Le parlement italien, soutenu par environ 60 avocats, a signé une motion afin d’initier la procédure pour légaliser le cannabis. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

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An effort to legalise marijuana is getting underway in the Italian parliament, with some 60 lawmakers having signed onto a motion to do just that by the time it was rolled out three weeks ago. Now, the "all party" group is getting to work on the twin tasks of drafting an actual bill and getting it enacted into law.

The effort is being led by Sen. Benedetto Della Vedova, who is also Italy's undersecretary of state for foreign affairs. Della Vedova was a long-time member of the country's Nonviolent Radical Party, but was elected to parliament as a member of the centrist Scelta Civica.

The Radicals are a small but influential party that has called for drug legalization since the 1970s, including for marijuana, and Della Vedova's pot politics go back to the last century as well. He and other Radicals were arrested for publicly distributing hashish at an anti-prohibitionist rally in 1995.

They didn't get much political traction then, but times have changed. Della Vedova is a senator, not an agitator; there is support from within the governing coalition and even from within law enforcement; and the Italian public seems to be ready to relax the marijuana laws.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Voici l’Italie : le prochain pays à légaliser le cannabis ? 

Malgré les recommandations du Comité pour que l’Indonésie arrête d’exécuter les prisonniers condamnés pour délits de drogue, le pays a maintenu ces exécutions. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

The UN Human Rights Committee has given Indonesia the lowest possible evaluation for its failure to respond to the Committee’s call in 2013 to stop executing prisoners for drug-related crimes.

After a regular review of Indonesia’s human rights record, the Committee in August 2013 urged the State to reinstate the de facto moratorium on the death penalty and to ensure that, if capital punishment was maintained, it was only for the most serious crimes, which do not include drug-related offences. The Committee also called on Indonesia to review its legislation so offences involving narcotics were not punishable by the death penalty.

In a follow-up evaluation of Indonesia this week, Committee members voiced concern at the recent executions in Indonesia and regretted that the State had not amended its legislation as requested. They awarded Indonesia a rare E grade on the scale of A to E, where A is largely satisfactory and E indicates the measures taken go against the Committee's recommendation.

Indonesia had argued that, given the severe impact and the challenges posed by drug-related crimes to the nation’s survival and its young generation, it considered such offences as among the most serious to which the death penalty may apply.

Article 6* of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Indonesia is a State Party, does allow for the death penalty in certain very restricted cases. The Committee has repeatedly stressed that drug-related offences are not such cases and that capital punishment for drug-related offences does not comply with article 6 of the Covenant.

The Human Rights Committee monitors implementation by States Parties of the ICCPR by means of regular review and, where applicable, a follow-up procedure to analyse a State’s response to the most pressing issues.

The Committee also urges all States to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the Covenant, which aims at the abolition of the death penalty. In 2013, it called on Indonesia to do so.

Le Comité des Droits de l’Homme déplore la réponse indonésienne et l’appelle à mettre fin aux exécutions pour délit de drogue

Malgré les preuves soulignant la relation étroite entre les drogues et le développement, celles-ci continuent d’être ignorées dans les politiques relatives à l’agenda sur le développement international post-2015. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Despite a growing understanding of the close relationship between development and drugs, there remains a lack of cohesion in policy moving toward the United Nation’s (UN) post-2015 agenda for international development.

September will mark a watershed moment for the UN and its member states when they formally adopt the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), building on the eight Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) set in 2000.

The 17 targets set to be formalized this year will progress on the MDGs' aims of tackling extreme poverty, hunger, HIV/AIDS, and gender inequality, among others, by ensuring deeper commitments are made to environmental protection, increasing institutional justice and providing lasting prosperity by 2030.

Since the adoption of the MDGs, acknowledgement of just how far reaching drug policy is, and how disastrous out and out prohibition has been in terms of public health, security and development has undoubtedly risen. In a recent report by the UN Development Program (UNDP), the agency underlines how drug control efforts:

"have had harmful collateral consequences: creating a criminal black market; fuelling corruption, violence, and instability; threatening public health and safety; generating large-scale human rights abuses, including abusive and inhumane punishments; and discrimination and marginalization of people who use drugs, indigenous peoples, women, and youth."

Où ancrer la politique des drogues dans les objectifs pour le développement post-2015 ? 

Des initiatives ont émergé dans plusieurs pays latino-américains visant à rééquilibrer la réponse pénale vis-à-vis des drogues. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Around the world, attempts at controlling the use and sale of drugs through criminal sanctions have resulted in extreme levels of incarceration for drug-related offences, serious overcrowding in prisons, deterioration of prison conditions, increased violence inside and outside prison, and depleted resources available for rehabilitation, education or treatment. In Latin America, for example, nearly a third of all detainees are in prison for drug-related offences. However, is the tide turning?

In this last of our expert guest blogs for our anniversary year, Luciana Pol, Senior Fellow on Security and Human Rights at Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) in Argentina welcomes initiatives in several Latin American countries to start to recalibrate the criminal justice response to drugs and welcomes the inclusion of human rights perspectives into next year’s Special Session of the UN General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS) in April 2016.

The so-called “War on Drugs” waged over the last four decades has had a tremendous impact on security operations and judicial and prison systems in Latin America – to the point where nearly one-third of all detainees are incarcerated for non-violent drug-related crimes. The emphasis on drug control through criminal sanctions and police and military action to combat drug trafficking has ravaged many communities, some of which experience levels of violence equivalent to a civil war with tens of thousands of lives lost in recent years. But the ever-increasing involvement of security forces and armed forces has not achieved the goal of these policies, which is to reduce the supply of prohibited substances. The criminal organisations that dominate these illegal markets continue to operate, and they easily replace members who are killed or imprisoned.

Human rights organisations in Latin America have identified many serious impacts on people’s rights stemming from the “War on Drugs”. The fact that so many people are being incarcerated for non-violent drug-related crimes further overpopulates prisons in the region. This situation often leads to a number of related problems: the degradation of detention conditions, increased violence inside penitentiaries, even more limited access to education and proper medical attention, and so on.

Des politiques vouées à l’échec en Amérique Latine: impact sur les prisons et les droits humains 

Vancouver s’apprête à devenir la première ville canadienne où la vente de cannabis sera réglementée et permise, bien que la substance reste interdite dans le pays. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

The plan, which will go to city council Tuesday, specifically ignores the legality of marijuana and instead tries to deal with the astronomical growth of unlicensed dispensaries over the last few years.

Vancouver is about to become the first city in Canada where the business of selling marijuana will be regulated and permitted.

Although the drug is illegal in Canada and technically only available to people by a mail order, prescription system set up by the federal government, the city will permit the operation of dispensaries under a proposed framework that selects which businesses can open and imposes rigid operating conditions.

The proposed regulatory framework, which will take months to implement and still needs council approval, reflects a permissive view by the Vision Vancouver majority that supports access to marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Under Mayor Gregor Robertson’s administration, the city has held off enforcement as the number of unlicensed, unregulated and illegal pot dispensaries skyrocketed during the past two years.

The plan will go to city council Tuesday and specifically ignores the question of legalizing the sale and use of marijuana.

Vancouver deviendra la première ville canadienne à réguler les magasins de cannabis 

L’Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies organisera une Session extraordinaire (UNGASS) sur les drogues du 19 au 21 avril 2016 (UNGASS 2016). C’est l’opportunité la plus importante en quasiment vingt ans d’avoir un débat mondial et de qualité sur la question des drogues. Le rôle bénéfique que peut jouer la société civile dans la préparation de cette rencontre a été largement reconnu par les Nations Unies.

Avec le soutien des Nations Unies, le Comité Viennois des ONG sur les drogues (VNGOC) et le Comité New Yorkais des ONG sur les drogues (NYNGOC) se sont unis pour lancer le Groupe de Travail de la Société Civile (GTSC), pour l’UNGASS 2016. La GTSC a été créé pour garantir la représentation et la coordination de la société civile de façon à porter efficacement les voix des ONG lors de l’UNGASS. Le VNGOC et le NYNGOC ont supervisé la composition du GTSC, de façon à y représenter équitablement tant les différentes zones géographiques que les différentes approches et orientations en matière de politiques des drogues.

Cette enquête mondiale de la société civile en marge de l’UNGASS 2016 a été conçue pour fournir une première analyse du travail de la société civile en matière de drogues, mais aussi évaluer les degrés de conscience, de connaissance et d’intérêt concernant leur participation à l’UNGASS 2016, tant au niveau régional qu’au niveau mondial. Les résultats fourniront un aperçu du travail des ONG investies sur les thématiques liées aux drogues : leurs champs d’expertise, leurs priorités et inquiétudes, ainsi que les bonnes pratiques.

Votre expérience est essentielle dans le processus de préparation de l’UNGASS. Nous vous prions de remplir le questionnaire suivant, ce qui ne vous prendra pas plus de trente minutes et qui nous fournira de précieuses informations à présenter aux décideurs mondiaux aux Nations Unies, pendant la préparation de l’UNGASS et au-delà de cet évènement.

Vos réponses seront confidentielles et les informations susceptibles de vous identifier seront exclusivement dédiées aux archives de la GTSC.

L’UNGASS de 2016: une enquête mondiale pour la société civile

Cette video est un webcast d’un panel de discussions organisé par UN University sur la santé et l’UNGASS de 2016. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Panel discussion, held on 21st April 2015 focused on “Identifying Common Ground on Public Health for the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on the world drug problem 2016 (UNGASS 2016)”. It was organised by United Nations University (UNU).

Webcast: Identifier une approche commune sur la santé publique pour l’UNGASS de 2016

A l’occasion du Congrès, Gloria Lai a souligné les conséquences désastreuses de lois sur les drogues imposant des peines disproportionnées, en mettant l’accent sur les taux d’incarcération et la surpopulation carcérale. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

At the occasion of the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Gloria Lai, IDPC Senior Policy Officer, made a statement on the negative consequences of disproportionately harsh drug laws, and their specific impact on incarceration rates and prison overcrowding. Gloria offered a series of recommendations to promote proportionality of sentencing for drug offences. Please read the full statement below.

To watch the Crime Congress online, please click here.

L’IDPC promeut la réforme des politiques des drogues au congrès onusien sur la criminalité 

huit personnes ont été exécutées pour des délits liés aux drogues

. Malgré des demandes de grâce répétés des membres des familles, des citoyens, des organisations œuvrant pour les droits humains, les Nations Unies, et plusieurs gouvernements d'autres pays, les Australiens Myuran Sukumaran et Andrew Chan, les Nigérians Martin Anderson, Raheem Agbaje Salami, Okwuduli Oyatanze, et Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise, le Brésilién Rodrigo Gularte, et l'Indonésien Zainal Abidin ont été fusillés peu après minuit, heure indonésienne. Le Français Serge Atlaoui bénéficie d'un sursis temporaire et la Philippine Mary Jane Veloso a reçu un sursis de dernière minute.

Les délits pour lesquels ces dix personnes

 ont été condamnés à la peine capitale vont du transport d'héroïne à la tentative de distribuer de la marijuana. Certains étaient jeunes, l'un souffrait de maladie psychique d'autres étaient en situation de nécessité économique. Le Secrétaire Général des Nations Unies, Ban Ki Moon, a appelé l'Indonésie à cesser les exécutions. Il a déclaré que, malgré le fait que les Nations Unies sont opposées à l'application de la peine de mort pour les délits liés aux drogues, plus de 30 pays dans le monde continuent d'appliquer la peine capitale pour des délits liés aux drogues, en exécutant des milliers de personnes par années.

Lire l'intégralité de l'article (en Anglais).

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