Friday March 17th 10:00
Chair: Member states will conduct a 2024 mid-term review of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration. Multi-year work plan adopted by the commission in 2019 calls on the Commission to conduct in 2023 a comprehensive stock taking on progress made to implementing commitments. The Commission should consider making arrangements for mid-term review regarding format and organization of work in preparation for the 67th session. I have tabled a draft resolution on these preparations which has been considered in consultations before opening of the session. This reached agreement in informals and is now up for adoption. I now call on the Commission to adopt the resolution.
L2 is adopted.
EU: EU and allied states would like to commend you on efforts to reach consensus to pave the way for the mid-term review, we are grateful for this constructive approach. The EU looks forward to stock taking exercise in the lead up to the 2024 review. Our joint ambition should be to accelerate, when needed, commitments to the 2016 UNGASS Outcome Document. We look forward to transparent and effective stock taking which must include regional organizations, UN entities, academia, CSO, private sector.
China: China attaches great importance to implementation of the Ministerial Declaration and conventions opposing legalization and misuse of human rights conventions. All states must implement a comprehensive anti drugs strategy based on sovereignty, integrity, and non interference in affairs of other countries. We support review in 2024 and hope to ensure it will be conducted in a comprehensive and balanced manner.
US: Looking to 2024 and 2029 our focus must be to drive smart and strategic action to tackle all aspects of the world drug problem. We need to redouble action against today’s most pressing threats. Must conduct honest stock taking and must learn from lessons. One lesson is that synthetic drugs pose a grave health and security challenge. These challenges spreading to new regions across the globe. We must have coordinated, global action against threat and we must work to ensure it doesn’t exacerbate problems in domestic challenges. International cooperation is needed to curb these threats. 2024 allows us to look forward to 2029 and beyond and this process must be informed by a diversity of perspectives from NGOs. We applaud efforts of Vienna and New York NGO Committees in this regard. We look forward to working together to formulate an action oriented outcome document.
Burkina Faso: We reaffirm our attachment to the three conventions and the principle of shared and common responsibility of all political commitments, notably the political document of 2019 and the action plan and ministerial declaration, UNGASS outcome document, and the 2014 declaration. We welcome the high-level meeting next year and reiterate our congratulations to the Chair on presenting the draft resolution on this. Being aware of criminal organizations linked to drug trafficking do not wait, we call on all member states to attach high importance to this upcoming meeting. We are committed to working in good faith with all stakeholders on an outcome document that will clearly outline the way forward to tackle the world drug problem.
Honduras: We are interested in preparing a concise, action-oriented document that will be negotiated in the inter-sessional period. We hope it will represent significant political impetus and sped up compliance with existing commitments with all agreements reflected in the 2019 declaration.
Namibia: The 2019 declaration is an important roadmap for our work and promotes collaboration among countries. It also calls on us to address poverty and eliminate discrimination against persons who use drugs. It outlines our priorities, and we are at an advanced stage to revive the coordinating mechanisms of international response. Namibia continues to face challenges, including limited resources and capacity to implement effective policies and a lack of public awareness. We need to strengthen law enforcement and judicial capacities and also improve rehabilitation possibilities. It is essential that we continue to prioritize strengthening the capacities of national drug control and law enforcement agencies. We remain fully committed to the three conventions and look forward to the upcoming mid-term review.
Egypt: We look forward to the mid-term review with full participation of all stakeholders, including civil society. We look forward to the outcome document that will be based on consensus.
VNGOC: Chair, As we turn our attention to the preparations for next year’s mid-term review of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration, we note with thanks that the modalities resolution, adopted today by consensus, underscores the important role played by civil society towards implementing the existing commitments. The document further guarantees the participation of non-governmental organisations in both the general debate, and the two interactive, multi-stakeholder roundtables as we take stock of the progress made and the collective challenges that remain. I want to reassure all member states of our commitment to support and ensure the meaningful, respectful and productive participation of NGOs throughout this process – as we have done successfully in the past, including the 2009 High-Level Segment, the 2016 UNGASS, the 2019 Ministerial Segment, and throughout the 2019-2023 CND Work Plan. We will continue to work closely with the extended bureau, CND Secretariat and UNODC to make this possible. Alongside the New York NGO Committee on Drugs, we have developed a robust selection and decision making process for civil society speaker selections – which can be easily found on our website. By continuing to use this established process together, we will ensure transparent and fair processes that are open to the full range of NGOs from all around the world for the mid-term review. In the modalities resolution, you have also agreed to work in good faith towards creating a concise, action-oriented document. We trust that civil society will be able to contribute by providing our unique, expert perspectives and inputs, and that this document will continue to recognise and elevate the essential role that civil society plays in developing, implementing and evaluating drug policies at all levels. We also look forward to continuing to play a positive role in the CND’s work plan and thematic intersessionals beyond 2024. Chair, we count on your ongoing partnership and support in this respect, and we thank you for your continued commitment to civil society participation. Thank you for your kind attention.
OSF: Thank you Chair for giving me this opportunity. My name is Ricky Gunawan and I am speaking on behalf of the Drugs Policy Global Programs at the Open Society Foundations. In light of the upcoming mid-term review in 2024, we would like to draw your attention to civil society participation in addressing the world drug situation. The Open Society Foundations is a philanthropic organization dedicated to promoting human rights and democracy worldwide. We have had the privilege of supporting organizations that advocate for just and non-punitive drug policy reform that is grounded on human rights, public health, and development. Based on our decades of experience supporting civil society, we believe that civil society can make a substantial contribution in addressing the multidimensional aspects of drug policy. As Member States prepare for the 2024 mid-term review, we call on them to ensure that civil society, particularly those most affected by the war on drugs, such as people who use drugs, women, racial minority, illicit crop growers, and other marginalized groups, plays a meaningful participatory role in a constructive dialogue and partnership through consultation and any other necessary means. Civil society, including those most affected, has all the experience and knowledge which are valuable as we assess the work done since 2019 and offer thoughts for the way forward to 2029. Finally, we would like to bring up an issue that could hinder civil society participation in the mid-term review processes, that is: ECOSOC accreditation. We are aware that requests for ECOSOC accreditation from a number of non-governmental organizations working to advocate for humane drug policies have been denied or delayed for what it seems to be unreasonable justifications. If Member States are committed to inclusive, representative, and participatory processes, they should support ECOSOC accreditation process that allows for the broadest possible participation of civil society, rather than continuing to block such requests. Thank you.
Chair: Okay, now we move on to agenda item 11.