Mr Chair, Excellencies, dear colleagues,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The following countries align themselves with this statement: North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, Ukraine^*, the Republic of Moldova^*, Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, Georgia, Iceland⁺, Norway⁺ and San Marino.

At the outset, I would like to express our gratitude to the Chairs of the Commissions on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) for having led our substantive discussions in the course of the year.  

My gratitude also goes to the Executive Director for her strong leadership and the Secretariat for its reports on the consolidated budget, gender balance and geographic representation.

Once more, UNODC has demonstrated its value and its competence in what has been another challenging year. Unfortunately, our multilateral work continues to be overshadowed by the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which grossly violates international law, notably the UN Charter, and is causing massive suffering to civilians. We urge the Russian Federation to stop its war of aggression, unconditionally withdraw all its armed forces and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine, and fully respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. The EU calls upon all UN Member States to defend the rules-based international order which is the bedrock for international cooperation. We recognize the essential mission of UNODC and its role in upholding the rule of law, which is the basis on which the United Nations was founded.

In this context, as one of UNODC´s biggest supporters and major donors, the EU has made it clear that its contributions cannot be used for projects that benefit Russia or its accomplice Belarus and we would encourage other donors to take the same stance.

Turning to UNODC’s governance, the EU commends UNODC’s continous efforts, innovative strategies and decisions to improve its structure and management in line with the UN reform process. We welcome a stronger focus on results-based management, risk management, monitoring and evaluation, to achieve effective and sustainable outcomes. We support UNODC’s noticeable efforts to mainstream a gender perspective in all its activities, create diversity strategies and the actions carried out in favour of youth empowerment. This dimension resonates a lot at the EU level: 2022 is the European Year of Youth. It has built a momentum to empower young people and raise awareness on the role they can play in society.

However, some areas could be further improved to increase accountability, performance and respond to evidence-based research. In this regard, we welcome that the programme budget for 2024 includes a reference to strenghtening the Independent Evaluation Section (IES), including the level of its leadership. This should contribute to building a culture of evaluation which will be beneficial for the overall performance of the Office and to increase accountability. We trust the UNODC to follow up on this. We would also like to propose exploring expanding the IES’ mandate to also cover the work of the UN Office at Vienna (UNOV). The first independent strategic evaluation of “the work of UNOV/UNODC on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women” has illustrated the close interrelationship between the work of UNODC and UNOV. We all benefit from an efficient and well-functioning Secretariat that can adjust its functions in the rapidly changing world,  support activities under UNODC’s mandate and foster greater communication and cooperation between member States.

There is a unique role and expertise in this Office. We recognise that in order to accomplish its mandate, UNODC needs to have a sufficient, predictable and flexible budget, capable to respond to Member States’ demands. We remain concerned by the low levels of general-purpose and softly earmarked funding. This makes it essential that the regular budget is consistent with the responsibilities that we have assigned to the Office.  We consider that the Secretariat should continue to identify and discuss ways to address the persistent unpredictable and constrained financial situation of UNODC, as well as the need to ensure UNODC’s delivery capacity and the sustainability of its programmes.

We would like to thank the new Bureau of the working group on improving the governance and financial situation of UNODC (FinGov) for its efforts, which has strengthened accountability and dialogue. Decision making on budgetary and management issues should always remain transparent to keep a high level of confidence in the institution. More than ever, in the current economic crisis which affects the whole world, we need to reinforce accountability and predictability on the money spent.

Finally, on partnerships, we would like to reiterate the importance of active participation of the civil society in the UN-led multilateral work. Addressing organised crime and drugs is not only the concern of States. It affects people, communities and leaves behind victims. We must, therefore, hear from communities, victim groups, academia, the private sector and the media and learn from their ideas and experiences. This is not only a matter of principle, it is a necessity; we cannot tackle organised crime without this actors. This year, we have again witnessed attempts to exclude some of the most relevant NGOs in the field. Such objections can hopefully be avoided in the future. The EU and its Member States continue to take a principled position in order to promote the participation of relevant stakeholders in all fora at UNODC.

Thank you, Mr Chair.

* Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, as well as potential Candidate Country Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

+ Iceland and Norway are members of the EFTA and of the European Economic Area.