Guatemala has openly proclaimed to need for reforms to the international drug policy. There are great consequences as a trafficking country. There are common and shared responsibilities as well as individual ones. The former Guatemalan President proposed steps to enshrine these. There are high levels of violence that come from trafficking. Need an approach linked to public health and human rights. In September Guatemala is hosting a session of the OAS to look at the scourge. Guatamala along with Mexico and Colombia in 2012, proposed to UN GA, for a new strategy for combating trafficking. UNGASS 2016 will be our first opportunity to include trafficking into conventions properly. Reinterpreting the three conventions is necessary. A different approach to cannabis is warranted given the evidence for its comparative harms. This will free up our criminal system. We need to move from partial or ineffective responses to intergrated responses. Guatemala will promote spaces for dialoge and wants new approaches and will keep looking for consensus solutions ahead of UNGASS 2016 for a successful outcome. Guatemala will take no decision outside of the framework of the conventions until it has been reformed.

Please click here to view the full statement: http://myconference.unov.org//Documents/Get/582d4a05-785a-40b6-9f08-f4951411c6ea