Children Prevention Treatment UNODC Work Glok42

The UN Headquarters at the Vienna International Center; Photo: UN

UNODC's Children's Program, GLOK42, was developed to promote a worldwide coordinated response to children and adolescents at risk of using drugs, and youth affected by drug use dependence.

The Program goals include:

· Addressing the health and social consequences for children
· Preventing drug use
· Treating drug dependence
· Facilitating positive re-integration into and contribution to the larger community.

The Program's main strategies are:

· Large scale mobilization (including the involvement of government ministries, members of the civil society, academics, media and high ranking personalities),
· Reduce the risks of developing drug use disorders
· Provide appropriate treatment strategies tailored to respond to the specific needs of this age group.

Countries reached by the Children's Program:

· Afghanistan
· Bangladesh
· India
· Liberia
· Pakistan
· Iran
· Kazakhstan
· Kyrgyzstan
· Tajikistan
· Turkmenistan

The project is based on a foundation of policy statements in support of children:

· Political Declaration and the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction and Measures to Enhance International Cooperation to Counter the World Drug Problem (General Assembly RES S-20/3) adopted at UNGASS on Drugs (1998);
· United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency (The Riyadh Guidelines) (UNGA RES 45/112, Annex, section IV);
· UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime (pdf; Economic and Social Council Resolution 2002/13, annex)
· SDG (Target 3.5) · UNGASS Outcome Document 2016 (pdf)

Through UNGA RES S-20/3, UNODC has been mandated by the UNGA to identify and disseminate the best practices/strategies in all areas of demand reduction, including drug abuse prevention, and to support capacity building and strategy development in these areas.

Why is the Program useful?

· It provides a model, within a strong framework of evaluated strategies, that can be adapted to support Member States for the scaling up of services to meet the needs of those affected by drug use, particularly children and adolescents at risk and/or those affected by drug use dependence and its health and social consequences.

The focus is on science-driven public health approaches in drug control as the springboard for existing good practices. Meeting the needs of children presents a challenge due to the limited availability of specific research on the effectiveness of psychosocial and pharmacological interventions.

Social constructs such as denial, stigma and ideological considerations are barriers to provide interventions that target children and adolescents.

The Children's Program provides technical assistance to national and local authorities working to address the needs of children and young adolescents within a planned system of integrated and mutually reinforcing activities.

To have a deeper understanding of the Program GLOK42, and moreover of the target beneficiaries, geographical areas of implementation, evidence, about the model and about the results obtained by the pilot programme, you can consult the document issued by the UNODC in March 2014: Preventing Illicit Drug Use and Treating Drug Use Disorders for Children and Adolescents (pdf).

United Nations

Office on Drugs and Crime