STATEMENT on behalf of the VIENNA NGO COMMITTEE ON NARCOTIC DRUGS

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me the floor. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to this preparatory work for the General Assembly's Special Session in June 1998.

The Special Session continues as series of international intergovernmental conferences which began with the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and the Cocaine Threat, the 1990 World Ministerial Summit to Reduce Demand for Drugs and to Combat the Cocaine Threat and the 17th Special Session of the UN General Assembly, which adopted the Global Programme of Action.

In each of these important meetings, the NGO community, through the NGO Committee in Vienna and New York, has contributed to the preparatory process and to the deliberations of the meeting itself. The political declarations and recommendations arising from these meetings have recognised the important contribution of NGOs to the local, national and international efforts to control, contain and prevent drug misuse.

As part of our contributions to preparations for the upcoming Special Session, in the course of this meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Vienna and New York Committees have held a first Ad Hoc NGO Forum; the report of which is already available to the Preparatory Committee.

The Forum had as its goals alerting NGOs to the Special Session; mobilizing support for the international and global drug centred effort; and identifying specific contributions which could be made by the NGO community.

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of NGOs concerned with all aspects of drug control. The 1994 NGO World Forum on Drug Demand Reduction in Bangkok, supported by UNDCP, helped to stimulate this expansion and led to the formation of regional NGO networks. It was from these new networks that participants for the Ad Hoc NGO Forum were drawn.

It is widely agreed that drug control requires a balanced approach incorporating both demand and supply control measures. NGOs have a particular cotribution to demand reduction measures because of their mass membership and their capacity to mobilize and support community initiatives.

In the continued elaboration of the Declaration on the Guiding Principles on Drug Demand Reduction we [would] hope and expect that an NGO representative will be included as a member of the relevant open ended Intergovernmental Meeting in October. We are disappointed that this was not the case when the Expert Group Meeting first met, but we hope that the essential partnership between governmental and non-governmental organizations will be reflected in the future. Through such a partnership we believe that the Declaration will have the widest possible support both at the Special Session and in operational activities thereafter.

The Vienna NGO Committee, in consultation with the New York NGO Committee nad the NGO Committee recently established for South East Asia, is committed to continue to work in support of and as a contribution to the 1998 Special Session. To this end it wishes to hold further Ad Hoc NGO Fora linking the regional NGO networks. Such a programme, however, has resource implications. The NGO Committee has alrady drawn fully upon its own limited resources and we now appeal to Governments to assist us in making to achieving effective drug control.

In particular, we ask that Governments consider making a contribution no less than USD 1.000 dollars each to facilitate these series of NGO Fora. The programme and planning has been established, the commitment from the NGO community is there, with our assistance the enthusiasm and dedication of the NGOs can be even more fully harnessed in support of drug control.

With respect to the Special Session itself, it is unfortunate that, as we understand the position, direct NGO paricipation may not be possible. We hope that this will not be the case and that this Preparatory Committee will endorse the active involvement of NGOs. It has been a common understanding that drug control requires a partenership drawing on the competencies of organizations at all levels of society.

It would be sad indeed if this partnership, which has so frequently been recommended and endorsed, was to be denied in practice at the highest level of struggle for drug control. Governments themselves could epitomize the partnership by including an NGO representative on their delegation to the Special Session and we appreciate relating comments by the hon. Delegates made during this session, including for example Her Majesty's Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Australia and of Norway.

For many years the Vienna NGO Committee has dedicated itself to support for international and national efforts to reduce the supply of and demand for drugs. It has mobilized activities in support of every International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, through the 1994 NGO World Forum, by its Newsletter and by its comments and contributions to the international organizations.

We look forward, with your support, to extending further this work and to partnerships in practice which can enhance and add value to the global efforts against drugs.