Implementing the UN common position on drug policy: The role of the OHCHR

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Implementing the UN common position on drug policy: The role of the OHCHR

3 June 2019

By IDPC, CELS, HRI and MUCD

In November 2018, the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) – the main instrument for supporting and reinforcing the coordinating role of UN intergovernmental bodies on social, economic and related matters – adopted the ‘United Nations system common position supporting the implementation of the international drug control policy through effective inter-agency collaboration’. The OHCHR contributed to drafting the document, and featured it in its 2018 Human Rights Report.

To ensure the implementation of the UN common position, the CEB established the ‘UN system coordination task team on the implementation of the UN system common position on drug-related matters’, led by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), within the framework of the UN Secretary General’s Executive Committee. The task team is responsible for translating the common position into practice by guiding approaches across the UN system and stepping up efforts to ensure that no one is left behind; identifying joint inter-agency activities; and speaking with one voice and raising awareness of the multifaceted nature of drug policy.

Both the common position and the task team are critical opportunities to promote more coherence within the UN system both at international and national levels – ensuring that drug policies promoted by the UN are ‘truly balanced, comprehensive, integrated, evidence-based, human rights-based, development-oriented… within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.