21 June 1991

15th plenary meeting

United Nations International Drug Control Programme

The Economic and Social Council,

Reaffirming that the new dimensions of illicit production, abuse and traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in all regions of the world necessitate a more comprehensive and integrated approach to international drug control and an efficient structure in order to enable the United Nations to play a central and greatly enhanced role in that field,

Mindful of General Assembly resolution 45/179 of 21 December 1990, entitled "Enhancement of the United Nations structure for drug abuse control", in which the Secretary-General was requested to create a single drug control programme, to be called the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, and to appoint a senior official who would execute the integration process and head the new Programme,

Recalling that the General Assembly, in resolution 45/179, invited the Secretary-General to ensure that adequate financial and other resources from within the regular budget were allocated to the United Nations International Drug Control Programme to enable it to discharge its functions effectively,

Bearing in mind Commission on Narcotic Drugs resolutions I (XXXIV), 2 (XXXIV) and 3 (XXXIV) of 9 May 1991, concerning, respectively, the strengthening of the role of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme as the main focus for concerted international action for drug abuse control, the development of proposals to address priority themes, and the provision of support to the Programme,

1. Welcomes the prompt appointment of a senior official, at the level of Under-Secretary-General, in the position of Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme with exclusive responsibility for coordinating and providing effective leadership for all the United Nations drug control activities, in order to ensure coherence of actions within the Programme as well as coordination, complementarity and non-duplication of such activities across the United Nations system;

2. Commends the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme for his ongoing efforts to fully integrate the structures and functions of the Division of Narcotic Drugs of the Secretariat, the secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board and the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control into the new Programme;

3. Strongly urges all Governments to provide the fullest possible financial and political support to the United Nations International Drug Control Programme in order to enable the Programme to fulfil all of its mandates and functions deriving from the Global Programme of Action adopted by the General Assembly at its seventeenth special session, the Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Outline of Future Activities in Drug Abuse Control adopted by the International Conference against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and the international drug control treaties, particularly by increasing their extrabudgetary contributions to the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, with a view to expanding and strengthening its programmes for technical cooperation with developing countries;

4. Requests the specialized agencies and the programmes of the United Nations system to take an active part in the international struggle against narcotic drugs and to fully coordinate their efforts with the United Nations International Drug Control Programme to enable the Executive Director of the Programme to fully exercise his exclusive responsibility for coordinating and providing effective leadership for all United Nations drug control activities, in compliance with paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 45/179;

5. Urges all intergovernmental organizations having specific competence in drug control matters to collaborate fully with the Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme to ensure coordination, coherence of action, complementarity and non-duplication of activities with the Programme;

6. Requests the Executive Director to complete, as a matter of priority, the integration process of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme.