New York NGO Committee on Drugs elects new executive officers

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New York NGO Committee on Drugs elects new executive officers

26 June 2014

New York, New York – June 26, 2014 – The New York NGO Committee on Drugs (“NYNGOC”), a committee operating under the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (“CoNGO”), announces the election of the following new members of the Executive Committee at its Annual General Meeting held June 20, 2014:

Executive Officers:

  • Heather Haase, Chairperson, New York City Bar Association Committee on Drugs & the Law
  • Diederik Lohman, Vice-Chairperson, Human Rights Watch
  • Allan Clear, Treasurer, Harm Reduction Coalition
  • Aram Barra, Secretary, Transform/Mexico United against Crime

Executive Committee Members-at-Large:

  • Gregg Gonsalves, Yale School of Public Health Global Health Justice Partnership
  • Karyn Kaplan, Treatment Action Group
  • Michael Krawitz, Veterans for Medical Cannabis Access
  • Graciela Touze, Intercambios (Argentina)

Formed in 1984 at UN Headquarters, the NYNGOC has a long history of fostering NGO participation in high-level United Nations meetings around drugs. In addition to two international NGO forums organized in 1987 and 1994, the NYNGOC, along with Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC), coordinated an “NGO Village” during the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs held in 1998. The NYNGOC also participated in the NGO forum known as “Beyond 2008” which preceded the High-Level Meeting on Drugs held in Vienna in 2009.

The NYNGOC is already diligently preparing for the UNGASS on Drugs to be held in 2016. “We’re very fortunate to have the NYNGOC platform to exchange ideas with other NGOs about the upcoming UNGASS,” said Heather Haase, newly elected Chairperson of the NYNGOC, “and we plan to work hard to achieve effective and meaningful NGO participation in the UNGASS process.” Diederik Lohman, the Committee’s Vice-Chairperson, added, “We’re also looking forward to collaborating with other NGO organizations, especially VNGOC and the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, to ensure a strong NGO voice at UNGASS 2016.”

NYNGOC’s membership is global, but is focused on the Americas: Canada, the United States and Latin America. Current members include Human Rights Watch, Harm Reduction Coalition, AIDS Service Center, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Boom!Health, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Intercambios, and Mexicans United Against Crime, among many others touched directly or indirectly by the drugs issue.

For more information on the New York NGO Committee on Drugs, please contact NewYorkNGOC@gmail.com.

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