International Cooperation Against the World Drug Problem

A/RES/63/197No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 98International drug control, published in 2009.

What other versions does this mandate have?

18 versions · 1999–2016

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/70/182

2016A/RES/70/182International cooperation against the world drug problemLatestCompare with previous version
2015A/RES/69/201International cooperation against the world drug problemCompare with previous version
2014A/RES/68/197International cooperation against the world drug problemCompare with previous version
2013A/RES/67/193International cooperation against the world drug problemCompare with previous version
2012A/RES/66/183International cooperation against the world drug problemCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2009.

2009A/64/120International cooperation against the world drug problem report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

50 operative paragraphs

I.International cooperation to counter the world drug problem and follow-up to the twentieth special session

Reaffirms that countering the world drug problem is a common and shared responsibility that must be addressed in a multilateral setting, requires an integrated and balanced approach and must be carried out in full conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and other provisions of international law, and in particular with full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, for the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of States and for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and on the basis of the principles of equal rights and mutual respect;

Also reaffirms that there shall be a balanced approach between demand reduction and supply reduction, each to reinforce the other in an integrated approach to solving the world drug problem;

Welcomes the adoption, by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs on 14 March 2008, of resolution 51/4,8 by which the Commission decided to establish five open-ended intergovernmental expert working groups, which were convened from June to September 2008, to work in a coordinated manner on the topics of drug demand reduction, supply reduction, countering money-laundering and promoting judicial cooperation, international cooperation on the eradication of illicit drug crops and on alternative development, and control of precursors and of amphetamine-type stimulants, topics which correspond to the subjects of the Action Plan on International Cooperation on the Eradication of Illicit Drug Crops and on Alternative Development,6 the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction10 and the measures to enhance international cooperation to counter the drug problem,9 adopted by the General Assembly at its twentieth special session;

Notes that 2009 marks the centennial of the convening of the International Opium Commission, which was the first multilateral initiative on drug control, and in this regard looks forward to the commemorative event to be held on 26 February 2009 in Shanghai, China;

Calls upon States and other relevant actors to evaluate progress made since 1998 towards meeting the goals and targets set at the twentieth special session of the General Assembly;

Urges all States to continue to promote and implement, including by allocating adequate resources and developing clear and consistent national policies, the outcomes of the twentieth special session of the General Assembly,7 as well as the outcome of the ministerial segment of the forty-sixth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs,4 to implement the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Declaration on the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction5 and to strengthen their national efforts to counter the abuse of illicit drugs in their populations, taking into account, inter alia, the results of the assessment of the implementation of the declarations and measures adopted by the Assembly at its twentieth special session;

Urges States that have not done so to consider ratifying or acceding to, and States parties to implement, as a matter of priority, all the provisions of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto and the United Nations Convention against Corruption;

Urges all States to strengthen their efforts to achieve the goals set for 2003 and 2008 at the twentieth special session of the General Assembly by:

Promoting national and international initiatives to eliminate or reduce significantly the illicit manufacture, trafficking and marketing of drugs and other psychotropic substances, including synthetic drugs, and the diversion of precursors, other transnational criminal activities, including money-laundering and trafficking in arms, and corruption;

Achieving significant and measurable results in the field of demand reduction, including through prevention and treatment strategies and programmes to reduce drug use, with particular focus on children and young people, and recognizing the role that the family plays in this regard;

Encourages States to consider prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of drug use disorders and to take measures to reduce the social and health consequences of drug abuse as governmental health and social priorities, consulting and working with civil society, including non-governmental organizations, and recognizing the role played by the family, in developing, implementing and evaluating policies and programmes, in particular those related to demand reduction and prevention of drug abuse, with particular focus on children and young people, and also to consider cooperating with civil society, including non-governmental organizations, in alternative development programmes;

Calls upon States and organizations with expertise in community capacity-building to provide, as needed, access to treatment, health care and social services for drug users, in particular those living with HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases, and to extend support to States requiring such expertise, consistent with the international drug control treaties;

Urges all Member States to implement the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Declaration of the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction and to strengthen their national efforts to counter the abuse of illicit drugs in their populations, in particular among children and young people;

Encourages Member States to identify drug control priorities to be set for future concerted action and to consider making voluntary public commitments to tackle present challenges in drug trafficking;

Calls upon States to expand demand reduction measures, including prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, while fully respecting the dignity of drug-addicted persons, and to take further action to improve data collection and evaluation capacity on the demand for illicit drugs, including the demand for synthetic drugs, and, where appropriate, abuse of and addiction to prescription drugs;

Urges States to continue working towards achieving a significant and measurable reduction of drug abuse and to share the results obtained on this subject during the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs that will be held in March 2009;

Encourages Member States to take effective measures at the national, regional and international levels and to promote close international cooperation to prevent criminal organizations, in particular those involved in drug trafficking, from acquiring and using firearms, their parts and components and ammunition, in order to enhance public security;

Reaffirms the need for a comprehensive approach to the elimination of illicit narcotic crops in line with the Action Plan on International Cooperation on the Eradication of Illicit Drug Crops and on Alternative Development adopted by the General Assembly at its twentieth special session;

Calls for a comprehensive approach integrating alternative development programmes, including, where appropriate, preventive and innovative alternative development, into wider economic and social development programmes, with the support of a deeper international cooperation and the participation of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, and the private sector, as appropriate;

Invites States to sustain and increase international cooperation and, where needed, technical assistance to countries implementing policies and programmes against drug production, including illicit crop eradication and alternative development programmes;

Recognizes the significant role played by developing countries with extensive expertise in alternative development and the importance of outreach activities aimed at promoting a set of best practices and lessons learned in that area and sharing those best practices and lessons learned with States affected by illicit crop cultivation, including those emerging from conflict, with a view to using them, where appropriate, in accordance with the national specificities of each State;

Invites Member States, where alternative development programmes are implemented, to share their best practices and lessons learned, as well as the qualitative and quantitative impacts of those programmes, during the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in March 2009;

Stresses the importance of the contribution of the United Nations system and the international community to the economic and social development of the communities that benefit from innovative alternative programmes to eradicate illicit drug production, inter alia, in reforestation, agriculture and small and medium-sized enterprises;

Encourages States to establish comprehensive national monitoring systems and to enhance regional, international and multisectoral cooperation, including with industry, to prevent the diversion, manufacture, trafficking and abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants and their precursors;

Calls upon States to consider ways to strengthen mechanisms for the collection and sharing of information on trafficking in precursors, in particular for making seizures, preventing diversions, detaining consignments, dismantling laboratories and assessing emerging trafficking and diversion trends, new manufacturing methods and the use of non-controlled substances, with a view to enhancing the effectiveness of the international control framework;

Emphasizes the need to ensure that adequate mechanisms are in place, where necessary and to the extent possible, to prevent the diversion of preparations containing substances listed in tables I and II of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988, pertaining to illicit drug manufacture, which could easily be used or recovered by readily applicable means, in particular those containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine;

Urges all States and relevant international organizations to cooperate closely with the International Narcotics Control Board, in particular in Project Cohesion and Project Prism, in order to enhance the success of those international initiatives, and to initiate, where appropriate, investigations by their law enforcement authorities into seizures and cases involving the diversion or smuggling of precursors and essential equipment, with a view to tracking them back to the source of diversion in order to prevent continuing illicit activity;

Stresses that international cooperation on domestic precursor policies and practices would assist in complementing existing law enforcement cooperative initiatives, and encourages States to cooperate at the regional level on measures to prevent and control the domestic diversion of precursors, drawing on best practices and sharing experiences;

Recognizes that the illegal distribution of pharmaceutical products containing substances under international control via the Internet is a serious problem, and encourages Member States to notify the International Narcotics Control Board of seizures of pharmaceutical products or counterfeit drugs containing substances under international control that are ordered via the Internet and received by mail so that it may conduct a detailed analysis of trafficking trends, and encourages the Board to continue its work with a view to raising awareness of and preventing the misuse of the Internet for the illegal supply, sale and distribution of internationally controlled licit substances;

Calls upon States to implement and strengthen, as appropriate, the measures to promote judicial cooperation adopted at the twentieth special session of the General Assembly, in particular with regard to mutual legal assistance, exchange of information and joint operations, as appropriate, including with technical assistance from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime;

Calls upon Member States to strengthen international cooperation among judicial and law enforcement authorities at all levels in order to prevent and combat illicit drug trafficking and to share and promote best operational practices in order to interdict illicit drug trafficking, including by establishing and strengthening regional mechanisms, providing technical assistance and establishing effective methods for cooperation, in particular in the areas of air, maritime, port and border control and in the implementation of extradition treaties, while respecting international human rights obligations;

Urges States to strengthen action, in particular international cooperation and technical assistance aimed at preventing and combating the laundering of proceeds derived from drug trafficking and related criminal activities, with the support of the United Nations system, international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as regional development banks and, where appropriate, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering and similarly styled regional bodies, to develop and strengthen comprehensive international regimes to combat money-laundering and its possible links with organized crime and the financing of terrorism, and to improve information-sharing among financial institutions and agencies in charge of preventing and detecting the laundering of those proceeds;

Encourages Member States that have not done so to consider updating their legal and regulatory frameworks and establishing financial investigation units and, to that end, to seek technical assistance, including from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in particular regarding the identification, freezing, seizing and confiscation of the proceeds of crime, in order to effectively prevent and combat money-laundering;

Considers that the outcomes of the open-ended intergovernmental expert working groups established by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in its resolution 51/4,8 and their conclusions, to be taken into account by the Commission at its intersessional meetings, may contribute to the preparation of a political declaration and, as appropriate, other declarations and measures to enhance international cooperation for consideration and adoption at the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Commission, in 2009;

Urges Member States to be represented at the highest possible level at the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and to reaffirm their commitment to combating the world drug problem and to endorse the principles and goals set by the General Assembly at its twentieth special session, with a view to enhancing cooperative efforts in this regard;

Also urges Member States to identify, on the basis of the results of the process to review the declarations and measures adopted by the General Assembly at its twentieth special session, future priorities and areas requiring further action, as well as goals and targets to be set in countering the world drug problem beyond 2009;

Requests the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to forward to the General Assembly, through the Economic and Social Council, the results of the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Commission on the progress achieved in meeting the goals and targets set in the Political Declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its twentieth special session;3

Decides to consider the results of the high-level segment of the fifty-second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs at a plenary meeting of the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session;

II.Action by the United Nations system

Reaffirms the importance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and its regional offices in building capacity at the local level in the fight against transnational organized crime and drug trafficking, and urges the Office to consider regional vulnerabilities, projects and impact in the fight against drug trafficking, in particular in developing countries, when deciding to close and allocate offices, with a view to maintaining an effective level of support to national and regional efforts in combating the world drug problem;

Welcomes the work carried out by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and requests the Office to continue to carry out its mandate in accordance with previous relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in close cooperation with other relevant United Nations organizations and programmes, such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS;

Welcomes also the decision of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to share relevant decisions of the Programme Coordinating Board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS with Member States at the session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs held in the first half of each year, starting with the fifty-second session, in order to promote better coordination and alignment of the response to HIV and to scale up efforts towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive prevention, care, treatment and support services for drug users;

Notes that the International Narcotics Control Board needs sufficient resources to carry out all its mandates, reaffirms the importance of its work, encourages it to continue to carry out its work in accordance with its mandate, urges Member States to commit themselves in a common effort to assigning adequate and sufficient budgetary resources to the Board, in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/20 of 23 July 1996, emphasizes the need to maintain its capacity, inter alia, through the provision of appropriate means by the Secretary-General and adequate technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and calls for enhanced cooperation and understanding between Member States and the Board to enable it to implement all its mandates under the international drug control conventions;

Urges the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to increase collaboration with intergovernmental, international and regional organizations that have drug control mandates, as appropriate, in order to share best practices and to take advantage of their unique comparative advantage;

Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to carry out, at the request of Member States, training programmes to support the adoption of sound methods and to harmonize indicators used for statistics on drug use, which have already been considered by the Statistical Commission, in order to collect and analyse comparable data on drug abuse;

Urges all Governments to provide the fullest possible financial and political support to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime by widening its donor base and increasing voluntary contributions, in particular general-purpose contributions, so as to enable it to continue, expand and strengthen its operational and technical cooperation activities, within its mandates, and recommends that a sufficient share of the regular budget of the United Nations be allocated to the Office to enable it to carry out its mandates and to work towards securing assured and predictable funding;

Takes note of the outcomes of the fifty-first session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the World Drug Report 2008 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the most recent report of the International Narcotics Control Board, and calls upon States to strengthen international and regional cooperation to counter the threat to the international community caused by the illicit production of and trafficking in drugs and to continue to take concerted measures such as the framework of the Paris Pact and other relevant international initiatives;

Encourages the meetings of Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies and of the Subcommission on Illicit Drug Traffic and Related Matters in the Near and Middle East of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to continue to contribute to the strengthening of regional and international cooperation, taking into account the outcomes of the twentieth special session of the General Assembly7 and the joint ministerial statement adopted at the ministerial segment of the forty-sixth session of the Commission;4

Encourages the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, as the global coordinating body in international drug control and as the governing body of the drug programme of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the International Narcotics Control Board to continue their useful work on the control of precursors and other chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances;

Calls upon the relevant United Nations agencies and entities, and other international organizations, and invites international financial institutions, including regional development banks, to mainstream drug control issues into their programmes, and calls upon the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to maintain its leading role by providing relevant information and technical assistance;

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General, and requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution.

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