, and at risk of being left behind.
Most of all, I urge all of you to keep the rights of young people and future generations in your minds and hearts as you take action against the world drug problem.
We were all moved by the words of our Youth Forum participants when they addressed the Commission earlier this week. I believe Ambassador Ruiz spoke for all of us when he said that we need to make real progress and build a better world, for young people most of all.
So, as you go home and reflect on the outcomes of this session, and on the path ahead of us, I hope that you will remember that our efforts are not just about today, but also about what we leave to coming generations.
Let us choose a collective, balanced, and humane response to the world drug problem, and invest in that response, for the health, safety, and dignity of everyone.
Thank you.