UNIS/NAR/999
9 May 2007

Five New Members Join International Narcotics Control Board

VIENNA, 9 May (UN Information Service) -- Five new board members from Belgium, China, Germany, Indonesia and Mexico joined the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), as it began its 89th session in Vienna. The Board will remain in session until 18 May.

The membership of the Board is now as follows: Joseph Bediako Asare (Ghana), Sevil Atasoy (Turkey), Tatyana Borisovna Dmitrieva (Russian Federation), Philip O. Emafo (Nigeria), Hamid Ghodse (Iran), Carola Lander (Germany), Melvyn Levitsky (United States), Maria-Elena Medina Mora (Mexico), Sri Suryawati (Indonesia), Camilo Uribe Granja (Colombia), Brian Watters (Australia), Raymond Yans (Belgium) and Xin Yu (China).

Dr. Philip O. Emafo was re-elected President of the Board. The Board also elected Major Brian Watters as First Vice-President, Professor Tatyana Dmitrieva as Second Vice-President and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Estimates and Professor Sevil Atasoy as Rapporteur. Board Members are elected for a one-year term to these positions.

The Board, which meets in closed sessions, will discuss cooperation with more than 200 countries and territories, discuss shortcomings in national drug control systems and formulate proposals to governments to overcome such deficiencies.

During the current session, the President will inform the Board of some of the events that took place since the last session in February 2007, such as the outcome of his annual meeting with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The President also met with the President of the Economic and Social Council in the intersessional period. A representative of the World Health Organization will discuss health-related issues with regard to international drug control with the Board. The Chairman of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are also expected to address the session.

The Board will examine the drug control situations in Bhutan, Colombia, Liberia, Nepal and the Republic of the Congo following its missions to these countries. In addition, the Deputy Minister of Counter Narcotics of Afghanistan will discuss the current drug control situation in his country and measures taken by his Government to address the issue with INCB. The Board will also review the extent to which countries and territories have implemented recommendations made to them, pursuant to missions undertaken by the Board during 2004.

Through its Standing Committee on Estimates, the Board will review the worldwide supply and demand of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical purposes.

 The Vienna-based Board is an independent body, established by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to monitor governments' compliance with the international drug control treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the Economic and Social Council to serve in their individual capacities for a term of five years.

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For further information, contact:
The INCB Secretariat
Tel: + 43 1 26060 4163
Email: secretariat@incb.org