SCO Anti-Drug Center
Background
The SCO Anti-Drug Center is a multilateral counter-narcotics institution created by member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to support cooperation against drug trafficking and related threats. Its mandate is to coordinate practical anti-drug efforts among SCO participants, with a particular focus on information exchange, operational cooperation, and measures aimed at addressing the global drug problem. The center is significant because the SCO includes states across Eurasia that face shared transnational narcotics routes and security challenges, making coordinated responses an important part of regional policy.
The center is established as part of the SCO institutional framework rather than as a standalone Russian government body, and it operates on the basis of an agreement concluded by SCO member states. The available information identifies Dushanbe as the site of the center, indicating that it is based in Tajikistan within the organization’s broader regional structure. Its work is connected to the foreign policy and security cooperation mechanisms of SCO members, including Russia, but it is not described as belonging to the Russian state apparatus or domestic administrative system. Instead, it functions as a specialized international organization serving collective interests in law enforcement and public security.
The center emerged from an agreement signed on 1 September 2025, marking a formal step in the SCO’s institutional development in the anti-narcotics field. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement from March 2026 referred to the new SCO Anti-Narcotics Center in Dushanbe in the context of a UNODC-SCO thematic event, showing that the center had become part of ongoing multilateral discussions on drug control. Recent references indicate that its current priorities include supporting international cooperation against trafficking and reinforcing the SCO’s role in addressing narcotics-related challenges through coordinated regional action.
Timeline
The SCO Anti-Drug Center was highlighted as a new anti-narcotics center in Dushanbe.
Press Release: Participation of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia D.E. Lubinsky in the UNODC-SCO Thematic Side Event at the 69th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Documents
Press Release: Participation of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia D.E. Lubinsky in the UNODC-SCO Thematic Side Event at the 69th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Lubinsky represented Moscow at a UNODC-SCO anti-narcotics event, highlighting the new SCO Anti-Narcotics Center in Dushanbe and Russia's commitment to international drug control.