RESOLUTION

OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN DRUG ABUSE CONTROL COMMISSION (CICAD)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the observations and recommendations of the Permanent Council on the Annual Report of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) (CP/ACTA 1228/00), presented pursuant to Article 91.f of the Charter of the Organization of American States;

RECOGNIZING the importance of the Anti-Drug Strategy in the Hemisphere, approved by CICAD in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at its twentieth regular session, and signed in Montevideo, Uruguay, in December 1996, as a frame of reference to guide inter-American cooperation in addressing the problems of illicit drug production, trafficking, use, and distribution, and related offenses;

BEARING IN MIND that the activities and programs of the Commission are governed by the Inter-American Program of Action of Rio de Janeiro against the Illicit Use and Production of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and Traffic Therein; the Declaration and Program of Action of Ixtapa; the Inter-American Program of Quito: Comprehensive Education to Prevent Drug Abuse; and the Anti-Drug Strategy in the Hemisphere;

BEARING IN MIND ALSO the mandates issued in the plans of action adopted at the First and Second Summits of the Americas, in particular the development of a single, objective process of multilateral governmental evaluation to monitor the progress of individual and collective anti-drug efforts in the Hemisphere;

RECOGNIZING with satisfaction that CICAD, at its twenty-sixth regular session, fulfilled that mandate with the establishment of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM), based on the principles of respect for the sovereignty and territorial jurisdiction of states, reciprocity, shared responsibility, and a comprehensive and balanced approach to the subject;

CONVINCED that the MEM will strengthen mutual confidence, dialogue, and hemispheric cooperation for purposes of greater efficiency and effectiveness in dealing with the various aspects of the worldwide drug problem;

CONSIDERING that multilateral cooperation is the only way to ensure objective evaluation of efforts by the states to address the drug problem; and

RECOGNIZING ALSO the role played by CICAD in strengthening hemispheric cooperation in the fight against illicit drug production, trafficking, use, and distribution, and related offenses,

RESOLVES: