MEDIA ADVISORY
Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem
19-21 April 2016
WHAT: The United Nations General Assembly will hold a Special Session on the World Drug Problem from 19 to 21 April 2016. The session will review progress and discuss challenges in countering the world drug problem and in implementing the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem, which defined actions to be taken by Member States as well as goals to be achieved by 2019. The event will consist of a plenary and multi-stakeholder roundtables.
WHO: The plenary meeting will feature statements by the President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, the Deputy Secretary-General , H.E. Mr. Jan Eliasson, the Chair of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, H.E. Ambassador Vladimir Galuska of the Czech Republic, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, H.E. Mr. Yury Fedotov, the President of the International Narcotics Control Board, H.E. Mr. Werner Sipp, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization, H.E. Dr. Margaret Chan.
WHERE: United Nations Headquarters, New York: General Assembly Hall, Trusteeship Council Chamber and Conference Room 4.
Plenary meetings: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on 19, 20 and 21 April 2016.
Round tables: Five interactive multi-stakeholder round tables will be held in Conference Room 4 on 19 April, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.; on 20 April, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on 21 April, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The roundtables will provide an opportunity for in-depth discussions on the themes identified in Resolution 70/181. Each roundtable will be presided over by two Co-chairs and will consist of a panel composed of five panellists, nominated by the regional groups and one panellist nominated by the civil society task force for the Special Session, as well as up to two speakers from the UN system. The round tables will include high level speakers, including Heads of States and Governments and Ministers.
The provisional programme of the Special Session is available at: http://www.unodc.org/ungass2016/en/index/main-content1.html
Side Events: A list of all side events can be found at: http://www.unodc.org/ungass2016/en/side_events1.html
MEDIA ACCESS: The meeting is open to UN-accredited correspondents and both the plenary meetings and the inter-active multi-stakeholder round tables will be webcast live at: http://webtv.un.org/live/
DIGITAL MEDIA ZONE: A social media news room will be open in the Ex-Press Bar on the 3rd floor of the GA Conference Building for digital media specialists and journalists http://dmz.news/.
Follow us on Twitter at @UNGASS2016, @UNODC, @UN_PGA and @YuryFedotov and use the hashtag #UNGASS2016
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For further information, please contact:
Sunil Narula, Chief Peace and Security Section DPI, narulas@un.org cell: (+ 1) 917 319 0683
Daniel Thomas, Communications Director and Spokesperson for the PGA Daniel.Thomas@un.org cell: (+1) 917 225 1913
David Dadge, Spokesperson for UNODC, david.dadge@unvienna.org cell : (+43) 699 1459-5629