In Latin America, drug policy is a human rights issue

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In Latin America, drug policy is a human rights issue

3 April 2014

For the first time ever, a key human rights body in the Americas has begun studying the impact of drug policies on human rights.

In a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 17 organizations from across the Americas, including Open Society grantees Conectas, DeJusticia, and the Washington Office on Latin America, among others, argued that the war on drugs has worsened violence, strained criminal justice systems, and reinforced hardline security policies.

The commission’s effort is another step forward in the drug policy reform debate in Latin America. In some countries, this debate is well underway. In others, it is just beginning.

The problems with current drug policies are well established and common across the region. The militarization of efforts to counter drug trafficking in countries such as Colombia and Mexico has fueled violence and resulted in serious human rights violations by armed forces and law enforcement. The eradication of illicit crops has provoked clashes between armed forces and farmers, environmental damage due to aerial fumigation, and abuses against rural populations in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, among others.

The Inter-American Commission hearing creates a path to focus on the impact of drug policy on human rights through dialogue among government and civil society representatives.

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Related Profiles

  • Open Society Foundations (OSF)
  • Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

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