For information only - not an official document

UNIS/MA/166
10 March 2017

 

MEDIA ADVISORY

Journalists invited to cover 60th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs

VIENNA, 10 March (UN Information Service) - Journalists are invited to cover the 60th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which runs from 13 to 17 March in Vienna.

The opening ceremony will be attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand, UNODC's Goodwill Ambassador on the Rule of Law for Southeast Asia, Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization and Werner Sipp, the President of the International Narcotics Control Board.

More than 100 side events are planned for the 60th Session on topics ranging from treatment and care of people with drug use disorders, understanding the challenges of the Mekong, combatting terrorism and its financing, heroin routes into Europe, and health responses to new psychoactive substances among many others.

Notable side events being held in the M-Building of the Vienna International Centre include:

On Thursday 16 March, the 60th Session will consider scheduling proposals for substances under all three international drug control conventions. 

Scheduling proposals include two fentanyl precursors (NPP and ANPP) and the fentanyl analogue butyrfentanyl, as a means of preventing the illicit manufacture and trafficking of fentanyl. Abuse of fentanyl, which is 100 times more potent than morphine, has led to thousands of overdose deaths around the world.

The 60th Session will bring together more than 1,500 participants from Member States, parliaments, inter-governmental organizations, civil society, and the private sector.

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Media accreditation:

Media representatives who wish to cover the 60th Session of the CND, and who are not accredited to the Vienna International Centre, should email press@unvienna.org for accreditation. Journalists can attend plenary meetings and use the M-Building. Member States will make transcriptions and statements available to journalists at their own discretion.

Join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #CND60 and follow @UNODC and @YuryFedotov and @UN_Vienna for timely updates

Further information, including a programme of side events can be found at:

https://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND_CCPCJ_joint/Side_Events/2017/Programme_CND_60.pdf

For further details on the scheduling recommendations made by the expert bodies under the relevant international drug control conventions go to:

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CND/session/60_Session_2016/CND-60-Session_Index.html

For further details on scheduling procedures go to:

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/commissions/CND/Mandate_Functions/Mandate-and-Functions_Scheduling.html

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For further information please contact:

David Dadge
Spokesperson, UNODC
Telephone: (+43 1) 26060-5629
Mobile: (+43-699) 1459-5629
Email: david.dadge[at]unvienna.org