General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

21 December 1990

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                   A/RES/45/179
                                                   71st plenary meeting
                                                   21 December 1990
 
 
            45/179.  Enhancement of the United Nations structure for drug
                     abuse control
 
      The General Assembly,
 
      Alarmed by the dramatic increase in drug abuse and illicit production and
 trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, which is
 threatening the health and well-being of millions of people in the majority of
 countries in the world,
 
      Commending the determined efforts of Governments in the fight against
 drug abuse and illicit trafficking and recognizing the importance of support
 for such efforts by the United Nations system,
 
      Noting with appreciation the significant work carried out within the
 United Nations system in the field of drug abuse control and the valuable
 knowledge, expertise and experience represented there,
 
      Recognizing that the new dimensions taken on by the drug menace
 necessitates a more comprehensive and integrated approach to international
 drug control and a more efficient structure to ensure co-ordination,
 complementarity and non-duplication of activities across the United Nations
 system in order to use available resources in the most efficient way to enable
 the United Nations to play a central and greatly enhanced role in this field,
 
      Recalling the Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Outline of Future
 Activities in Drug Abuse Control, as adopted by the International Conference
 on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on 26 June 1987, and the Global
 Programme of Action adopted by the General Assembly at its seventeenth special
 session on 23 February 1990,
 
      Having considered the report of the Secretary-General,
 
      Noting with appreciation the work carried out, pursuant to paragraph 4 of
 General Assembly resolution 44/141 of 15 December 1989, by the Group of
 Experts to advise and assist the Secretary-General on the enhancement of the
 efficiency of the United Nations structure for drug abuse control,
 
      Recalling the need to ensure, in respect of recruitment to posts that are
 financed from the regular budget, the highest standards of efficiency,
 competence and integrity, and paying due regard to the importance of
 recruiting staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible, in accordance
 with Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations,
 
      Emphasizing that the problem of drug abuse and illicit trafficking has to
 be dealt with within the broader economic and social contexts,
 
      Underlining the role of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, as the
 principal United Nations policy-making body on drug control issues and the
 independent role of the International Narcotics Control Board,
 
      Underlining also the importance of the Single Convention on Narcotic
 Drugs of 1961, and that Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol, the
 Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 and the United Nations
 Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
 Substances of 1988,
 
      1.   Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General
 and the report of the Group of Experts, entitled "Drugs and the United
 Nations:  meeting the challenge";
 
      2.   Welcomes the proposal of the Secretary-General to unify the United
 Nations structure for drug abuse control to enable the United Nations to
 strengthen its role as the main focus for concerted international action for
 drug abuse control;
 
      3.   Requests the Secretary-General to create a single drug control
 programme, to be called the United Nations International Drug Control
 Programme, based at Vienna, and to integrate fully therein the structures and
 the functions of the Division of Narcotic Drugs of the Secretariat, the
 secretariat of the International Narcotics Control Board and the United
 Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control with the objective of enhancing the
 effectiveness and efficiency of the United Nations structure for drug abuse
 control in keeping with the functions and mandates of the United Nations in
 this field;
 
      4.   Invites the Secretary-General to take the necessary steps in order
 to appoint a senior official at the level of Under-Secretary-General, who will
 execute the integration process and head the new integrated Programme starting
 from 1 January 1991 with the exclusive responsibility for co-ordinating and
 providing effective leadership for all United Nations drug control activities,
 in order to ensure coherence of actions within the Programme as well as
 co-ordination, complementarity and non-duplication of such activities across
 the United Nations system;
 
      5.   Also invites the Secretary-General to structure the United Nations
 International Drug Control Programme along the following lines:
 
      (a)  Treaty implementation, which would integrate, with due consideration
 to treaty arrangements, the functions of the secretariat of the International
 Narcotics Control Board and the treaty implementation functions of the
 Division of Narcotic Drugs, taking into account the independent role of the
 Board;
 
      (b)  Policy implementation and research, with responsibility for
 implementing policy decisions of the relevant legislative bodies and
 conducting analytical work;
 
      (c)  Operational activities, with responsibility for co-ordinating and
 carrying out the technical co-operation projects currently being executed
 mainly by the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control, the Division of
 Narcotic Drugs and the secretariat of the International Narcotics Control
 Board;
 
      6.   Endorses the proposal of the Secretary-General to place the
 financial resources of the existing United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control
 under the direct responsibility of the head of the United Nations
 International Drug Control Programme as a fund for financing operational
 activities, mainly in developing countries;
 
      7.   Requests the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, at its thirty-fourth
 regular session, to consider ways and means of improving its functioning as a
 policy-making body and to submit its recommendations to the Economic and
 Social Council at its first regular session of 1991;
 
      8.   Requests the Secretary-General to transmit his report and that of
 the Group of Experts to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs at its thirty-fourth
 regular session so that they can be taken into account when the Commission
 discusses ways and means of improving its functioning;
 
      9.   Requests the Economic and Social Council, as a matter of urgency at
 its first regular session of 1991, giving due consideration to the
 recommendations of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, to undertake a review of
 the functioning of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and decide on the
 appropriate changes needed to improve it;
 
      10.  Requests the Secretary-General to review the United Nations
 System-Wide Action Plan on Drug Abuse Control, as revised, including all
 mandates and recommendations established by the Global Programme of Action, in
 the light of structural changes decided on in the present resolution;
 
      11.  Underlines that the United Nations International Drug Control
 Programme should give priority to the implementation of the recommendations
 contained in the Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Outline of Future Activities
 in Drug Abuse Control, as well as the mandates and recommendations in the
 Global Programme of Action;
 
      12.  Requests that the appropriation within the regular budget of the
 United Nations currently allocated to the secretariat of the International
 Narcotics Control Board and the Division of Narcotic Drugs be reallocated to
 the United Nations International Drug Control Programme in accordance with the
 Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of
 the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation,
 and invites the Secretary-General to ensure that adequate financial and other
 resources are allocated to the Programme to enable it to discharge its
 functions effectively;
 
      13.  Decides that the operational programme and related support costs
 currently financed from voluntary contributions shall, upon the establishment
 of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, continue to be
 borne from voluntary contributions;
 
      14.  Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at
 its forty-sixth session a report on the measures taken to implement the
 present resolution.