Yesterday, on June 26 - International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, World Drug Report (2013) was launched at the high level for the first time within the framework of the CND, at UNODC Headquarters in Vienna.

Many prominent political figures within the drug policy field attended the event, among them were Austrian State Secretary, Reinhold Lopatka; Director of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, Victor P. Ivanov; Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, White House, Gil Kerlikowski; INCB President Raymond Yans and many others.

Also in attendance was UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson (picture to the right), who said that there was neither peace nor development without the respect for human rights and the UN Conventions formed the basis for international law and human rights (i.a.).

Mr. Kerlikowski and Herr Lopatka remarked on the growing input of civil society organisations to the work of states` structures. ECAD was present at the event, being a Board member of the Vienna NGO Committee on drugs. Committee Chair, Michel Perron (CEO of the CCSA, Canada Centre on Substance Abuse) made a statement (picture to the left) on behalf of all NGO-members (Download and read as PDF)

Executive Director of the UNODC, Mr. Fedotov noted that the international drug control conventions were helping to contain and stabilize the level of drug consumption, but said there were concerns about the violence generated by illicit drug trafficking, particularly, in Central America; as well as the fact that some national laws and practices could be vulnerable to human rights violations.

"The real issue, however, is not to amend the conventions, but to implement them according to their original spirit and intention. A first step towards achieving this goal is to recognize that the conventions were created to protect the health and welfare of mankind," said Mr. Fedotov.