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Introduction speech to award winner Dr Eva Tongue
Ms. Norine MacDonald QC, President and Lead Field Researcher for Afghanistan, The Senlis Council
I am honoured to present to Dr. Tongue the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Global Drug Policy and to recognize her significant efforts and unlimited dedication to finding solutions to the World Drug Problem.
As many of you know Eva Tongue has been chairing the NGO Committee for almost 20 years now, and we are very glad that she will continue to do so for another two years. But Dr. Tongue has been working in the drug policy field for much longer than that.
As a PHD student in Law and political Science at Budapest University she wrote her thesis on the link between crime and alcohol. At the time, her main interest lay with criminal psychology.
After her studies she decided to work with the Hungarian National Women’s Council. As an expert in law she gave free legal assistance to women and started work on drug policy related reform with early success.
It was during her years at the Women’s Council that Eva met her husband to be, Archer. In his capacity as Director of the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions (ICAA), he visited Hungary in the early 1960s. This encounter changed Eva’s life. They married and Eva left Hungary to live with Archer in Lausanne.
They shared their professional interest and mutually reinforced each other’s talents and dedication. Eva joined the ICAA and became Deputy Director in 1968, and when Archer retired as Director in 1990, she replaced him until 2000.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Archer here in Vienna in 2005 and I am convinced we can all agree that his company is sincerely missed tonight.
Eva must look back upon her long professional life with great satisfaction and happiness.
When she is asked about one of the most satisfying parts of her professional life, Eva mentions her activities and work in Africa. There, for over more than a decade, she organised training for many Africans on matters concerning drug policy.
**** And I believe that tonight, we even have one of her former pupils from Africa present with us. Mr. Kasirye from Uganda is here as member of one of the regional lead NGOs working towards the “Beyond 2008 NGO Forum”. This Forum will undoubtedly prove to be a very important event for civil society involved in drug policy and I am sure it will also give Eva Tongue a great sense of fulfilment as she is reaching the end of her impressive career with the NGO Committee.
It was in 1987, twenty years ago, that Eva was elected Chair of this Vienna NGO Committee. With her long time experience in global drug policy, she has witnessed many important developments with regard to UN bodies involved in drug policy.
Throughout the 1960s, for example, the CND was more an expert meeting lasting up to an entire month. By 1971, the duration of the meeting was reduced to 10 days and as you all know we are now gathering here in Vienna for one week.
Eva at all times managed to encourage dialogue between the Member States and the NGOs, even in the face of the obvious constraints encountered from time to time. As you all know drug policy is not the easiest policy area to work in – an additional reason to award Eva tonight.
That is why it is an honour for me tonight to present Dr. Eva Tongue with the first Award for Lifetime Achievement in Global Drug Policy that she receives for her tireless efforts in facilitating the essential work and cooperation of Non-Governmental Organisations in the field of drug policy.
Congratulations.
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