MONROVIA/NEW YORK — August 13, 2026: Solidarity & Trust for a New Day (STAND), in collaboration with a consortium of Liberian civil society organizations, anti-drug advocates, diaspora leaders and youth activists, has announced plans to take Liberia’s growing narcotics crisis to the international stage during the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81) in New York this September.
Dubbed the “Liberia Anti-Drug Global Action at UNGA 81,” the initiative will seek international attention and stronger cooperation in confronting drug trafficking, protecting young Liberians and ensuring accountability for individuals and networks behind large-scale narcotics operations.
STAND Chairman Mulbah K. Morlu Jr., who signed the announcement on behalf of the consortium, described the initiative as a nonpartisan national cause intended to defend Liberia’s sovereignty and institutions rather than damage the country’s international reputation.
The campaign comes amid concern over major cocaine seizures reported in Liberia in 2026. According to the organizers, approximately 237.6 kilograms of cocaine valued at more than US$19 million were intercepted at Roberts International Airport in June, followed weeks later by an operation in Duazon reportedly involving approximately 4.2 metric tons of cocaine valued at about US$336 million.
While welcoming law-enforcement efforts, the consortium argues that investigations must go beyond alleged couriers, drivers and warehouse operators to establish who financed, organized, facilitated or protected major trafficking operations.
“Liberia must never be allowed to become a safe haven, storage base, destination or transit corridor for international narcotics trafficking,” the group declared.
The campaign is demanding credible and independent investigations, stronger international intelligence cooperation, improved border security, financial investigations aimed at tracing narcotics proceeds, and greater institutional safeguards against corruption and criminal infiltration.
It is also placing Liberia’s young people at the center of the campaign. Organizers say substance dependency should be treated not only as a law-enforcement problem but as a public-health and human-development crisis, requiring prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, mental-health services, education, skills development and economic reintegration.
The Global Action will be chaired by Alplato Chukpue-Padmore, with Dr. Marie Scott Wilson serving as Co-Chairperson. Titus B. Pakalah, a 2024 Mandela Washington Fellow, will coordinate youth mobilization and digital advocacy, while scholar and educator Samuel Jacobs will serve as spokesperson.
During UNGA 81, the organizers plan peaceful public action alongside engagement with diplomatic missions, international organizations, diaspora groups, media institutions and organizations involved in drug control, public health, human rights and transnational organized crime.
A Liberia Anti-Drug Accountability Memorandum is also expected to be presented, outlining the campaign’s demands, available evidence, proposed reforms and areas where Liberia requires international assistance.
STAND stressed that the campaign should not be interpreted as an attack on President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s administration or any particular political party, noting that Liberia’s drug crisis predates the current government. However, it maintained that the government currently exercising state authority bears responsibility for ensuring credible investigations and protecting national institutions.
The campaign’s message to world leaders gathering in New York is unequivocal:
“Do not allow drugs to steal Liberia’s next generation. Do not allow international criminal networks to penetrate or compromise Liberia’s institutions.”
For STAND and its civil-society partners, the September mobilization represents an effort to transform Liberia’s narcotics crisis from a domestic controversy into an international call for accountability, cooperation and action.
“Liberia’s future must not be surrendered to drugs,” the consortium declared.
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