Informal NGO consultation meeting on the forthcoming UNGASS on drugs

Background:

From 19 to 21 April 2016 the UN General Assembly will hold a Special Session on drugs (UNGASS). To support civil society input and participation, the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs and the New York Committee on Drugs joined forces and established a civil society task force (consisting of 26 members). IDPC and PRI are both members of the civil society task force and would like to take the opportunity of NGOs gathering in Geneva on the occasion of the Human Rights Council plenary discussion on human rights and drug policies to enable NGO consultation ahead of the UNGASS.

Agenda:

• Briefing on UNGASS, Civil Society Task Force and NGO participation
• Thematic topics: death penalty, discriminatory law enforcement, sentencing, health‐care in prison
• Collecting good practices in drug policies and gaps in knowledge
• Expectations of UNGASS 2016 and beyond

After a short briefing on the UNGASS, we would like to gather the views of NGOs relating to the area of "drugs and criminal justice/ alternatives to incarceration" (see above). In particular, the meeting will seek to collect good practice examples and areas where there are gaps so that these can be fed into the ongoing discussions between stakeholders involved in UNGASS preparations. We seek to conclude by gathering NGO's expectations of UNGASS 2016 and beyond.

Next steps:

The input collected during this meeting will be fed into the consultations organised by the members of the civil society task force (adding to an electronic Global Civil Society Survey Summary Report), and will inform the final report of the Civil Society Task Force as the main civil society input into the UNGASS. To rsvp please email Daniel Cullen dcullen@quno.ch by Monday 28 September 2015.

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