United Nations Iran - For the first time in the history of UNICEF Iran, a partnership agreement was signed between UNICEF and the Drug Control Headquarters, DCHQ, on prevention of substance use among children and adolescents. The partnership agreement was signed in a ceremony on Wednesday July 25th 2018, by Mr Rahim Saaki, Director General of International Relations at DCHQ and UNICEF Iran Representative, Dr Will Parks.�

In the signing ceremony held at the DCHQ in Tehran, Mr Rahim Saaki thanked the efforts of everyone involved in the consultation process of finalizing the workplan and said: �At the DCHQ, we are all extremely pleased to extend our cooperation with UNICEF on prevention of substance use among children and adolescents and we hope we can further expand it in future.� He added considering our experiences, we stand ready to offer our expertise in this area with UNICEF support to other neighboring countries including Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Iraq.� Mr Saaki said the Islamic Republic of Iran could potentially become a regional hub for knowledge and training on prevention of substance use among children and adolescents.

For his part, UNICEF Iran Representative, Dr Will Parks appreciated the efforts of DCHQ staff, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNICEF Iran over the past year to finalize the joint workplan and said: �The good news about this partnership is that UNICEF also works with various ministries and we will lend our support to DCHQ in whatever way we can to facilitate multi-ministry collaboration which itself is so vital to address substance use.� He added: �From my experiences working in Iraq and Afghanistan, I am sure that these two countries are particularly interested in such collaboration in this area through UNICEF support. And we stand ready to help you collaborate across the borders in the area of prevention of substance use among children and adolescents.�

The joint one year agreement between UNICEF Iran and the DCHQ focuses on school-based, family-based and community-based prevention measures on substance use among children and adolescents. It also includes exchange of knowledge and expertise between Iran and other countries on drug demand reduction among children and adolescents.