Towards a Harm Reduction Decade: Human Rights, Development, Health and the Future of UN Drug Policy

In 1998, the international community gathered at the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs in New York under the slogan 'A Drug Free World – We Can Do It!' Since that time, rather than achieving a world without drugs, what we have witnessed instead is the increasing damage caused by punitive drug control in all corners of the world.

The world needs alternatives to these failed and counterproductive policies. In April 2016, leaders will again meet in New York at another UNGASS on drugs, an event that offers the opportunity to learn from the policies of the past, and build an alternative response to drug use that is rooted in science, public health, human rights and dignity.

The Parliamentary briefing offers an opportunity to hear from speakers what impact the punitive approach to drugs had on development, human rights and public health; raise awareness among MPs and peers of the upcoming UNGASS on drugs and its challenges and to brief MPs and peers on national and international opportunities for UNGASS on drugs advocacy.

The Parliamentary briefing will take place on Tuesday 12 January at 10 AM in the House of Commons (IPU room) and is hosted by the APPG on Human Rights, APPG for Drug Policy Reform and the APPG on HIV/AIDS. The event is free to attend.

The event will be chaired by Dr Paul Monaghan MP. Speakers include:

MP/Peer – TBC

• Maria Phelan – Deputy Director, Harm Reduction International

Mike Podmore – Executive Director, STOPAIDS (TBC)

Eric Gutierrez - Senior Adviser, Accountable Governance, Christian Aid

At the Parliamentary briefing we will be asking MPs and Peers to endorse the Harm Reduction Decade Declaration.

Find out more information about this event here.

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