United Nations International Drug Control Programme
http://www.undcp.org/cnd.html (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is the central policy-making body within the United Nations system for dealing with all drug-related matters. It analyzes the world drug abuse situation and develops proposals to strengthen international drug control. The Commission's mandate was enlarged in 1991 to include approval of the budget of the programme of the Fund of UNDCP and the administrative and programme support cost budget of the Fund.
The Secretariat of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs is responsible for ensuring secretariat services to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and its subsidiary bodies, for finalizing the preparation of documentation on drug-related matters for the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly; and for ensuring, on behalf of the Executive Director, the discharge of certain specific functions entrusted to the Secretary-General under the international drug control treaties.
The Section, in executing its overall responsibilities, performs the following principal functions:
In the Charter of the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council was entrusted with international economic, social, cultural, educational, health, and related matters. To effectively perform those functions, the Council, under Article 68 of the Charter, has set up various functional commissions since 1946.* One of them is the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
The Commission on Narcotic Drugs was established in 1946 by the Council in its resolution 9 (I). The Commission is the central policy-making body within the United Nations system for dealing with all drug-related matters, a body which analyses the world drug abuse situation and develops proposals to strengthen international drug control. The Commission's mandate was enlarged in 1991 by the Council in its resolution 1991/38 and by the General Assembly in its resolution 46/185 C, section XVI. The nine general terms of reference, or mandates, of the Commission are explained below.
The United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) provides substantive secretariat services to the Commission. To manage organizational and administrative matters for sessions of the Commission and its subsidiary organs, as well as to ensure a permanent monitoring system for necessary follow-up action, UNDCP has established a special section in its Division for Treaty Implementation and Support Services: the Secretariat of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
Membership in the Commission grew from 15 States in 1946 to 21 in 1961, 24 in 1966, 30 in 1972, 40 in 1983 and 53 in 1991. That growth reflected the need to broaden the Commission's representational base to keep pace with the worldwide expansion of the drug abuse phenomenon. A list of the current membership is available from the Secretariat of the Commission.
* The functional commissions of the Council include the following: the Statistical Commission, the Population Commission, the Commission for Social Development, the Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development and the Commission on Sustainable Development.
MANDATE I To assist the Council in supervising the application of international conventions and agreements dealing with drugs.
EXAMPLE The Commission assists the Council by reviewing and analysing the global drug control situation, using a balanced approach to deal with the interlinked problems of illicit drug demand, supply and trafficking; by monitoring the application of international conventions dealing with narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors; and by making recommendations to strengthen international drug control activities when necessary, to provide orientation for scientific research and to organize exchange of information. To those ends, the Commission guides activities of UNDCP and reports annually to the Council on action taken or to be taken.
MANDATE II To carry out transitional measures in the international control of narcotic drugs as the successor to the League of Nations Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and other Dangerous Drugs.
EXAMPLE In 1946, the United Nations assumed the drug control functions formerly carried out by the League of Nations and turned to the Commission to review and regulate the situation that had developed during the last years of the League and the chaos of the Second World War. That mandate, which was particularly important during the first years of the United Nations, culminated with the entry into force of the 1948 Protocol, which brought under international control a series of new synthetic substances developed during the 1930s and 1940s. By 1950 work was well under way on a new convention, the 1953 Protocol, which sought to eliminate overproduction of licit opium (i.e. for medical and scientific needs) through control of the amount that could be stocked by individual States.
MANDATE III To advise the Council on all matters pertaining to the control of drugs and to prepare draft international conventions.
EXAMPLE In addition to the examples mentioned above, the Commission, closely supported by the substantive expertise of its secretariat, drafted all four recent international drug control treaties, i.e. the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, the 1972 Protocol amending the Single Convention and the Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.
MANDATE IV To consider any changes that may be required in the existing machinery for the international control of drugs.
EXAMPLE The Commission takes decisions on which substances should be placed under international control, on the recommendation of either the World Health Organization or the International Narcotics Control Board, thus amending the 1961, 1971 or 1988 Conventions. The 1972 Protocol, referred to above, was itself a major amendment of the 1961 Convention. The Commission also regularly reviews its own functioning and that of its subsidiary bodies. As explained above, membership in the Commission has increased through the years to ensure a broader representation of States and regional perspectives as the drug abuse problem has expanded into all parts of the world.
MANDATE V To assume other functions relating to international drug control according to decisions of the Council.
EXAMPLE Since the mid-1960s, the Commission has been regularly called on to examine ways to improve the functioning of the 1961 Convention and later the 1971 Convention. Especially with regard to psychotropic substances, treaty controls were reinforced considerably by decisions of the Commission, often originally at the urging of the International Narcotics Control Board. The Commission served as the preparatory body for the International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (ICDAIT), held in 1987, and convened numerous government expert meetings in preparation of the 1988 Convention. Since then, the Commission or, through it, UNDCP has been requested to take a number of measures to facilitate the implementation of that Convention, in particular as concerns mutual legal assistance, money-laundering, control of precursors, and illicit traffic by sea.
MANDATE VI To review the implementation of the Global Programme of Action adopted by the General Assembly at its seventeenth special session.
EXAMPLE The Global Programme of Action was adopted by the General Assembly at its seventeenth special session in February 1990. It is a workplan calling for action by Governments in numerous sectors with a view to attacking the drug abuse problem at the national, regional and international levels. Monitoring of the implementation of the Global Programme of Action was assigned to the Commission in 1991; in accordance with paragraph 97 of the Global Programme of Action, UNDCP prepares on behalf of the Secretary-General an annual report to the General Assembly on that implementation.
MANDATE VII To review the development and implementation of the United Nations System-Wide Action Plan on Drug Abuse Control.
EXAMPLE The System-Wide Action Plan is intended to be an action-oriented presentation of the mandates and activities of the organizations and agencies of the United Nations system in the field of drug abuse control, as well as a tool for coordinating those activities. The System-Wide Action Plan was established by the General Assembly at the end of 1989 just before it agreed on the Global Programme of Action. The Commission was entrusted with its annual monitoring functions in 1991 and now reviews and comments annually on action taken or scheduled. In addition, the General Assembly has decided that the agency-specific implementing plans annexed to the System-Wide Action Plan should be reviewed as to their adequacy and content every two years, a review that begins in the Commission.
MANDATE VIII To give policy guidance to and monitor the activities of UNDCP.
EXAMPLE In 1991, when the international drug control machinery was strengthened by the establishment of UNDCP, it was decided that the Commission should act as the equivalent of a governing body for UNDCP. Comments made and directives given at the sessions of the Commission, often in the form of resolutions, have an impact on UNDCP policy and activities.
MANDATE IX To approve, on the basis of proposals of the Executive Director of UNDCP, both the budget of the programme of the Fund of UNDCP and the administrative and programme support costs budget of the Programme, except for expenditures covered by the regular budget of the United Nations.
EXAMPLE This new function has been effectively carried out since 1992. In addition to approving the budget, the Commission gives guidelines to UNDCP on the approach and methodology to be used. A reconvened session of the Commission has been authorized in December of odd years so as to enable the Commission to fulfil this function.
In response to the need for closer cooperation and coordination in drug law enforcement matters at the regional level, the Commission has, over the years, established five subsidiary bodies. The Subcommission on Illicit Drug Traffic and Related Matters in the Near and Middle East and the Meeting of Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies (HONLEA), Asia and the Pacific, were the first subsidiary bodies to be established: both were convened for the first time in 1974.
The need for similar coordination mechanisms in other regions gradually led to a global network of HONLEA meetings: the Meeting of HONLEA, Africa, was established in 1985; the Meeting of HONLEA, Latin America and the Caribbean, in 1987; and the Meeting of HONLEA, Europe, in 1990. Membership in the regional meetings of HONLEA is based in principle on membership in the regional commissions of the Council; membership in the Subcommission is approved by decision of the Council following a recommendation by the Commission. The meetings of the subsidiary bodies are also attended by observers from States outside the regions and intergovernmental organizations with a mandate in drug law enforcement or related areas.
The working method of the subsidiary bodies that has evolved over the years focuses on the identification of priority issues facing drug law enforcement agencies in the region in question and the establishment of ad hoc working groups to discuss those matters. Having examined the current situation and the most recent trends in illicit drug trafficking in the region, the subsidiary body establishes a number of working groups, usually three to five. Working group discussions are conducted in a direct, informal manner and result in the formulation of practical recommendations for action at the governmental level. To ensure effective monitoring and follow-up, the subsidiary bodies review the degree of implementation of recommendations adopted at previous meetings, with participants reporting on action taken.
The discussions on the most recent trends in illicit traffic in the different regions and the recommendations adopted at the meetings of the subsidiary bodies are then brought to the attention of the Commission.