On 4 April, several countries from the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA) region were elected as new members of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) 2026-2029.
The new members included Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Slovenia, Lithuania and Ukraine. It should be noted that Ukraine also joined the Programme Coordinating Board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Russia and Belarus also applied for participation in the commission, but failed to get enough votes.
“There has been an important victory in our long war for human dignity, human rights and democracy. Experts say this is the first time since 1946, since the creation of the CND, when the USSR/Ukraine lost its voice on drug issues at the global level,” emphasised Hanna Dovbakh, Executive Director at the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association and Chair of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD). – Now Ukraine has such a global voice, and it can and must become a leader of the democratic world in these areas. Thank you to everyone at the state level and in civil society organisations in Ukraine and around the world for making this victory possible! There is a lot of work ahead, but now there are levers in decision-making!”
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the central policy-making body in the UN system on drug-related issues. Established in 1946, the CND consists of 53 Member States elected by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for a four-year term.