Introduction

The UN General Assembly's 20th Special Session on the World Drug Problem met in 1998, setting objectives centred on the achievement of significant and measurable reductions in the supply of and demand for illicit drugs over the ensuing 10 year period. The 2008 CND in Vienna began the process of reviewing the progress made toward these objectives, and will be followed by a period of reflection and analysis prior to deciding the future direction of the international drug control system.

The primary resource within the IDPC for materials related to the UNGASS Review may be found on the website of the Transnational Institute TNI. The site contains detailed, in-depth reports and analysis, and is located here.

The UNGASS Review

When the international community gathered at the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in 1998 to address the global response to illegal drugs, they adopted a declaration committing member states to the achievement of significant and measurable results in reduction of illicit supply and demand for drugs by the year 2008. Ten years later, at the 2008 Commission on Narcotic Drugs held in Vienna in March, member states, UN officials and NGOs reviewed progress, and some familiar divisions were in evidence. The Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Costa, acknowledged that these ambitious targets had not been met, but claimed that the global drug problem was being contained through a mix of effective supply and demand reduction activities. Member states' contributions to the debate were widely divergent - while many countries (mainly from Europe, but also including several Latin American countries, and some from Asia and Australasia) emphasised the need to use this review to address some of the imbalances and deficiencies in the global drug control system, many others focussed on the need to remain loyal to the 'spirit' of the conventions, and to make current enforcement-led policies work.

The delegates to the 2008 CND confirmed that a 2 day, high-level, political meeting will be held in March 2009 in Vienna, which will agree the framework for the next phase of UN drug policy. The material and reports to be considered at that meeting will be generated through five intergovernmental working groups that will operate over the next 6 months, and present draft texts for consideration by governments. These working groups will, respectively, cover Demand Reduction, Supply Reduction, Money Laundering, Crop Eradication and Alternative Development, and Precursors and Amphetamine-Type Stimulants. Non-Governmental organisations can, in theory, submit proposals and recommendations to these working groups but, at this stage, a process for this has yet to be established.

The 2008/9 review process therefore presents a significant opportunity to address the current weaknesses in the system - it is no longer sufficient for the UNODC and member states to simply reaffirm existing structures and programmes. Civil society has a significant contribution to make in this regard, by promoting constructive ideas for improving the international drug control system, and ensuring that government representatives to the 2009 meeting seriously reflect experience and public opinion from their own countries.

While Civil Society organisations around the world will have a wide range of perspectives and priorities for the review, the IDPC has proposed a focus on four key issues where it is felt that current policies and programmes could realistically be improved through this process. They are: Structural reform of the UN international drug control systems; Harm reduction; Source country issues; Human Rights. Further information can be obtained through version three of the IDPC Advocacy Guide, which is listed below.

The UNGASS review process includes a number of open-ended inter-governmental expert working groups which will report on various aspects of the present world drug situation and on the progress achieved toward UNGASS objectives. Information on the working groups, together with IDPC materials which analyse and report on their deliberations, can be found here.

The UNGASS 10 year review: LINKS

Official UN Documents

  • UN General Assembly Special Session on the World Drugs Problem, 1998
  • Antonio Maria Costa (Executive Director of UNODC) produced a significant discussion paper for the 2008 51st CND, in which he explores some of the unintended consequences of the international drug control system, and makes suggestions for the future.

    Making drug control 'fit for purpose': Building on the UNGASS decade (E/CN.7/2008/CRP.17) [+ available here...].
  • Costa's opening speech to the plenary session of the 51st CND is a shorter version of the exploration contained in the above document. [+ available here...].
  • The Secretariat has produced an advance, unedited version of the CND Report of its 51st session. (E/CN.7/2008/15) [+ available here...].
  • Slovenia's resolution at the 51st CND (51/4), "Preparations for the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, relating to the follow-up to the twentieth Special Session of the General Assembly". This resolution outlines the structure of the Review process, and can be viewed in the above advance Report of the 51st CND, page 17.
  • Report of the International Narcotics Control Board pursuant to the twentieth special session of the General Assembly (E/CN.7/2008/CRP.16) [+ available here...].
  • UNAIDS statement by Susan Timberlake to the 51st CND on a Human Rights-based response to HIV. [+ available here...].
  • The Vienna NGO Beyond 2008 Global Forum took place on 7-9 July 2008. The final Declaration: [+ available here...].


IDPC UNGASS documents



IDPC and Consortium members' documents

Statements to 51st CND

The 51st CND witnessed an unprecedented degree of involvement from civil society and NGOs. There were 7 statements made by NGOs to the CND, and they may be found below.

  • Statement by Rick Lines of the International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA). [+ read more...]
  • Statement by Pascal Tanguay of the Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN). [+ read more...]
  • Statement by Ricardo Soberon of Transnational Institute (TNI) / International Drug Policy Consortium (IDCP). [+ read more...]
  • Statement by Balázs Dénes of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) / Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU). [+ read more...]
  • Statement by Deborah Peterson Small of Break the Chains / Open Society Institute. [+ read more...]
  • Statement by Stijn Goosens of the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) / International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA). [+ read more...]

A number of key statements were also made before the plenary by government ministers. They included:

  • Hugo Fernandez, Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs for Bolivia, who announced the intention of his government to call for the formal unscheduling of the Coca leaf. [+ read more...]
  • Paolo Ferrero, Italy's minister for Social Solidarity, who spoke of the ineffectiveness of imprisonment in reducing drug use, and highlighted human rights abuses carried on in the name of drug control. [+ read more...]