VIENNA: Kuwait has reiterated that international community efforts to combat drugs should be directed toward the implementation of all international drug policy commitments. This came in Kuwait’s speech delivered Friday by Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Talal Al-Fassam, before the high-level meetings of the 67th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. He called for enhancing legislation and national strategies aimed at eradicating narcotics abuse. He affirmed Kuwait’s support for the ministerial document and a plan of action approved in this meeting.

Al-Fassam stressed the need for full abidance by the gist of the three international agreements on combating drugs. He emphasized that Kuwait is committed to the political announcement, the 2009 plan, the 2014 ministerial statement, and the final document of the UN General Assembly extraordinary session in 2016. All these pacts constitute tools that ensure addressing the problem of narcotics and their negative impacts, he said. Kuwait pays much attention to the principles of the UN Charter and does not interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries, he said, taking into account the varied religious, social, legal, and judicial systems of member states as an addition to the principles of human rights.

In 2022, Kuwait formed a high committee for combating drugs and established facilities for treating and rehabilitating addicts, he stated. The committee aims to educate people about the risks of drugs and their impacts and combat them, he noted. Furthermore, Al-Fassam said his country is keen on offering healthcare to addicts and a comprehensive treatment plan to people who want to stop taking drugs and reintegrate into society. Kuwait believes in the importance of awareness and prevention from childhood through the family and school, as he made clear.

Based on this approach, Kuwait was keen to organize activities at schools and universities to raise awareness about the risks of narcotics, he revealed. Al-Fassam also highlighted the brutal Zionist aggression on the brotherly Palestinian people, which killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians. He referred to the fact that Zionist aggression has been destroying infrastructure, healthcare centers, and hospitals in Palestine.

He stressed that Palestinian people have been facing tough conditions due to the long-standing barbaric Zionist occupation. Palestinians have been suffering from a lack of medicines, food, and health equipment in flagrant violation of the UN Charter, human rights, and international humanitarian law, Al-Fassam said. He called on the international community to honor its pledges towards the brotherly Palestinian people, calling for a ceasefire and opening humanitarian corridors to ensure the delivery of food and medical equipment into the Gaza Strip. — KUNA