The IDPC ‘UNGASS Asks’: Progress made and remaining challenges

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs – held in New York from 19th to 21st April 2016 – was a major milestone in the slow evolution of the international drug control system. As part of its preparations for the UNGASS, IDPC worked in close consultation with its member organisations and partners in 2014 and 2015 to develop five core ‘asks’ in order to support and frame our collective advocacy efforts.

Now that nearly two years have passed since the UNGASS itself, this document aims to re-visit these ‘asks’ in order to outline where gains were made in 2016, and where progress remains a challenge. In doing so, this document represents the last in a suite of IDPC reports and briefings that have attempted to unpack and analyse the outcomes from the UNGASS. By assessing the ‘asks’ one-by-one, this report will also explore their potential relevance as we approach the next big United Nations ‘moment’ on drug control – the Ministerial Segment of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March 2019.