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Drug Law Reform, Human Rights

Decolonizing drug policy: Perspectives from the Americas and Asia

25 January 2021 17:30-18:30 Online

19 January 2021

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The Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic have laid bare the structural inequities within and across societies. Like healthcare, housing and criminal justice, drug policy too bears the marks of racism and colonialism. The brunt of punitive and prohibitive drug policies has long been borne by indigenous people and people of color across the world. How are these policies being challenged globally? Can decriminalization and legalization undo the harms of racist and imperialist drug wars? What does a truly decolonized global drug policy look like? Join a panel of speakers from the US, Latin America and Asia to discuss these questions, and to imagine a fair and just future for drug policy.

Panelists: 
• Rev. Charles Boyer, Founding Director, Salvation and Social Justice
• Isabel Pereira, Drug Policy Research Coordinator, DeJusticia
• Ricky Gunawan, Program Officer—Asia, Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Foundations

Moderated by Kasia Malinowska, Director of the Global Drug Policy Program at Open Society Foundations and part-time lecturer at The New School.

Presented by the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at the Schools of Public Engagement and the Global Drug Program at the Open Society Foundations. 

Register here

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Unsplash - Martin Reisch

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    Related profiles

    Ricky Gunawan

    Ricky Gunawan is a human rights lawyer and the Director of LBH Masyarakat, Indonesia. LBH Masyarakat provides free legal services for people who use drugs, advocates for drug policy reform, and assists people facing the death penalty/execution (including drug offenders). Ricky leads LBH Masyarakat pioneering legal empowerment movement which now has been adopted by a number of drug users/harm reduction organizations in Indonesia. He has been at the forefront of drug policy reform movement in Indonesia. He litigates on behalf of people who use drugs to access treatment, trains drug users to be community paralegals, regularly writes and provides analysis on the issue of drug laws/policies, and helps elevate the community’s voice to international fora. He holds MA in Theory and Practice of Human Rights, from the University of Essex, UK.

    View profile

    Open Society Foundations (OSF)

    The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens.

    View profile

    Isabel Pereira

    IDPC Team

    Isabel is a political scientist from the University de Los Andes of Colombia (2008), and holds a Master’s Degree in Development Studies, with emphasis on conflict and peace building from the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies, Switzerland (2015). Her research focus is on the impact of drug policies on rural development, public health, and armed conflict. She is currently the research coordinator for the Drug Policy area at the Center for the Study of Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia), and is concentrating on mapping access to controlled medicines in Colombia and advocating for the right to health for populations affected by restricted availability.

    View profile

    Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch

    Director, Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Foundations

    View profile

    • Subject
      • Human rights
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      • Drug law reform
      • Decriminalisation
      • COVID-19
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      • East and South East Asia
    • Profile
      • Ricky Gunawan
      • Open Society Foundations (OSF)
      • Isabel Pereira
      • Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch

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    Open Society Foundations Robert Carr Fund

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