RESOLUTION L3

CHAIR: Let’s move to L3 presented by Russia. I will ask them to introduce the advances that they have made during the consultations. Russia has the floor

RUSSIA: Had quite good progress during our informal consultations on L3 draft resolution. We have managed to agree on almost the entire text of the draft resolution and only the title and six paragraphs remain pending. Mr chair we still have the reservation on the whole resolution by some delegations and the suggestion of Switzerland to postpone the consideration of L3 draft resolution thank you

Chair: I have 3 speakers in my list in the European Union is the 1st

EU: If I’m just taking the floor to confirm as indeed our Russian colleague has just done, that we have a reservation on the entire resolution. We cannot support the adoption of this resolution here at the CND and we will oppose it, and just to be very clear and that this stands, and will of course, stand until the end thank you very much

Chair: Now, Venezuela

Venezuela: Good afternoon I hope you’re feeling better Mr. Chair. today. My delegation would like to start by expressing our thanks to the delegation of the Russian Federation for tabling this resolution we have put a lot of hours of the work that today are presenting. My delegation has made contributions to ensure that the necessary attention is given some issues that are not only a concern of Venezuela but also for some of us in developing countries. This resolution has one main purpose, which is to provide a mechanism that allows us to detect and counter some contacts that have increasingly allowed drug traffickers, not only to find ways to commit their crime and launder money. Mr. Chair we have been working actively, constructively, we have attended the meetings and we will continue to do so. To finalize, Mr. Chair the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela would like to announce that we will be Co sponsoring this resolution and a text with on this regard will follow in the next few hours thank you

CHAIR: Now, UK 

UK: Thank you very much Mr. Chair. I would just like to speak informally if it’s possible about this resolution because we’re a little bit in a situation where we’re stuck so the UK cannot engage on this resolution. That’s for the obvious reasons of what’s happening in Ukraine and civilian populations being targeted in Kiev and cyber attacks taking place in the Ukraine and perpetuated by the Russian Federation. Because of that we are unable to associate this resolution and that’s just the fact of the matter and it’s not a situation of our own making. So, we’re wondering how we should try and proceed and the UK will retain its reservation. We would ask the Russian Federation to please withdraw rather than push things on this way and maybe we could look in a future year when circumstances have changed, and when the Russian Federation has withdrawn its troops from Ukraine. At this present moment, at this resolution, again we are just trying to make an appeal that good faith does not exist here to negotiate and we want to again call upon the Russian Federation to please withdraw and not push this situation to the extreme. I think we’ve had enough drama in the plenary and including highly political accusations by the Russian Federation under agenda item 6 and we would please just ask that we move on from this situation that the Russian Federation withdraws its resolution so that we can all get on with the work here at the CND. Thank you 

Chair: Now Canada have the floor

Canada: Thanks for giving me the floor and like previous speakers Canada cannot support and engage in discussions of this resolution at this time. I took care of the remarks made in plenary today by the speaker of the Russian Federation under agenda item 6 alleging links between the government of Ukraine and drug production and this reminded me of the wild allegations by the Russian Federation against the governor Ukraine, saying that the country is being run by “drug addicts”. So if we follow this logic in the words of the Russian delegate to this allegedly politicized and technical Commission, one aspect of Russia’s current drug policy counter narcotics effort is the invasion of assault and independent state on their borders and in addition to the ongoing cyberattacks against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and government. This just casts and further doubt the credibility of Russia to table and to lead any discussion on issues such as drug trafficking, cyber crime, and indeed any multilateral initiative at the present time, so we would encourage our colleagues in the Russian Federation to consider re tabling or coming back to this discussion when the situation is a little bit more normal and when we have built little more trust, but for the time being we cannot support this resolution and will not do it in CoW or in the plenary.  Thank you Mr. Chair.

Chair: Now Brazil

BRAZIL: Thank you Mr. Chair. I’ve been listening to the discussions and we’d like to say that of course this is technical but it’s also political. This is a political body, but it’s also technical, and when we read the original proposal by the Russian delegation we found that the proposal had and has its merits, technical merits. And it’s important he issues that the resolution touched upon are important for our discussion in this technical but political body. And well, Brazil would like to support the proposal by Switzerland I think we are not detached from the world and whatever is happening affects this discussion and effects the points of view, and the whole process here. I think that we, as a body, we are like it’s similar. It’s as if we were in a bus altogether and we are seeing that there is an obstacle, a tree, coming towards the bus and we would like to avoid that situation, because it affects the whole system. The whole system that we have been building here at the CND. So for these reasons and saying again that we see the merit on the subject and the text that’s on us, we would like to support Switzerland’s proposal for postponing the discussion of this resolution. Thank you Mr. Chair.

Chair: Now Iran

IRAN: Thank you Mr. Chair. first of first of all, I would like to thank the distinguished delegation of Russian Federation for tabling this resolution. Mr. Chair regardless of the situation in Eastern Europe I would like to express our grave concerns on this practice which we have faced these days. This body, the CND’s, is a functional body of the ECOSOC and I agree with the distinguished delegation of Brazil. It is technical. And I disagree it is political bodies. So, from the first, at least three, years I have been here on many occasions, it is when we expressed our principled positions not to bring the discussions of peace and security to the UNODC, including the CND. So, unfortunately that the technical discussions have been politicized when they find the foundations of the charter and the United nations decided to establish bodies for addressing political and discussion situations that are related to the peace and security, like Security Council, and the General Assembly. And also I see this body as technical, so there is no place for bringing up this discussion, the discussions of the general assembly, or Security Council, to these bodies. And imagine I I agree with this with the distinguished delegation of Brazil to express our worry under these systems. Imagine, in every part of the world we have unfortunately, with political disputes and armed conflicts. Imagine every countries, I mean because of conflicts because of political considerations, trying to block a technical resolution. We will not have in the future if this practice we established, we will not have in the future resolutions in CND. So, I would like to advise our colleagues not to politicize discussions. Secondly from the first day of the resolution, my delegation constructively engaged in all resolutions, which we have maybe some political considerations or political problems with some sponsors. So we appreciate it and thanks all all sponsors of all countries that tabled this resolution and we constructively engaged in these discussions. As distinguished delegation of Venezuela mentioned that, we put hours and times on this resolution. We should be respected, and I will say that this practice, I mean the current practice will not be useful for everybody and will harm all on the future, and we will see thank you Mr. Chair.

SYRIA: Thank you Mr. Chair and thank you for giving me the floor. We would like to say just briefly that we regret that we are again having this politicized discussion rather than substantial discussion. A very important resolution. We would like to thank the Russian Federation for tabling this resolution, especially at this time where we have  all seen the rise of cyber crime and the need to combat this crime. I also wanted to to announce that Syria would like to join the Russian Federation in Co sponsoring this resolution thank you

CUBA: good afternoon to the colleagues present here in the room. Mr. Chair, just to indicate again our support for ditractor solution. We believe the topic of this draft is relevant and important as the influence of the misuse of information and communication technology in relation to drug trafficking is in fact a problem. We have been engaging constructively in the negotiation of this rapid solution and I would like to use this opportunity also to announce our sponsorship to the text. Thank you.

USA: Thank you Mr. Chair. I’ll briefly associate with many of the comments in the room today. The United States will not join consensus on this resolution under any circumstances. There is no path to consensus. I’d also like to briefly agree with many of the objections, and condemn the statements of the Russian Federation in the plenary today. The accusations that the people in leadership of Ukraine are “drug addicts”, which is completely unfounded, and even if accusations were true, of pursuing acts of violence and infringing on territorial integrity and sovereignty there clearly violate the text of the 1988 convention. So, again it’s just demonstrating that Russia really has not built up the trust necessary to chair these resolutions. So, chair these negotiations should end and the resolution should be withdrawn. Thank you.

KYRGYZSTAN: The Kyrgyzstan republic believes that the draft resolution covers an important topic for today’s realities. In this regard we declare that Kyrgyzstan supports the Russian Federation and wanted to announce that we will cosponsor the resolution. Thank you

BELARUS: I represent the permanent mission of the Republic of Belarus. We fully support the draft resolution proposed by the Russian Federation, and we would like to emphasize the constructive role it could play in combating the illicit drug trafficking and drug-related money laundering. The draft resolution reacts on the latest trends is in the mentioned sphere, which have arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, so, we believe it very actual and up to date and we announced the Co sponsorship of this resolution and we also would like to take this opportunity and to address this team delegations not to politicize the discussions and the work of the Commission thank you 

SWITZERLAND: Thank you very much Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair. First of all let me thank the distinguished delegate from Brazil for his support of our proposal. Switzerland considers this important to avoid paralyzing the multilateral system and to keep avenues of dialogue, including on the technical level, open. I said to the Russian delegate yesterday after discussion on agenda item four that it’s important to respect the so-called Vienna spirit according to which delegations take the decisions by consensus and not by voting. In this regard we call on all delegations to respect the spirits and not to take and to take all necessary measures, in order for this period to be upheld as Switzerland sees it. There is no open census on the resolution proposed by the Russian Federation. Switzerland, therefore, invites yet again the Russian Federation to postpone the discussion about this resolution to a later stage, or another edition of the CND, when the conditions to find consensus-based solutions are met and the spirit of Vienna can be upheld again thank you Mr. Chair.

AUSTRALIA: I would like to join the other condemning the Russian Federation, in the strongest terms, for its active aggression in invading Ukraine. The ongoing escalation of Russia’s aggression over the course of this week including attacks on innocent civilians and maternity hospitals underscores the fact that we cannot pretend that this is business as usual. As Canada has already mentioned, the resolution’s focus on drug trafficking and cybercrime are directly linked to aspects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine including its own cyberattacks and propaganda attacks against Ukraine and the Ukrainian government. We maintain our position that the time is not right for the CND to consider a resolution presented by Russia, particularly one related to the misuse of cyberspace. We cannot engage on this resolution and maintain our reservation on the full text. We continue to call on Russia to withdraw its resolution from this session. thank you

CHINA: Thank you chair for giving me the floor. At present we believe the world drug problem is becoming increasingly serious and complex against the backdrop of the pandemic. The use of the Internet and other information technology as means for drug trafficking is even further increasing. So, we believe it is necessary to propose to table this resolution to support the member-states in combating drug crimes and solving the drug problem. As we all know the resources and time slots for the CND session is quite limited, especially on the current COVID-19 pandemic situation, so we believe it is better not to spend too much time on issues not related to drug issues, so as the CND is a professional technical platform in the field of drug control. We hope to focus on the drug control business within the market and focus on the theme of the session and to avoid the politicization of technical issues. Thank you

CHAIR: No more requests at the floor at this moment. It is clear that there are a lot of reservations of the whole text of the resolution. Clearly, there are countries supporting the text and that are working on the text, but it is very difficult to decide any way, because if we start considering paragraphs, then there will be no possibilities to agree on any of them. We just have half an hour to leave, so I will try to consider paragraph one by one, and to see what happens, only to be sure of what will happen. 

 I will ask the distinguished delegates of russia to describe the title

Russia: Thank you Mr. Chair for giving me the floor. The original text of the draft resolution is “strengthening international cooperation in combating the misuse of information and communication technologies for drug trafficking and drug-related money laundering” and we had here also some proposals by distinguished delegations like preventing and the proposal also to use the definition of illicit trafficking drugs and precursors and to use the definition “laundering proceeds of drug related crimes” instead of “drug related money laundering”. Thank you

Chair: Now, UK 

UK: Respect for your chairmanship which we very much value. I just wanted to let you know that the UK cannot negotiate on this text and therefore the UK will not be able to continue to be involved in this session of the CoW and I think we’ve made that very clear in our previous intervention, so thank you very much for your intentions but we will have to leave the negotiation. Thank you 

CHAIR: I understand the position of each and every one of the delegations. What I intend to do is to give exactly the same treatment to all resolutions. My responsibilities are only to be as impartial and to respect the positions of any country. I was informed that some delegations have left the room, but I will continue until we finish our time for today, having been totally clear that we cannot get any consensus here in the CoW. I would like to ask Russia if they want to continue, looking at each one of the paragraphs, but clearly there is no possibility to have any consensus. 

RUSSIA: The Russian delegation would like to express its highest appreciation to those delegations who at this stage have already expressed their support to the Russian initiative and decided to become its cosponsors. We would like to also thank all those delegations which from the onset have actively engaged any constructive discussion on this draft resolution and proposed many useful amendments. We tried to incorporate all of them and believe that they helped to enrich the text on such a pertinent issue of countering the misuse of information and communication technologies for drug related crimes almost the entire text of the resolution has been agreed in informals. Mr. Chair, regrettably at the current session for the first time during our membership in this Commission by facing an unprecedented situation, when some member states decided to take an unsconstructive approach and are blocking the drafting process on L3 draft resolution, both at the informal and in the committee of the whole and are obviously not ready to compromise. Mr. Chair, the Russian delegation is extremely grateful for your patience, and impartial approach, and for your ongoing efforts to facilitate the discussion on the resolution despite the extraordinary and outrageous situation. Under the current circumstances it seems that we have exhausted the resources of the CoW. So, as we don’t see a productive way to proceed in accordance with the regular practice of the committee we don’t think that we should waste the precious time of the CoW unless those delegations are willing to reconsider the unsconstructive and politicized positions. We would once again like to urge all member states to refrain from politicizing the work of the current and all future sessions of the Commission. Mr. Chair, the Russian delegation will consider other possible ways forward on the L3 draft resolution. Thank you for your attention.

CHAIR: I thank the distinguished delegates of the Russian federation. Taking into account what has been said, I conclude the provision of the consideration of the resolution L3, and I give the floor to the Secretariat in order to announce the resolution in which we are going to work tomorrow morning. The secretary has the floor, thank you very much.

Secretary: Chair – tomorrow morning the delegates will address L5 at 10:00 o’clock, and L7 at 11:00 o’clock. Thank you very much

Chair: Thank you very much to the secretariat and to the distinguished delegates. I’ll see you tomorrow at 10 in order to take into consideration the two resolutions that were just announced by the Secretariat. Thank you very much, have a good night and the meeting is adjourned. RJTH