UNITED NATIONS: A two-member Pakistan parliamentary delegation has arrived in New York to participate in a hearing at United Nations Headquarters organized jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the UN on the world drug problem.
The delegation is composed of National Assembly members -- Nawab Yousuf Talpur (leader) and Ms. Asiya Nasir.
The IPU-UN Parliamentary Hearing will take place on February 8 and 9.
Officials said the joint IPU-UN hearing will contribute to a Special Session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem which will take place in April. The hearing will provide an opportunity for an evidence-based reflection on the ways the global community is addressing this complex problem in its many aspects - offering treatment and care to drug users, prosecuting drug offenders, fighting drug production and trafficking, regulating the medical use of opiates.
"The underlying question of the Hearing is whether the so-called 'war on drugs', which relies on a law-enforcement solution to the problem of illicit drugs, has worked as intended," one official said. A related question was whether new, people-centred Sustainable Development Goals that governments adopted in September 2015 require a re-think of drug control policies.
These questions will be discussed in the light of the international conventions on drugs as well as the commitments governments made in a Political Declaration and Plan of Action adopted in 2009.
On Sunday night, Pakistan UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi hosted a dinner in honour of the delegation. Prominent Pakistani community members and officers of Pakistan Mission to the UN and the Consulate General in New York attended.
Comments
Comments are closed.