For information only - not an official document
UNIS/NAR/1241
7 May 2015
VIENNA, 7 May (UN Information Service) - At its ongoing 113 th session, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) elected Werner Sipp as its new President.
A national of Germany, Mr. Sipp joined the INCB in 2012 following a distinguished career in the field of national and international drug control policy-making and legal advice. He has served as an Expert Consultant to the German Federal Ministry of Health, the German Society for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit - GIZ) and several European Union projects. Mr. Sipp was also the Head of the Division for Narcotic Law and International Narcotic Drug Affairs of the German Federal Ministry of Health, the German Permanent Correspondent in the Pompidou Group, Council of Europe, and the Legal Correspondent of Germany in the European Legal Database on Drugs.
Mr. Sipp said that over the coming months leading up to the special session of the General Assembly on the World Drug Problem in April 2016, "the international community must face various challenges, such as promoting the health and welfare of people by protecting them from the ravages of drug addiction, it also has to counteract illicit production and trafficking as well as the socio-economic ills the drug problem engenders in every community around the world". He added that, "as President, I will strongly advocate a balanced and comprehensive approach to tackling the world drug problem. This approach is at the heart of the international drug control treaties."
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Sipp said that a balanced approach "means giving appropriate emphasis and weight to all aspects of the drug problem. It involves prevention, treatment, reduction of the adverse consequences of drug abuse and rehabilitation through illicit cultivation, manufacturing, production and trafficking." He emphasized that a balanced approach "has to take into account the social and economic aspects, respecting human rights, caring for affected individuals and families, ensuring adequate access to medicines for those in need, and ensuring well-functioning regulatory systems".
To achieve this, Mr. Sipp said that INCB "will work with Governments in promoting the full implementation of the three international drug control treaties, emphasizing health and welfare, which in the past sometimes seems to have been relegated, not in their rhetoric, but in the action of many Governments."
The Board also elected a new Bureau, which will be assisting the President with the objectives he outlined. The new members of the Bureau are:
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President of the Board |
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First Vice-President of the Board |
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Second Vice-President of the Board and Chair of the Standing Committee on Estimates |
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Rapporteur |
The officers of the Board were elected for one-year terms until the start of the 116 th session of the Board in May 2016.
Five new members joined the Board at the beginning of its 113 th session that began on 4 May and will continue until 15 May 2015. The current members of the Board are: Wei Hao (China), David T. Johnson (United States), Bernard Leroy (France), Richard P. Mattick (Australia), Alejandro Mohar Betancourt (Mexico), Jagjit Pavadia (India), Ahmed Kamal Eldin Samak (Egypt), Werner Sipp (Germany), Viroj Sumyai (Thailand), Sri Suryawati (Indonesia), Francisco E. Thoumi (Colombia), Jallal Toufiq (Morocco) and Raymond Yans (Belgium).
Pursuant to the provisions of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Board members serve in a personal capacity and not as representatives of any Government.
Further biographical details as well as information on the functions, work and reports of the International Narcotics Control Board can be found in www.incb.org
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INCB is the independent, quasi-judicial body charged with promoting and monitoring Government compliance with the three international drug control conventions: the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
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For further information, please contact:
INCB Secretariat
Telephone for media inquiries: (+43-1) 26060 4163
Email: secretariat[at]incb.org
Website:
www.incb.org
