Civil society recommendations for the consolidated position of Mexico to the Final Document of the 2016 UNGASS

Considering that the Mexican government sees the UNGASS 2016 as “an invaluable opportunity to make better decisions in a concerted manner, among countries, together with civil society, academia and UN specialized bodies” and recognizes the importance of “ensuring a broad, inclusive debate, without preconceptions, towards the 2016 UNGASS, that makes room for all experiences and all voices” , we believe that Mexico should have a firm stance, which, transversely to the various topics to be addressed, must include the following:

• Advocate for the development of a broader set of indicators for the evaluation of national and global frameworks for drug policy that relate to the fundamental pillars of the UN: health development, security and human rights.
• Recognize that UNGASS is an opportunity to design new targets and indicators of success in drug policy that will allow us to measure progress towards fulfilling UN health guidelines, achieving peaceful and inclusive societies, decreasing violence and corruption and accomplishing respect for human rights. In order to accomplish the aforementioned, it is necessary to avoid reaffirming the commitments and objectives in existing drug control treaties and the Political Declaration of 2009 and to stop considering the destruction of crops, the seizures of illicit plants and substances, detentions and extrajudicial executions of people involved in drug trafficking, and the number of people admitted users in treatment centers as indicators of success.
• Ensure the effective participation of civil society in the preparatory process and at the UNGASS itself through the pre-allocation of spaces for oral statements so organizations from all regions of the world can participate meaningfully in the discussions of all issues to be addressed. This means designating time in the discussions of each subject for the participation of at least three organizations from each region and not relegating the participations of civil society to the end of each session or to side events.

In addition to this, we have also identified four prioritary topics on which we believe Mexico should take a stand: human rights, health, the justice system and public safety. We are happy to notice these topics are included in the ‘Proposals for UNGASS 2016 operational recommendations’. For each of these topics we have developed key recommendations we hope could be incorporated in the position of Mexico.

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