New on the VNGOC web site
Update, 26 April, 2013
The full presentations from the informal Civil Society Hearing can now be downloaded.
Contribution of NGOs to implementing the Political Declaration and Plan of Action
Update, 19 March, 2013
You can now read and download the draft resolutions submitted for consideration and adoption by the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the final wording of the resolutions adopted by CND. Go to CND 2013 / Draft Resolutions on the side menu.
A number of important resolutions were passed. Of particular interest was CND/56/RES/13/REV.1, which sets out arrangements for the High Level Segment at the next CND and asks for CND to be the preparatory body for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs which is to be held in 2016.
Also important was CND/56/RES/4/REV.1, aimed at intensifying efforts to achieve the reduction in new HIV infections among drug users in line with the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. This resolution recognises the importance of engaging with NGOs and affected populations and is a very strong resolution - as long as the resources to implement it are made available.
Resolutions on prescription drugs, monitoring and evaluation and alternative development were also passed. To see the full range follow the link above.
Update, 15 March, 2013
The Report from the informal Civil Society Hearing during the fifty-sixth session of CND has been issued as a document of the Commission and can be downloaded here.
The VNGOC statement to the Plenary of CND can be downloaded here.
Update, 7 March, 2013
The Agenda for the 2nd informal Civil Society Hearing is now available
The Calendar of Side Events has been updated
Update, 25 February, 2013
New material for CND 2013 added, including
- the Agenda and timetable for the Commission;
- draft resolutions in their English version;
- links to all language versions of documents for consideration by the Commission and;
- the draft calendar of side events at CND 2013.
Update 9 February, 2013
The new and fully revised VNGOC Guide to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs for NGOs is now ready and can be downloaded here.
Update 15 November, 2012
The draft Agenda for the meeting of the Committee on 5 December, 2012 is available here.
The list of members of the VNGOC has been updated to include all new members and links to web sites for most VNGOC members.
The 56th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs will be from 11 - 15 March, 2013. The VNGOC is working with the CND Bureau, Secretariat and the Civil Society Team of UNODC to facilitate further improvements in the way NGOs can participate and contribute.
Update 17 July, 2012
The VNGOC statement to the UN General Assembly Thematic Debate "Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development" can be uploaded here. In addition to the VNGOC, three of its member organisations, CADCA, Lions Club International and IDPC, also made statements, as did our sister committe, the NGO Alliance on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The web cast of the morning proceedings can be found here and the proceedings of the afternoon session can be found here. The statement of the UN Secretary General is at 9.40 minutes into this broadcast. The statement of the Executive Director of UNODC is at 15.05 minutes into this broadcast. The NGO statements begin at 2.44.45 into this broadcast. In addition to these statements there are interesting contributions from a number of Member States. These include the contributions on behalf of the European Union, the statement on behalf of the USA and reflections on developments from the Summit of the Americas. There is also a statement from a young person from Uganda on behalf of the UNODC Youth Initiative, which can be listened to at 2.36.00 into this broadcast.
The Draft Minutes of the meeting of the VNGOC held at the VIC on 4th June can be uploaded here.
Update 8 June, 2012
The VNGOC meeting on 4 June, 2012 reviewed and adopted the new Rules of Procedure of the VNGOC. These new rules complement the Statutes of the VNGOC which were registered in Austria in December 2011. The VNGOC Statutes can downloaded or viewed from this page. The VNGOC Rules of Procedure can downloaded or viewed from this page.
Preparations are underway for the UN General Assembly Thematic Debate on "Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development". The only official document available is the Concept Paper and covering letter from the President of the General Assembly. The UNODC "World Drug Report" will be launched at the session. The VNGOC has polled its members for their ideas for a statement and we hope to make that statement to the morning session of the debate. Any NGO wishing to be present at the GA debate should send the name(s) of their representative and full contact details to ngo.unit@unodc.org as soon as possible and by no later than 15 June 2012
On 25 June the VNGOC will hold an informal meet and greet / briefing session for its members and for other NGOs who wish to participate. This will start at 15.30 in the Church Center across the road from the UN buildings. If you plan to attend please let Michel Perron know as soon as possible.
The VNGOC has published its report from the informal Civil Society Hearing held during the 55th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. If you would like an electronic version of the report to be sent to you, please send an e-mail to David Turner
UNODC has launched a Guidance Note "UNODC and the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights". This is a valuable tool and organisations may wish to download it so that they can use it as they develop their own work and promote the provision of appropriate services and policies in response to drug problems.
Update 22 March, 2012
The VNGOC statement to the Plenary Session of CND considering Agenda Item 6 (a) "Demand reduction and related measures" can be downloaded here.
The draft report of the 55th session of the CND can be downloaded from here. A number of amendments were requested at the final session of the CND and Member States may send in additional minor editorial changes before the final report is finalised and published
The draft resolutions as originally presented to the Committee of the Whole at the 55th session of CND, and the revised resolutions as agreed after negotiation between Member States can be downloaded here. The final plenary of the CND made some further changes to a few of these resolutions and the exact final wording will not be known until the report of the 55th session is published.
Update 16 March, 2012
The statement of the Chair of the VNGOC at the side event to mark the centennial of the Hague Opium Convention can be downloaded here.
CND 2012 is coming to an end. The VNGOC will be contacting all NGO participants to get their feedback on the services and events organised by the VNGOC in collaboration with the Civil Society Team of UNODC. We hope as many of you as possible will respond.
The next regular meeting of the VNGOC will be held on the morning of Monday, 4 June, 2012. Please book the date in your diary as we will be considering and adopting the new VNGOC Statutes based on the discussions held on 15 March and legal advice from an expert in NGO law in Austria.
Update 12 March, 2012
The VNGOC has issued a press release on the informal Civil Society Hearing. You can download it here.
Update for 9 March, 2012
The documents and side events sections of CND 2012 on the left side bar have been updated.
The latest version of the programme for the VNGOC informal Civil Society Hearing can be downloaded here.
All the English version of the official documents for CND can be downloaded, as well as the first 6 draft resolutions and the titles of a further 3 draft resolutions which are not yet available in electronic form. Several of the draft resolutions will be of particular interest to NGOs, especially those dealing with alternatives to imprisonment, reintegration of drug dependent prisoners and measures to prevent overdose deaths. The side events section includes additional events and the programmes for some events are now available to dowlnoad.
Update for 9 February, 2012
Dates for your diary: On 13 March the VNGOC will hold the first ever informal Civil Society Hearing during the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. It will be co-chaired by Michel Perron and the Chairperson of the CND and will have a range of speakers from NGOs, Member States and UN entities. We hope many of you will be able to join us. On the afternoon of 15 March we will hold the next regular meeting of the Committee. The Agenda will be posted as soon as it becomes available.
The revised version of the VNGOC Guide to CND is now available and can be downloaded by going to the CND 2012/Introduction tab on the side bar menu. CND documents can also be downloaded from this section of the web site.
At the VNGOC meeting in December we were briefed on the new Side Event Guidelines developed by the Secretariat to the Governing Bodies and approved by UNODC senior management. The Guidelines as drafted would have limited the number of side events which could be held during the annual meeting of CND. They made it unlikely that NGOs would be able to hold more than a few events in the rooms available from UNODC. Instead of the 25 events held during the 2011 session of CND we estimated that only 10 would be held with only 2 NGO led side events. Members expressed their opposition to the Guidelines as proposed and it was agreed that a joint letter from the Chair of the VNGOC and the Chair of the NGO Alliance on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice should be sent to the Executive Director of UNODC. UNODC has subsequently responded very positively to the concerns expressed and has sought to modify its guidelines to ensure that a wider range of side events can be held. We are pleased with this development, which shows the benefit of the good relations developed between the VNGOC and UNODC.
The draft Minutes of the VNGOC Meeting held in December are now available. They can be found by going to the About VNGOC/VNGOC in Action tab on the side menu bar.
Update for 15 November, 2011
The next meeting of the VNGOC will be held on Wednesday, 14 December 2011 at 2 pm. The draft agenda can be downloaded here.
The Chairperson of the VNGOC was a keynote speaker at the CIJ International Drugs Conference in Mexico. His Powerpoint presentation will be uploaded here as soon as possible. The Executive Officer of the VNGOC was a keynote speaker at the 30th IFNGO World Conference. His presentation can be downloaded here and the Recommendations from the conference can be downloaded here.
Additions have been made to the News from Members and Calendar of Events pages.
Unveiling ceremony for the "Tree of Hope"
- You can download the invitation to the unveiling of the “Tree of Hope”, a joint effort to mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse. The Tree of Hope was an idea of Elternkreis, a local Vienna based NGO and was developed in cooperation with the staff and students of the Technical School for Construction (BS BAU). The VNGOC was happy to collaborate with the Elternkreis and Eveline Hejlek, 2nd Vice-Chairperson of the Committee took a leading role in the development and preparatory work.
- The wording on the base reads "Dedicated to all those affected by drug problems worldwide: drug problems are preventable and treatable".
- The unveiling was attended by the Federal Minister for Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Macau SAR, China, the Deputy Director of UNODC and senior diplomats as well as by staff and students from the Technical School and international schools based in Vienna.
The Federal Minister read a message from the President of Austria as well as speaking on behalf of the Government of Austria. There were also contributions from the Chair of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Deputy Director of UNODC, the Chair of the VNGOC, the Chairman of Elternkreis Association for the Promotion of self-help for family members of addicts, ZONTA International, the School Inspector for Vienna and the District Manager for Donaustadt, Vienna. The unveiling itself was done by 4 young people representing Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and music was provided by the Wind Quartet of the Music School of Donaustadt and the Rap Group of the BS BAU. As the Tree of Hope was unveiled students of the French Lyceum in Vienna lay roses at its base with their personal messages inspired by the Tree. The ceremony received a high media profile in Austria and was featured on the UNODC website. - You can show your support and give focus to your contribution to the World Drug Campaign for vibrant, supportive, inclusive and healthy communities, by planting a tree yourself dedicated to all those affected by drug problems world wide and recognising that drug problems are preventable and treatable.
The Agenda and Draft Minutes of the VNGOC meeting on 27th June, 2011 in the Vienna International Centre is now available here.
An update on the activities of the VNGOC and the newly adopted Operational Plan of the VNGOC are also now available for downloading.
The Minutes of the meeting of the VNGOC held on 3rd December, 2010 can now be downloaded here
Under the CND 2011 tab you can now open or download:
- documents prepared by the VNGOC to assist NGOs attending CND
- all the available documents for the CND
- all the available draft resolutions, including a very important one on the involvement of NGOs and civil society
- the calendar of side events and programmes for some side events being held during the session of the CND. Please note the Informal NGO Dialogues with the Chairperson of CND, the President of INCB and the Executive Director of UNODC
You can download the message of the Executive Director of UNODC and the press release from the United Nations Independent Reference Group on HIV and injecting drug use, both released on World AIDS Day 2010 (1st December), by clicking on the appropriate lnk.
The VNGOC has published a book - Making a Difference - which records the work of Beyond 2008 and the contribution made to the UNGASS review by NGOs from all over the world. You can download the complete publication here.
A new section 'Calendar of Events' is being created with sections for Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America, South America and International. If you know of conferences being organised, open to participation from people in the region, please complete this form and return it to info@vngoc.org.
