At the meeting (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The 3rd meeting of the AIPA(ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly) Advisory Council on Dangerous Drugs(AIPACODD) was held online on June 29 with a view to helping enhance regionalcooperation towards a drug-free ASEAN community.
An important activity during Vietnam’s AIPAChairmanship this year, the meeting was attended by the AIPA Secretary-Generaland representatives from AIPA member parliaments, international organisations,and ASEAN countries in Vietnam.
In her opening remarks, Vice National Assembly ChairwomanTong Thi Phong said non-traditional security threats like environmentalpollution, cybercrime, food and water resources insecurity, epidemics, andespecially drugs are not only urgent but also long-term issues facing regionsand the world as a whole.
The scourge of drugs around the globe, includingin Southeast Asia, is increasingly complex, leaving long-term health, economic,and social consequences for all countries. Since the beginning of this year, theCOVID-19 pandemic has added another non-traditional security threat tocountries worldwide, including ASEAN members, requiring solidarity andcooperation to respond, she noted.
As a responsible member of the internationalcommunity, Vietnam has taken an active and proactive part in global andregional anti-drug activities, Phong said, adding that its policies and lawsare consistent with the common view in ASEAN of not compromising on drugs, notaccepting the legalisation of drug use, balancing supply and demand reductionsolutions, and persisting with the goal of a drug-free ASEAN community.
Vietnam’s legislature has consistently made effortsto perfect legal regulations on and increase supervision over this matter, she said.In the time ahead it will amend the law on drug prevention and control and somerelated laws so as to cope with new challenges in the fight against drugs.
Participants at the meeting were updated on drugprevention and control efforts in the region and the world, along with ASEAN’sdrug response, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They also discussed andshared their countries’ experience in the drug fight and the treatment of drugaddiction, while reviewing the implementation of commitments made inresolutions issued at meetings of the AIPA Fact Finding Committee and theAIPACODD.
Inshik Sim, a research officer at the UN Officeon Drugs and Crime, said the annual profit from illegal drug production andtrafficking in Southeast Asia is estimated at 71 billion USD. The drug issue inthis region is now fiercer than ever and has become a crisis, with consequencesfor health, human rights, security, and the economies of relevant countries.
He added that no interventions, policies, orprevention mechanisms can be built or implemented singlehandedly, noting thatan effective prevention system at the local or national level should beintegrated into a larger system, focusing on healthcare, and balancing drug-relatedissues, including reducing supply, enforcing laws, treating drug-relateddisorders, and minimising risks relevant to drug use.
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs Le Van Thanh suggested that to push ahead with the drug fight, Vietnamand other ASEAN countries should promote political commitments, improve theefficiency of State management in drug prevention, control, and rehabilitation,and engage the entire political system and people in the task.
They should also combine solutions on drugprevention and control with those on drug supply, demand, and harm reduction,he said, adding that they should view investing in the drug fight as like investingin sustainable development in each country and the entire region./.
