EU Explanation of Position/Vote – UN General Assembly 3rd Committee: After adoption of the resolution on Addressing and countering the world drug problem
Thank you, Chair!
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.
The Candidate Countries Montenegro*, Serbia*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Georgia, align themselves with this statement.
We thank Mexico for their excellent work as facilitator of this resolution, and their continued dedication to improving the text.
For the European Union, addressing the world drug situation in a comprehensive and integrated manner is a major priority. We attach great importance to striking a balance between the law enforcement and criminal justice dimensions, and the public health, development and social aspects of the issue, with international cooperation being a key element across all of these. We believe that effective responses need to take into account the full impact of drug use and drug policies on societies and on individuals, and therefore have to follow a human-rights-based approach.
Despite the diverging priorities of delegations on how to best address the world drug situation, negotiations on this resolution this year took place in a remarkably constructive and efficient atmosphere. Starting from a zero draft that clearly aimed to bring back on board those who had voted against the previous resolution on the topic in 2022, the facilitators encouraged compromise and flexibility throughout the process. The EU did its part in this regard, letting go of a number of key priorities in a spirit of constructiveness.
In particular, despite our conviction that it is of crucial importance to reducing the negative impact of drug use, we did not insist on the inclusion of a clear reference to the concept of “harm reduction”, as we are aware that a number of delegations are still considering the concept’s relevance and merit.
We are pleased to see that these collective efforts paid off. We welcome the adoption of this resolution by consensus, which lays a solid foundation for future work on drug-related issues and sends a strong signal on the importance we all attach to the topic.
Thank you.