Created in 1988, ALCS is the most important AIDS NGO in Morocco. It is active in preventing AIDS among key affected populations and providing psychosocial care for people living with HIV. ALCS played a crucial part in access and generalisation of antiretroviral therapies. ALCS is committed in advocacy activities to defend human rights of people living with HIV and key affected populations.

Creada en 1988, ALCS es la ONG más importante trabajando sobre el HIV/SIDA en Marruecos. Es activa en la prevención del SIDA entre las principales poblaciones afectadas y atención psicosocial para las personas que viven con el VIH. ALCS jugó un papel crucial en el acceso y la generalización de los tratamientos antirretrovirales. ALCS está comprometida en actividades de promoción de la defensa de los derechos humanos de las personas que viven con el VIH y las principales poblaciones afectadas.

Créée en 1988, l'ALCS est l'ONG travaillant sur le SIDA la plus importante du Maroc. Elle est active dans la prévention du SIDA parmi les principales populations affectées et fournit des soins psychosociaux pour les personnes vivant avec le VIH. ALCS a joué un rôle crucial dans l'accès et à la généralisation des traitements antirétroviraux. ALCS est engagé dans des activités de plaidoyer pour la défense des droits des personnes vivant avec le VIH et les principales populations touchées.

Association de Lutte Contre le Sida (ALCS)

89 ONG subrayan la necesidad de abordar los daños de las políticas de drogas represivas que socavan los derechos humanos. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

To: Ms Ghada Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Subject: Open letter on UNODC statement on International Human Rights Day 2021

We urge you to mark International Human Rights Day 2021 by calling on Member States to change drug policies and practices that violate human rights and perpetuate inequality and discrimination.

We are writing to you ahead of International Human Rights Day 2021, which will take place on the 10th December amidst escalating global demands for the reform of laws and practices that entrench racial discrimination and social inequality, including drug policies. Last year, IDPC – together with dozens of other civil society and community organisations – called on you to issue a statement on International Human Rights Day urging Member States to change drug laws and practices that undermine health and human rights. A year later, we ask you to seize this day as an opportunity to show UNODC´s alignment with other UN entities in calling for an end to drug policies and practices that perpetuate inequality and discrimination, and violate human rights.

For decades, punitive drug policies have driven widespread human rights abuses, as has been amply documented by the UN. These include the death penalty for drug offences; extrajudicial killings; arbitrary detention, often masquerading as ‘rehabilitation’; the denial of access to life-saving harm reduction services; widespread barriers to accessing controlled medicines for pain relief; the criminalisation of people who use drugs, subsistence farmers and others groups in situations of vulnerability; corporal punishment; and mass incarceration. In all of these cases, draconian drug policies have disproportionately affected people marginalised on the basis of their gender, race, ethnicity, and economic status, thus entrenching inequality and discrimination.

Along 2021, a broad range of UN entities called on Member States to reform drug policies with discriminatory outcomes. In June 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released a landmark study on arbitrary detention and drug polices, which found that ´

the war on drugs may be understood to a significant extent as a war on people. Its impact is often greatest on those who are poor, but also frequently overlaps with discrimination in law enforcement directed at vulnerable groups

´. At the same time, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a new ‘Agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality´, highlighting that ´

The discriminatory application of criminal law must be tackled at every stage, including by reforming drug-related policies

´. The High Commissioner´s proposal led to Human Rights Council Resolution 47/21, which contains key commitments to uproot systemic racism in the law enforcement and criminal justice systems. The Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, adopted in June 2021, also showcased the international community´s commitment to ending inequalities as a step towards ending AIDS. Lastly, the new UN system Common Position on Incarceration, led by UNODC in partnership with other UN entities, notes ‘

the overrepresentation of minority and marginalized groups among prisoners, many of whom are charged with petty and nonviolent offences

support reform efforts aimed at ensuring proportionate and individualized sentencing and alternatives to conviction or punishment in appropriate cases, including for minor drug-related offences

These various commitments emerging across the United Nations are aligned with the 2018 Chief Executives Board’s UN System Common Position on drug-related matters, which makes clear that ‘

should be designed and implemented by States in accordance with their human rights obligations

’, and commits all UN agencies, including UNODC, to support drug policies ‘

that put people, health, and human rights at the centre

Similar human rights concerns have been highlighted in the just-released Global Drug Policy Index, which measures and ranks the national drug policies of 30 countries according to how well they align with the UN system Common Position on Drugs and its Task Team report of March 2019.

The theme of the 2021 International Human Rights Day is ‘Equality: Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights’, and is aimed at ´

addressing and finding solutions for deep-rooted forms of discrimination that have affected the most vulnerable people in societies

´. As such, it presents a crucial opportunity for UNODC to align itself with other UN entities in calling for the end of policies that perpetuate inequality and discrimination, while highlighting its commitment to the promotion of human rights, in line with the UN system Common Positions.

It is in this context that we urge you to issue a strong statement on International Human Rights Day, calling on states to change the drug laws, policies and practices that violate health and human rights, and entrench inequality. To be credible, such a statement should explicitly acknowledge the disproportionate impact of drug laws and drug control on people marginalised on the basis of their gender, race, ethnicity, and economic status, and urge Member States to:

Abolish the death penalty in all circumstances. Imposing capital punishment for drug offences has been found to be contrary to international human rights law by the Human Rights Committee, and the Human Rights Council.

Put an immediate end to extrajudicial killings committed in the name of drug control, as has been repeatedly called for by the Human Rights Council and UN human rights experts.

Permanently close compulsory drug detention centres, including those that masquerade as ‘rehabilitation’, and implement voluntary, evidence-informed, and rights-based health and social services, as recently called for by sixteen UN agencies, including UNODC.

Stress the urgent need to provide accessible, affordable, and adequately funded harm reduction services in community and closed settings, to fulfil the right to health and the right to life of people who use drugs, as demanded by several UN human rights bodies and experts. This is also central to UNODC’s core role as lead UNAIDS co-sponsor regarding prisons and HIV amongst people who use drugs.

Take immediate measures to address prison overcrowding, as already recommended by UNODC and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, by promoting alternatives to incarceration, and ensuring proportionate sentencing for all drug offences, including by taking into account mitigating factors – in line with the basic principle that prisons should only be used as a last resort in all circumstances.

Ensure that people who use drugs are not subject to arbitrary detention, torture, or ill-treatment – whether in state custody or public or private drug services. While under detention, people with a drug dependence or health problems associated with their drug use must be offered evidence-based treatment, harm reduction and other drug services on a strictly voluntary basis.

Promote the end of all punishment for drug use, and drug possession and cultivation for personal use, as permitted within the three drug control conventions. Such policy shifts will help to end the stigma, criminalisation, and exclusion faced by people who use drugs, and to facilitate access to health and social services, as called for by the UN system Common Position, UNAIDS, and UN human rights bodies.

Make sure that drug policies incorporate a gender-sensitive perspective. This should be done by tailoring drug services to the specific needs of women, and by ensuring that criminal laws take into account the circumstances of women involved in drug offences, as most of them come from backgrounds of poverty, marginalisation, and oppression.

Clearly outline the ways in which UNODC will work to achieve these changes, and the measures being taken to ensure that human rights are effectively embedded as a core strand for all of the Office’s work.

As the lead UN agency in drug-related matters, UNODC has the responsibility to promote drug policies that respect, protect, and fulfil human rights, in a way that is consistent with the standards developed by the UN system, and in line with the commitments set in the UN system Common Positions on drugs and on incarceration. A strong statement in the forthcoming International Human Rights Day would be an important and welcome step to signal UNODC’s unequivocal commitment.

We look forward to discussing these concerns and recommendations with you.

Las ONG instan a la Directora Ejecutiva de la ONUDD a celebrar el Día de los Derechos Humanos con un llamamiento a la reforma de las políticas de drogas que perpetúan las desigualdades

33 organizaciones de la sociedad civil y comunitarias instan al PCB de ONUSIDA a garantizar que los servicios de reducción de daños estén disponibles, accesibles y totalmente financiados. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

Ahead of the UNAIDS Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on 16 September, 33 civil society and community-led organisations working on drug policy and harm reduction are urging the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (UNAIDS PCB) to uphold the rights of people who use drugs and harm reduction in the new UNAIDS Strategy.

This letter includes six key recommendations from our community and sector and we asking UNAIDS PCB to advocate for these at the upcoming Consultation.

Now, more than ever, we need their leadership to be strong, bold and unrelenting in ensuring that key populations, including people who inject drugs, are prioritised in the new UNAIDS Strategy; harm reduction services are available, scaled-up and fully funded to meet the HIV prevention and health needs of people who use drugs wherever needed; communities, including community-led services, and civil society are at the front and centre of the HIV response; and barriers to services, including criminalisation, stigma, discrimination, punitive laws and policies, are removed.

The new UNAIDS strategy will have profound implications - either by compounding or alleviating the political invisibility of people who use drugs. We need them to show a commitment to people who use drugs in your engagement in the Strategy process.

We will not end AIDS if we keep leaving people who inject drugs behind.

Llamado a mantener los derechos de las personas que usan drogas y la reducción de daños en la nueva estrategia de ONUSIDA

En tiempos de radicalización de la violación de derechos y amenaza a la democracia, es preciso defender la radicalidad de la potencia del cuidado. Por tanto presentamos esta 

, región de la ciudad de Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, donde se sitúa la Fundación Oswaldo Cruz[2] y diversas favelas y comunidades pobres que son constantemente afectadas por la nefasta y violenta política de guerra a las drogas que criminaliza y autoriza acciones bélicas, en este como en tantos otros territorios periféricos en toda América Latina.

El mundo vive un momento de avance de las fuerzas conservadoras, que en América Latina se expresa a través de la fragilización de los procesos democráticos; la profundización de las desigualdades socioeconómicas; el aumento de la fragmentación y segregación social. Tales dinámicas, en su conjunto, ponen en riesgo derechos fundamentales. Ejemplo emblemático fue la reciente intervención en el barrio de la Luz, en la ciudad de San Pablo. Durante cuatro años se sustentó un proyecto intersectorial inspirado en los principios de la Reducción de Daños, que apuntaba a articular acciones de garantía de derechos a vivienda, trabajo/renta y cuidado en la región conocida como “cracolândia”. En mayo de 2017 se realizó una operación policial con la intención de una “limpieza social”, con utilización del pánico moral para atender intereses de especulación inmobiliaria. La violencia y las arbitrariedades contra personas en situación de extrema pobreza y vulnerabilidad social, rotuladas como “adictos al crack”, siguieron por días. Así, una política pública de cuidado, promoción de la salud y de derechos fue sustituida por la represión y violación de derechos.

Arbitrariedades como estas no son exclusivas de Brasil, y casos similares se encuentran en muchos lugares de América Latina, donde la droga funciona como pretexto para la intervención territorial. Ocurren también otras situaciones de violencia estructural, como dificultad de acceso a políticas públicas, asesinatos, encarcelamientos, exposición a enfermedades infectocontagiosas, falta de acceso a medicamentos y a políticas que garantizan la ciudadanía.

Las políticas de Reducción de Daños, en sus esfuerzos por la promoción de la salud, ciudadanía, derecho a la ciudad, justicia social y derechos humanos de las personas que usan drogas, también sufren los efectos de la coyuntura conservadora. El actual modelo de política de drogas opera selectivamente, criminalizando, encarcelando y estigmatizando sobre todo a las poblaciones más pobres, habitantes de regiones periféricas, y de modo diferenciado a personas en situación de calle, negras, indígenas, mujeres y jóvenes.

Las experiencias exitosas de cuidado son opuestas a la violencia intervencionista defendida por las políticas conservadoras. Las evidencias y la acumulación política de la Reducción de Daños rechazan propuestas que no reconozcan la diversidad de la experiencia humana, y que se sirvan apenas de la racionalidad biomédica y de la criminalización de conductas consideradas desviadas. La Reducción de Daños que realizamos en nuestras prácticas cotidianas, en todo el continente, se presenta como alternativa concreta al fracaso de concepciones e intervenciones dicotómicas y simplistas. No obstante, es preciso avanzar aún más en dirección de una Reducción de Daños interseccional, capaz de articular la defensa de la reforma de las políticas de drogas con las luchas de las mujeres, de la población negra, de los pueblos indígenas, LGBTI’s y de las múltiples juventudes.

Ante esto, proponemos una formulación de una Reducción de Daños inserta en un proyecto despenalizador y emancipador, en el que experiencias subjetivas y corporales no sean objeto de acciones represivas y disciplinadoras. La Reducción de Daños, en el actual contexto, es herramienta potente de cuestionamiento de los modelos de control, implicando la afirmación y respeto por la libertad y autonomía de las personas que usan drogas.

Consideramos urgente compartir nuestras experiencias y resistencias, promoviendo intercambios que consoliden nuestra articulación Latinoamericana en defensa de políticas públicas de Reducción de Daños conectadas a la reforma de la política de drogas.

Institutional Program on Alcohol, Crack and other Drugs of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation - PACD/Fiocruz (Brazil)

International Drug Policy Consortium – IDPC

Brazilian Association of Harm Reduction Workers – ABORDA (Brazil)

Brazilian Platform on Drug Policy - PBPD (Brazil)

Brazilian Association of Collective Health – ABRASCO (Brazil)

Brazilian Association of Mental Health – ABRASME (Brazil)

Brazilian Network for Harm Reduction and Human Rights – REDUC (Brazil)

Intercambios Asociación Civil (Argentina)

Asociación Costarricense para el Estudio e Intervención em Drogas – ACEID (Costa Rica)

Acción Técnica Social – ATS (Colombia)

International Network of People who Use Drugs - INPUD

Pares en Acción-Reacción Contra la Exclusión Social - PARCES (Colombia)

Centro Cáritas de Formación para la Atención de las Farmacodependencias y Situaciones Críticas Asociadas (Mexico)

Associação Brasileira Multidisciplinar sobre Drogas - ABRAMD (Brazil)

Grupo Tortura Nunca Mais Rio de Janeiro – GTNM/RJ (Brazil)

Iniciativa Negra por uma Nova Política de Drogas – INNPD (Brazil)

Associação Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré (Brazil)

Agência Piaget para o Desenvolvimento - APDES (Portugal)

Drug Policy Alliance – DPA (United States)

Washington Office on Latin America – WOLA (United States)

International Centre for Science in Drug Policy – ICSDP (Canada)

South Indian Harm Reduction Network – SIHRN (India)

Transform Drug Policy Foundation (United Kingdom)

Union for Improved Services, Communication and Education (Ireland)

Teenswatch Community Harm Reduction (Kenia)

Centro de Prevención de las Adicciones de Bariloche (Argentina)

Fundación Latinoamérica Reforma (Chile)

Centro de Orientación e Investigación Integral - 

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (Jamaica)

Fédération Bruxelloise Francophone des Institutions pour Toxicomane – FEDITO (Belgium)

Association de Lutte Contre le Sida (ALCS)

Región

Traducciones

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Las ONG instan a la Directora Ejecutiva de la ONUDD a celebrar el Día de los Derechos Humanos con un llamamiento a la reforma de las políticas de drogas que perpetúan las desigualdades

Llamado a mantener los derechos de las personas que usan drogas y la reducción de daños en la nueva estrategia de ONUSIDA

Carta de Manguinhos: Una llamada global para proteger la reducción de daños en América Latina