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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The Foreign
Minister of Guatemala, Carlos Raúl Morales, and the Secretary General of
the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, today
presented to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) theresolutionon
the drug problem adopted by the XLVI OAS Special General Assembly in
Guatemala in September 2014, to be considered as an input for the
special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGASS 2016) on
the issue, to be held in 2016.
Following the presentation of the document, Foreign Minister Morales
said “the historic opportunity to agree on a more humane and more
effective global drug policy must begin at UNGASS 2016.” He said, “In
discussing and exploring new strategies and policies
to address the world drug problem, we have to consider not only
prohibition and liberalization.” “We do not need to go from one extreme
to the other in order to find effective policies, but we do have to
accept that the new policies will have to be comprehensive,
diverse, and find the right balance between supply and demand reduction
measures,” added the Guatemalan Foreign Minister.
For his part, Secretary General Insulza highlighted that the OAS “has
been very active over the last three years” on the issue of drugs,
“analyzing the issue from technical and political points of view.” The
OAS leader recalled that the institution presented
in 2013 an extensiveReporton the issue, which was the result of a mandate from the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia in April 2012.
Following up on the Report, the Resolution that emerged from the
Assembly in Guatemala City, titled “Reflections and Guidelines to
Formulate and Follow Up on Comprehensive Policies to Address the World
Drug Problem in the Americas,” highlights "the importance
of hemispheric and international cooperation to jointly tackling the
world drug problem, by promoting and strengthening comprehensive
policies and, where appropriate, the modernization and
professionalization of government institutions."
In addition, the document recognizes the importance of implementing the
three United Nations conventions on drugs, which constitute the
international system's drug control framework, as well as the need for
States to consider "regularly reviewing the drug policies
adopted, ensuring that they are comprehensive and focused on the
well-being of the individual, in order to address their national
challenges and assess their impact and effectiveness." The resolution
also proposes developing responses to the new challenges
posed by the world drug problem "that prevent social costs or
contribute to their reduction; and, when appropriate, reviewing
traditional approaches and considering the development of new
approaches, based on scientific evidence and knowledge."
The Secretary General expressed his hope that the document, together
with others that will be developed by the OAS this year, “will serve as
valuable contributions to the UNGASS 2016.” “In fact,” continued the OAS
leader, “we are confident that they will demonstrate
the leadership that the Hemisphere can exercise with respect to the
rest of the world on the drug issue. An approach focused on the human
being, not the substance, and oriented more toward treatment and
rehabilitation of drug users, not incarceration.”
The Secretary General also highlighted several key areas of the
Resolution approved in September 2014: its special focus on the human
aspect of the drug problem; its call for a review of traditional
approaches and consideration of the development of new policies
based on scientific evidence; its emphasis on the importance of
strengthening national health systems and programs for prevention,
treatment, rehabilitation and social integration; its promotion of
alternatives to incarceration, of the need to analyze new
drug policies and of international cooperation on money laundering,
among other issues.
With respect to the Report on the Drug Problem, produced under his
direct supervision, Secretary General Insulza recalled that in the first
part of the report, "we follow the entire process of drugs in the
region, the only part of the world in which all of
its stages are present in a dominant way: cultivation, production,
distribution and the final sale of controlled substances. In each stage
we review the various forms this activity assumes, as well as its
environmental impact and the reaction of the State,
its implications and its limitations." He said this part of the Report
examined "the consumption of the different drugs in our countries, their
effects on social exclusion and the exercise of human rights, the
possible forms of treatment and prevention practiced
today and, again, the reaction of our States.”
Upon concluding his presentation, Secretary General Insulza expressed
his hope that “all the CND member states will take a close look at this
document and give it careful consideration for inclusion in the UNGASS
2016 process.”
In summer 2016, a Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly
(UNGASS) will be held, dedicated to the issue of drug policies. The
General Assembly is the highest policy-making body and the most
representative of the United Nations (UN) and its rare
special sessions focus on specific issues at the request of the Member
States. The UNGASS on drugs intended to be an open and pioneer on
international drug control system debate.
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