Kazakhstan's counternarcotic initiatives commended by OSCE participating States

VIENNA, June 3-4, 2019 — Ambassador-at-Large of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stanislav Vassilenko participated as one of the key speakers at the opening ceremony of the OSCE-wide Anti-Drug Conference. Under-Secretary-General, Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna, and Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Yury Fedotov, as well as OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, also spoke at the event.

Kazakhstan's presentation on counter-narcotics, including synthetic drugs, aroused much interest among the event participants. Special attention was paid to the Kazakh law, expected to enter into force in July 2019, which would significantly broaden the mandate of law enforcement agencies in countering the spread of new psychoactive substances, as well as improve the state control system over drug trafficking.

While in Vienna, the Kazakh diplomat also held talks with senior officials of the UNODC on an array of issues, including countering extremism and terrorism.

A large-scale project in reducing radicalization in prisons launched in March 2019 was also discussed. It is designed to help prevent radicalization leading to violence in penitentiary institutions in Kazakhstan, under the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules). The UNODC plans to allocate over $3 million for this program.

Furthermore, the sides discussed the implementation in the near future of a project related to children recruited and exploited by terrorist and extremist groups. This initiative is particularly relevant in the context of the special Zhussan humanitarian operation, that enabled the return of 357 children from combat zones to Kazakhstan.