Nepal elected member of UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Kathmandu / May 8: Nepal has been elected member of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), one of the functional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Nepal was elected from the Asia-Pacific region for the term 2020-2023 in an election held at the United Nations Headquarters earlier today, according to a press statement issued by Nepal’s Permanent Mission to United Nations based in New York.

This is for the first time Nepal is elected the member of the CND, which is the central drug policy-making body within the United Nations system.

Together with Nepal, 33 countries from different regions have been elected. Nepal got 44 out of 54 valid votes of the 54 members of the ECOSOC. Bahrain, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Thailand and Turkmenistan were also elected to the Commission representing the Asia-Pacific region.

The Commission was established to assist the ECOSOC in supervising the application of the international drug control treaties. The mandate of the Commission was expanded to enable it to function as the governing body of the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC). The UNODC is based in Vienna, Austria.

Nepal has been attaching high importance to combating drug trafficking and related crimes after it signed the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961 in 2003 and ratified it in 2011. The Convention has currently 186 states parties.

“This is yet another opportunity for Nepal to work closely with the international community in the fight against illicit narcotic drugs,” the mission said in the press statement adding that Nepal is committed to contributing more to the work of multilateral bodies through its active involvements.

In recent years, Nepal has been elected in various UN positions. Nepal was elected member of the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) for the term 2019-2021 in 2018.

Also in 2018, Nepal was elected member of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) for the term 2019-2022 as well as chair of the Committee on Conferences or the year 2018.

Nepal was also elected member to the Human Rights Council (HRC) for the term 2018-2020 in 2017. Similarly, Bandana Rana of Nepal is the current Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), who was elected as Member in 2016.

Nepal is also going to contest reelections to the Human Rights Council for the term 2021-2023 and CEDAW for the term 2021 to 2024. The elections for both bodies will be held in 2020. Nepal will also contest an election in 2023 for a member of ECOSOC for the term 2024-2026.