1.
CHAPTER I
BACKGROUND AND ORGANIZATION OF THE MEETING
A. Background of the meeting
The General Assembly, in its resolution 39/141 of 14 December 1984, requested the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, through the Economic and Social Council, to initiate the preparation of a new draft convention against illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. In furtherance of that objective, the Commission, in resolution 1 (S-IX) of 14 February 1986, identified 14 elements for inclusion in an initial draft convention and requested the Secretary-General to prepare such a draft for circulation to Governments for comment. The Commission considered the draft convention and Governments' comments thereon at its thirty-second session in February 1987.
2.The Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1987/27 of 27 May 1987, which had been submitted as a draft by the thirty-second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, requested the Secretary-General to prepare a working document consolidating the first draft of the convention, comments made by Governments to date on that draft and the results of the deliberations of the Commission on the draft at its thirty-second session; the working document was also to contain a draft preambular part, a section on the implementation mechanisms and draft final provisions. The Council further requested the Secretary-General to circulate that working document to States by 1 May 1987 and decided that an open-ended intergovernmental expert group should meet if necessary twice in 1987, to review the working document and, wherever possible, reach agreement on the articles of the convention and prepare a revised working document.
3.
The date limit proposed by the draft resolution of the Commission for the circulation of the working document (1 May 1987) was earlier than the first regular session of the Economic and Social Council, at which the draft resolution was to be considered (4-29 May 1987). In setting that date, the Commission was influenced by the need to foresee the very early transmittal of the working document when establishing a concise time frame in which to further the preparation of the draft convention. Accordingly, and in anticipation of the Council's approval of the draft resolution, the Division of Narcotic Drugs had prepared the working document requested.
A.
In view of the time frame and in anticipation of the request of the Economic and Social Council, the Secretary-General circulated the working document to all States under cover of note NAR/CL.5/1987 dated 29 April 1987. In the same note, the Secretary-General invited Governments to indicate whether they would participate in the open-ended intergovernmental expert group.
B. Organization of the meeting
First session
The first session of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group to consider the draft convention against illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances met at the Vienna International Centre from 29 June-10 July 1987. The Expert Group was attended by 135 experts from the following 57
5.