Statement des Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Sucht- und Drogenfragen zur 68. Sitzung der Commission of Narcotic Drugs

Es gilt das gesprochene Wort.

Mr Chairman,

Madam Executive Director,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As one of the 27 Member States of the European Union, Germany declares its full agreement with the statements made on behalf of the European Union today.

We live in critical times.

• War or peace?
• Environmental destruction or sustainability?
• Poverty or a fair distribution of wealth?

The only way we can attain durable and viable solutions is by working together, cooperating fairly,
duly considering all needs.

Germany is a strong advocate for cooperation and rules-based multilateralism!

Cooperation and multilateralism are also required in drugs policy:

• Narcotics and addiction kill hundreds of thousands of people, destroy people’s health and cost our economies billions of dollars.
• Thousands also die as a consequence of drug-related crime.
• And every year new substances are brought onto the market, many of them highly risky.

Our drugs policy must be balanced and evidence-based.

And our responses must be the result of good cooperation.

• In this spirit, we have enhanced police cooperation with our partners in South America. We are doing more to secure our ports and dismantle international organised crime networks. And at the same time we are helping to develop and put in place alternatives to drug crop cultivation. Together with Peru and Thailand, we submitted another draft resolution on Alternative Development. It concerns adapting the twelve year old Guiding Principles on Alternative Development to the situation in 2025 and bringing them in line with the goals of environmental protection and gender equality. Here I am asking for your support.
• We are also looking for partnership-based collaboration regarding the question of how to deal best with people who consume drugs. Germany supported the development of the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy. In the context of a side event, we will see how these guidelines can help with the local implementation of evidence-based policies.
• And with the Brandenburg Forum on Drugs and Development Policies, we have created a platform to exchange ideas about modern drugs policy across regions.Open and without reservations. I look forward to meeting as many of you there as possible.

Ladies and gentlemen, how good our future will look depends on how well we work together. That is why Germany stands resolutely by the UNODC and will do everything in its power to ensure UNODC remains effective in the future! This is also the reason why Germany has re-applied for membership in the CND, for which I would kindly request your support during the ECOSOC election in April.

It is not solo efforts that move us forward in international drugs policy, but our shared, partnership-based collaboration, both fair and rules-based.

That is what Germany stands for!

Thank you for listening!