2019 Ministerial Segment
(March 2019, in the margins of the 62nd CND)
2019 marks the end of the ten-year target period set forth in the Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem. As such, it is an opportunity for governments to discuss and agree to what comes next, beyond 2019.
In June 2018, government representatives agreed on a CND Work Plan for the remainder of the year – with three “intersessional” meetings planned to review progress since 2009, and discuss the way ahead.
The March 2019 meeting has been provisionally booked in Vienna for the 14th and 15th March 2019. At this stage, it seems clear that governments do not want to negotiate a new Political Declaration, so soon after agreeing the UNGASS Outcome Document in April 2016. Instead, they are working to find a way forward that satisfies all parties, possibly combining elements from both the 2009 and 2016 documents. We anticipate that this will take the form of a shorter ‘procedural resolution’ agreed in 2019 that simply maps out the timeline and milestones for this next phase of the international drug control system.
Civil Society Task Force (CSTF)
The Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs (VNGOC) and New York NGO Committee on Drugs (NYNGOC) have relaunched the Civil Society Task Force (CSTF) in March 2018 in order to maximize the engagement of civil society in all proceedings leading up to, and at, the Ministerial Segment of the 62nd Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March 2019.
Building on the successful experiences of Beyond 2008 and the UNGASS 2016, a similar structure has been approved for the Ministerial Segment of 2019 to serve as the official liaison between the United Nations and civil society in the preparatory process of and at UNGASS 2016.
The CSTF’s overall goal is to secure a comprehensive and meaningful participation of civil society actors in the Ministerial Segment preparations.
The CSTF is composed of 35 members representing geographical regions and affected populations.
Updates about the activities of the Task Force will also be made available on the CSTF website.
