For information only – not an official document

UNIS/MA/301
8 March 2022

MEDIA ADVISORY

Journalists invited to cover the 65th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Media can follow session online from 14 to 18 March 2022

VIENNA, 8 March (UN Information Service) – Journalists are invited to cover the 65^th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) to be held in a hybrid format with limited in-person participation from 14 to 18 March in Vienna, Austria.

The session will be chaired by Ambassador Ghislain D’Hoop, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the United Nations in Vienna, and the opening segment on the first day will include remarks by:

• Ambassador Collen Vixen Kelapile, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC);
• Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC);
• Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO);
• Jagjit Pavadia, President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

On the opening day, 14 March, Ambassador Ghislain D’Hoop aims to kick-off an initiative aiming to scale up the implementation of the international drug policy commitments on improving availability of, and access to, controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes.  The initiative envisages to raise awareness for these policy commitments, thereby underscoring the important need for sustainable funding in this area.

Resolutions under consideration by the Commission address the following topics:

• Promoting alternative development as a development-oriented drug control strategy, including measures to protect the environment;
• Strengthening international cooperation in combating the misuse of information and communications technologies for drug trafficking and drug-related money-laundering;
• Strengthening international cooperation to comprehensively address the links between illicit drug trafficking and illicit firearms trafficking;
• Promoting comprehensive and scientific evidence-based early prevention;
• Safe and secure handling and disposal of synthetic drugs and their precursors;
• Intensifying efforts to address the proliferation of uncontrolled and designer precursors used in the illicit manufacture of drugs.

The list of draft resolutions can be found here.

The Commission is moreover expected to take action on the WHO recommendations regarding the placement of brorphine and metonitazene under Schedule I of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs as amended (1961), and eutylone under Schedule II of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances (1971). The Commission will also take action, following assessment by the INCB, on the placement of three fentanyl precursors in Table I of the Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988).

The 65^th Session is expected to bring together participants from Member States, UN entities, inter-governmental organizations, civil society, and the scientific community, in Vienna and online.

More than 130 side events will take place online during the 65th session of the CND on topics ranging from access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, strengthening international cooperation on drug control, preventive education, evidence-based drug policy and intervention, incorporating gender and youth perspectives in drug policy, adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic in countering various aspects of the world drug problem, and more.

Media can follow session online from 14-18 March 2022

Journalists are invited to follow the opening segment online on 14 March 2022 at 10 a.m. (Vienna time).

To follow the opening as well as the plenary proceedings, go to: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/commissions/CND/session/65_Session_2022/webcasting.html  

Journalists are also invited to follow the online side events. The list of side events and their links will be posted on the website of the 65^th CND closer to session.

Member States will make transcriptions and statements available to journalists at their own discretion.

Join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtag #CND65 (applicable to entire session) and #NoPatientLeftBehind (applicable to High-Level Event), and follow @UNODC, @GhadaFathiWaly, @CND_tweets and @UN_Vienna for updates.

Further information can be found here.

Draft Agenda of the 65^th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs is available here.

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For further information please contact:

Sonya Yee 
Speechwriter and Spokesperson, UNODC 
Phone: (+43 1) 26060-4990 
Mobile: (+43-699) 1459-4990 
Email: sonya.yee[at]un.org

or

Brian Hansford 
Advocacy Section Chief, UNODC 
Telephone: (+43 1) 26060-83225 
Email: brian.hansford[at]un.org

or

Anne Thomas 
Public Information Officer, UNIS Vienna 
Mobile: (+43-699) 1459-5588 
Email: anne.thomas[at]un.org