ANPUD statement: The war on drugs is a war on us- June 26th is the reminder

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ANPUD statement: The war on drugs is a war on us- June 26th is the reminder

27 June 2018

By ANPUD

THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A WAR ON US – 26TH JUNE IS THE REMINDER

“People do not lose their human rights because they use or sell drugs”

– UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

The 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs and its follow-up treaties are merely based on prohibition, criminalization and punishment that incite war on drugs approach. These treaties undermine the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and dismantle human rights from the three pillars of the United Nations.

For the last 30 years the United Nations and the member states (country governments) have been observing 26thJune to express their determination and celebrate their contributions to the global war on drugs.

Since 2016, we have witnessed unprecedented level of atrocities perpetrated by the Asian governments. In the Philippines, Duterte declared his war on drugs that has already resulted in over 20,000 extrajudicial killings and thousands of arrests of people suspected of using or selling drugs. Indonesian police and narcotics agency have fatally shot at least 106 suspected people in 2017. Similar approach in Cambodia has also resulted in massive arrests and detention of people suspected of using or selling drugs. Over 130 people have been killed and more than 13,000 people arrested in Bangladesh since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched a nationwide anti-drugs campaign in May 2018. Most countries have a compulsory detention facility that governments prefer to call a “treatment center”. In these facilities, it is estimated that more than 500,000 people are detained at any one time. These centers are basically the factories of human rights violations.