Re-election of Mr. Bernard Leroy as a Member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) (7 May 2019)

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On 7 May 2019, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) reelected Mr. Bernard Leroy, French legal expert, as a Member of the International Narcotics Control Board for a second 5-year term beginning on 2 March 2020.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) elected on 7 May 2019 in New York five members of the International Narcotics Control Board among candidates nominated by governments, for a 5-year mandate beginning on 2 March 2020: Ms. Jagjit Pavadia (India), Mr. Jallal Toufiq (Morocco), Mr. César Tomás Arce Rivas (Paraguay), Mr. Bernard Leroy (France) et Ms. Viviana Manrique Zuluaga (Colombia). The Council also elected Ms. Zuriswa Zingela (South Africa) among candidates nominated by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), which celebrated in 2018 its 50th anniversary and which is based in the UN headquarter in Vienna, plays a key role in the United Nations as the treaty-mandated guardian of the international drug control conventions.

In this period marked by the trivialization of illicit drug use and the rising power of transnational organised crime and its financial capabilities, the international community reaffirmed the importance of international conventions and their effective implementation in the outcome document of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the world drug problem held in 2016 and in the ministerial declaration adopted on 14 March 2019 on the occasion of the high-level segment of the 62nd session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna.

The INCB will therefore continue to play a decisive role in accompanying the implementation of these conventions by Member States and in supporting their efforts in the fight against illicit drug use and trafficking.

The re-election of Mr. Bernard Leroy, former magistrate specialised in drug matters, will contribute to maintain the necessary balance between law experts and health professionals in this Board and honours his active commitment inside the INCB since his election in 2015, in the service of the international community, the implementation of conventions and a balanced approach to the world drug problem.

His experience of 40 years in the field of drugs and his knowledge of on-the-ground realities, associated with his legal expertise, have proved to be very valuable in the performance of his duties during his first term as an INCB Member since 2015.

Mr. Leroy had in particular participated in the drafting process of the 1988 United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and in the implementation of the three United Nations drug control conventions as he supported a majority of UN Member States in ratifying them and in their efforts to ratify and implement them when he was coordinating the legal assistance programme of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) from 1990 until 2010.

France welcomes Mr. Leroy’s re-election and would like to thank all the ECOSOC Members who supported his candidature and entrusted him for this second term.

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