26 / 48
yesilay.org.tr
26
•
YEŞiLAY
GreenCrescent,whichwaselectedasamember of theCivil SocietyTaskForce, attended theUN
General AssemblySpecial SessiononDrugs (UNGASS2016)witha top-level drugagendaas the
regional representative for EasternEuropeandCentral Asia.
GREEN CRESCENT ATTENDED THE UN GENERAL
ASSEMBLY SPECIAL SESSION ON DRUGS
T
he UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, UN-
GASS 2016 meeting, was held on April 19-21 at the UN
Headquarters in New York. All member states, the UN’s
related bodies, local administrations, academics, fieldworkers and
representatives of nongovernmental organizations were present
at thegathering.
GreenCrescent: UNCivil SocietyTaskForceMember
The Civil Society Task Force was established in 2014 to ensure
effective communication and coordination between the UN and
nongovernmental organizations for UNGASS 2016. Green Cres-
cent, elected as a member of the Civil Society Task Force as the
regional representative for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, has
carried out importantwork during the preparation process. Green
Crescent, which has been actively supporting the civil society re-
search survey developed with UN support, had organized a UN-
GASS regional consultationmeetingbygathering the representa-
tives of 25 countries in Istanbul in November 2015, to reflect the
drugpoliciesandproblems in the region toUNmechanisms.
GreenCrescent explainedTurkey’sdrugpoliciesat theUN
In addition to participating in the UNGASS 2016 General Assem-
bly, Green Crescent organized a side event at the UN, with the ti-
tle, “National Drug Policy of Turkey: Prevention and Rehabilitation
Practices.” The side event was organized in cooperation with the
Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in New York
andUnitedNationsOfficeonDrugsandCrime (UNODC).
In the panel moderated by Green Crescent President Professor
Mücahit Öztürk, Green Crescent General Manager Savaş Yılmaz
explainedtheworkcarriedoutinaccordancewithTurkey’snation-
al drug policy, while Green Crescent Board Member Azize Nilgün
Canel spoke about the approaches taken in developing theAddic-
tion Prevention Training Programof Turkey (TBM) and the training
applied throughout the countrywithin the scope of the TBM. Ex-
pert clinical psychologist Mehmet Dinç, who spoke on the panel
about theGreenCrescent CounselingCenter (YEDAM)model and
practices, gave information on the rehabilitation efforts in Turkey.
UN Drug Prevention and Health Branch Chief Gilberto Gerra eval-
uated international drug policies and stressed the importance of
a balanced approach between Turkey’s demand and supply. Ger-
ra additionally gave information on the UNODC Drug Prevention
Standardstobeusedasreferenceinpreventionefforts.ChloeCar-
pentier,whoalsoparticipated inthesideeventasa representative
of theUNODCResearchBranch, presentedglobal studies focused
on prevention throughout the world with examples from several
countries.
In addition to the UNGASS General Assembly meeting that took
place at the UN Headquarters in New York on April 19-21, 2016,
round table meetings were held on the topics of “Reducing Drug
Supply,” “Reducing Drug Demand,” “Youth, women, children and
communities,” “New challenges” and “Alternative development,”
with the participation of state representatives. The summary of
the topics discussed during the round table meetings were read
out at thegeneral assembly in the formof amemorandum.
GREEN CRESCENT-2016