EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HIGHLIGHTS ACHIEVEMENTS OF COMMISSION'S 1996 SESSION CITING RECOMMENDATION ON 1998 ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION ON DRUGS
Press Release
SOC/NAR/739
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HIGHLIGHTS ACHIEVEMENTS OF COMMISSION'S 1996 SESSION CITING RECOMMENDATION ON 1998 ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION ON DRUGS
19960426 Commission Recommends to Economic and Social Council Text On Strengthening of INCB and Development of Information System(Issued as received from UN Information Service.)
VIENNA, 25 April -- "I shall always remember this session as one where we learnt that men were the most vulnerable and women were ageless", the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), Giorgio Giacomelli, told the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in closing remarks this morning.
Highlighting the achievements of the Commission's thirty ninth session, which will conclude this afternoon, Mr. Giacomelli said its decision to recommend a special session of the General Assembly on drugs in 1998 was particularly important. The consensus which had been established would provide a very good basis for the Programme to begin planning and preparing for that session so that it would serve as another milestone in international cooperation in combating the drug threat.
Describing the past eight days as a "fruitful but sometimes difficult session", he thanked the Commission for its trust and support for the orientation of UNDCP activities, and assured the members that the priorities which had been established would be pursued with vigour and determination. But, he added: "It goes without saying that the scale of our activities will depend on the means which will be put at our disposal". He hoped that the very positive response to the proposals for widening the donor base of the Programme would enable it, even at a time of financial crisis, to tackle the problems of the future from a secure foundation.
Also this morning, the Commission approved a 34-Power text, addressed to the Economic and Social Council, on strengthening the role of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and developing a unified information system for the collection and analysis of data concerning the nature, patterns and trends of the global problem of drug abuse.
In addition to encouraging the INCB to continue ensuring the more effective implementation of the international drug control treaties, the Council would also request the Executive Director to report to the Commission next year on current efforts to collect and analyse information on the nature and patterns of, and trends in, the illicit consumption, cultivation, manufacture, traffic and distribution of drugs, whether of natural origin or synthetic, to improve the formulation of prevention and control policies in those fields, enhance public awareness of the international drug control situation and ensure that UNDCP activities were based on comprehensive and relevant information and knowledge, with a view to unifying and simplifying the collection system for the use by Governments and the Programme, including the Board.
The Commission began considering another draft resolution, also addressed to the Council, on actions to strengthen international cooperation to prevent diversion of precursors and their substitutes used in the illicit manufacture of controlled substances and amphetamine-type stimulants (document E/CN.7/1996/L.2/Rev.2). The original sponsors of that text were Japan, Morocco and the United States.
John Moffat, Chief of Financial Service, United Nations Office at Vienna, informed the Commission that there were budget implications to the draft because it called for the establishment of lists of chemicals and other substances and requested the INCB to collect and compile data. The representative of the United States replied that the intention of the draft resolution was to seek voluntary contributions for many of the activities mentioned.
In other action this morning, the Commission took note of the oral report presented by the chairman of the ad hoc open-ended working group on administrative and budgetary matters. That group had examined issues relating to the impact on the UNDCP of mandatory reductions in the regular budget of the United Nations; increasing the efficiency of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies; financial and budgetary matters related to programme support costs; financial rules and budget methodology; and the draft medium-term plan.
Under the item of the provisional agenda for its fortieth session, the Commission agreed, at the suggestion of the Chairman, Helmut Butke (Germany), on several changes in the organization of its future work: the draft agenda for each session would contain four regular items (general debate; report of the INCB; illicit demand for drugs; and illicit drug traffic and supply, including the reports of subsidiary bodies) and four other substantive items. Two of the latter would be, on an alternating basis, review of the implementation of resolutions of the Assembly and of the Commission, and monitoring of the Global Programme of Action. In addition, one or two special
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topics would be selected. In that connection, and at the suggestion of the representative of Sweden, the Commission decided to examine, as a special topic next year, the issue of supplying illicit drugs to addicts.
The Commission also decided that its session should be held for six days, from the current eight. However, if the Assembly decided to convene a special session on drugs in 1998, then two days of the session would be devoted to preparatory work. Another decision of the Commission was that only one document would be prepared for each agenda item and only one draft resolution per item.
Closing Statement by UNDCP Executive Director
GIORGIO GIACOMELLI, UNDCP Executive Director, in his closing remarks, highlighted the many issues which the Commission had considered: demand reduction, stimulants "ownership" and financing of the Programme, the medium-term plan, coordination, master plans, a special session of the General Assembly on drugs.
He welcomed the increased attention given to the issue of demand reduction. He was grateful for the Commission's endorsement of the UNDCP's strategy on the subject, and pleased that from the session had emerged a clear way forward on a draft declaration on demand reduction. The working group set up for that purpose would face a daunting challenge. One of the major tasks of the Commission and the UNDCP was to respond quickly to new developments in the drugs field. There was widespread recognition that synthetic stimulants were an increasing problem and a truly global one. He appreciated the endorsement to the work which the UNDCP had done on this issue.
Concerning the financing of the Programme's expanded mandate, he thanked the Commission for its positive response to his appeal on widening the resource base and improving the methodology of financing the Programme. He looked forward to building a truly collective sense of "ownership". As regards further development of the System-Wide Action Plan on Drug Abuse Control, he said the Programme would continue its efforts through the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) mechanism to mobilize the United Nations system and ensure closer coordination between the agencies, especially at the field level.
The decision of the Commission to recommend a special session of the Assembly on drugs in 1998 was particularly important, he said. The consensus which had been established would provide a very good basis for the Programme to begin planning and preparing for the session so that it would serve as another milestone in international cooperation in combating the drug threat.
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He expressed appreciation for the support given to the UNDCP's work in regional and subregional cooperation initiatives in alternative development, activities in precursor control and in the field of maritime cooperation.
Mr. Giacomelli thanked the Commission for its trust and support for the orientation of UNDCP activities, and assured the members that the priorities which had been established would be pursued with vigour and determination. But he added: "It does without saying that the sale of our activities will depend on the means which will be put at our disposal". He hoped that the very positive response to the proposals for widening the donor base of the Programme would enable it, even at a time of financial crisis, to tackle the problems of the future from a secure foundation.
Administrative and Budgetary Matters
TADANORI INOMATA (Japan), in his capacity as chairman of the ad hoc open-ended working group on administrative and budgetary matters, reported on the group's discussions. It had considered issues relating to the impact on the UNDCP of mandatory reductions in the regular budget of the United Nations; increasing the efficiency of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies; financial and budgetary matters related to programme support costs; financial rules and budget methodology; and the draft medium-term plan.
The group acknowledged problems in the management of the UNDCP Fund, in the absence of specific financial rules and reserves to ensure the proper management of the Programme. On the issue of a programme support cost arrangement, support was expressed for UNDCP's approach, which consisted in identifying the full programme support requirement to be funded from programme support income and, if required, from general-purpose funds; and also in elaborating new mechanisms to increase programme support income.
Concerning the efficiency of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies, the working group noted the unique role of the Commission as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council, as a body which carried out treaty-related work and as a budgetary body for the Fund. It recommended that the Executive Director be requested to organize consultations on an ad hoc basis, open to all interested delegations, for the purpose of considering options for improving the work of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies.
Action on Draft Resolution
The Commission approved the draft resolution on strengthening of the role of the International Narcotics Control Board and development of a unified information system for the collection and analysis of data concerning the nature, patterns and trends of the global problem of drug abuse (document E/CN.7/1996/L.12/Rev.1). Under that 34-Power text, the Economic and Social
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Council would encourage the Board to continue to ensure the more effective implementation of the international drug control treaties and, in so doing, to evaluate the global drug problem and cooperate with Governments in an ongoing dialogue.
It would request the Executive Director to report to the Commission next year on current efforts to collect and analyse information on the nature and patterns of, and trends in, the illicit consumption, cultivation, manufacture, traffic and distribution of drugs, whether of natural origin or synthetic, to improve the formulation of prevention and control policies in those fields, enhance public awareness of the international drug control situation and ensure that UNDCP activities were based on comprehensive and relevant information and knowledge, with a view to unifying and simplifying the collection system for the use by Governments and the Programme, including the Board. He would be also be requested, in consultation with the Board, to present the information needs of the Programme and the Board to the Commission.
The Council would encourage the Board to intensify its programme of country missions in order to monitor the implementation of the international drug control Conventions and also to gain a more comprehensive and direct awareness of the drug control policies and programmes being carried out in the countries concerned. The General Assembly would be requested to allocate sufficient resources, within the United Nations regular budget, to enable the Board to carry out the functions assigned to it under the Conventions. And the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) would be asked to take note of this resolution in considering the medium-term plan 1998-2001 covering the programme on international drug control.
The preambular paragraph, disagreement over the wording of which led to deferral of action on the draft resolution yesterday, was revised to read as follows: "Considering that, in the context of the globalization of the drug problem and the principle of shared responsibility, the INCB is the competent independent and international authority as specified in the United Nations Conventions on drug control for an evaluation, in an objective and balanced manner, of the efforts of States to facilitate the consolidation of a worldwide policy of drug control and the development of effective international cooperation".
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