CUT aims to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in Mauritius through the provision of harm reduction strategies for people who use drugs.

CUT se propone mitigar el impacto del VIH/SIDA en Mauricio a través de la provisión de servicios de reducción de daños para usuarios de drogas.

CUT vise à atténuer l'impact du VIH/sida à l’Ile Maurice en promouvant des stratégies de réduction des risques pour les usagers de drogues.

Collectif Urgence Toxida (CUT)

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.

NGOs urge UNODC's Executive Director to mark Human Rights Day with a call to reform drug policies that entrench inequality

LONDON (2nd August 2016) – Civil society groups from across the globe, 

have called on UN drug control authorities to urge an immediate stop to the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders in the Philippines. Since 10th May 2016, more than 700 people have been killed by police and vigilantes in the Philippines for being suspected of using or dealing drugs, as a direct result of recently-elected President Duterte’s campaign to eradicate crime within six months.

Until now, however, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) – the UN agencies responsible for global drug control – have failed to condemn the Philippines for these gross human rights violations committed in the name of drug control.

375 non-governmental organisations today sent an open letter to the UNODC Executive Director, Mr. Yury Fedotov, and the INCB President, Mr. Werner Sipp, asking them to take immediate action aimed at putting a stop to the extrajudicial killings.

“We are calling on the UN drug control bodies to publicly condemn these atrocities in the Philippines. This senseless killing cannot be justified as a drug control measure”, said Ann Fordham, Executive Director of the International Drug Policy Consortium. “Their silence is unacceptable, while people are being killed on the streets day after day”, she continued.

The open letter asks the UNODC and the INCB to call on President Duterte to:

Immediately end the incitements to kill people suspected of using or dealing drugs,

Act to fulfil international human rights obligations, such as the rights to life, health, due process and a fair trial, as set out in the human rights treaties ratified by the Philippines,

Promote evidence-based, voluntary treatment and harm reduction services for people who use drugs instead of compulsory rehabilitation in military camps, and

Not to reinstate the death penalty for drug offences.

Senior Research and Communications Officer

*******************************************

Key data on the Philippines drug policy crisis:

President Rodrigo Duterte was elected President on 30th May 2016 and began his presidential term on 30th June. He declared a war on drugs in which both police and civilians are encouraged to kill drug user/traffickers

704 people have been killed between the 10th of May 2016 to the 29th of July 2016 (ABS CBN News)

Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said 60,000 drug dependents have surrendered to authorities (Daily Mail).

Statements by international human rights groups:

Amnesty International, 10th May: Philippines: New President should break cycle of human rights violations, not compound them

Amnesty International, 30 June: Philippines: President Duterte must break the cycle of human rights violations

Human Rights Watch, 25th July: President Duterte’s Mixed Messages on Rights in the Philippines

Human Rights Watch, 12th July: Philippine Officials Shrug at Surge in Drug Killings

Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates & Citizen’s Council for Human Rights, 14th July: Stop the bloodshed, human rights defenders tell Duterte

Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates & Citizen’s Council for Human Rights, 14th July: Extra Judicial Killings: Normalizing Criminality Under the Guise of Peace and Order

Drug Policy Alliance, 25th July: Philippines President Makes Good on Pledge to Mass Murder People Who Use or Sell Drugs, Calls for "No Mercy" in State of the Nation Address

Asian Network of People Who Use Drugs & International Network of People Who Use Drugs, July: Philippines: An Entreaty to End the Killing, to End the Poverty and Exclusion

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

Over 300 NGOs call on the United Nations to take immediate action on the hundreds of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders in the Philippines

Mauritius has been quite famous worldwide these recent years regarding the high levels of opiate use in the country. With a prevalence rate of 1.95% of opiate use Mauritius was ranking among the countries with highest levels of opiate use, in line with Iran and the Russian Federation in the late 2000s. At the same time, HIV incidence clearly showed a highly concentrated epidemic.

This situation has urged the authorities to set up health services for key affected populations. Thus, in 2006, Mauritius was the first African State to launch Harm Reduction services like the Needle and Syringe Programme (NSP), as well as the Methadone Substitution Therapy (MST), in a multi-sectorial approach.

However, Collectif Urgence Toxida raises some concerns that the government is seeking to undermine progress made in the area of harm reduction.

CUT position paper on harm reduction programmes in Mauritius

By Kunal Naïk, Advocacy and Communications Officer Collectif Urgence Toxida

Many countries are distancing themselves from the failed War on Drugs, by adopting drug policy reforms that are focusing on human rights, and public health, since the “tough on drugs” approach is not working and represents a massive loss of money that could be used more efficiently and has caused more harm than good.

In the United States of America for example, the country that initiated the failed War on Drugs, 23 States and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and have gone further by making marijuana legal in 4 States so far. Legal marijuana is the fastest-growing industry in the United States and if the trend toward legalization spreads to all 50 states, marijuana could become larger than the organic food industry, according to a new report obtained by The Huffington Post[i].

In 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS), [ii]offering countries around the world including Mauritius, a unique opportunity to adopt a new stance on drug policy and lead the way to implement reforms that will work. It is sad to note that the new Government has chosen to have a Zero Tolerance against Drugs approach. Once again Mauritius will not look towards the future, but rather will focus on methods from the past. Methods that have failed to achieve their aim. This policy is based on the wrong idea that repression is the only method that will actually lead to a “Drug Free World”.

Adopting repressive strategies will prove detrimental in the long run. The Government of Mauritius needs to understand what The Global Commission on Drugs clearly states in its report, that is, the global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals, communities and societies around the world.[iii] Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption. Repressive efforts directed at consumers impede public health measures to reduce HIV/AIDS, overdose fatalities and other harmful consequences of drug use. Government expenditures on futile supply reduction strategies and incarceration displace more cost-effective and evidence-based investments in demand and harm reduction.

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

Why a zero tolerance approach against drugs will fail 

In February, IDPC held a meeting in the UK with some of its members to review its mission, vision and strategy for the coming three years, and to empower a group of individuals to speak on behalf of the Consortium at events and conferences. Representatives of civil society organisations from France, Romania, Portugal, Lebanon, Albania, Mauritius and the UK were present, together with other partner organisations, to brainstorm an effective way forward with regards to IDPC’s work.

The recognition of IDPC as an international strategic partner by UN agencies and other major stakeholders, and the growing number of members globally was acknowledged by the participants, and IDPC’s achievements over the past three years were discussed – as well as the organisation’s role in the coming years. This exercise was facilitated using the “Theory of Change” approach – an organisational capacity-building tool that helped the participants in identifying the different outcomes that encompass the vision of IDPC, as well as the different activities related to each outcome. This exercise also helped to identify potential allies, opportunities and threats in reaching the vision of IDPC.

The two-day meeting was also an opportunity for IDPC to introduce its new Drug Policy Training Toolkit tool to the participants, which has been developed alongside the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN). The Toolkit aims to build the capacity of civil-society organisations as well as policy makers in terms of advocating for drug policy reform. It has been designed in such a way that trainers can tailor-make their agendas to reflect the time available and the audiences.

The participants tried out some of the exercises from the Toolkit, including one particularly entertaining activity where different groups created “Trees” of good and bad drug policies: each with a trunk (the policy), roots (the underlying rationales), branches (the consequences), fruits (the positive outcomes) and worms (the threats)! We also played out several interesting role-plays as part of an advocacy meeting exercise.

This workshop was a great opportunity for several members of IDPC to be part of the organisation’s strategic thinking, paving the way for the future mission of IDPC. Alongside the meetings and trainings, this workshop was also an opportunity for partners from different regions across the world to meet and share about their best practices, thus strengthening the network of civil society organisations engaged in drug policy reform and related fields.

CUT is an organisation working in harm reduction in Mauritius. Established since 2006, it now reaches out to approximately 2,000 people who inject drugs through its needle and syringe programme. It also has a major advocacy role to play, and organises a national conference on harm reduction every two years.

IDPC workshop: Being part of the process

Five years after the introduction of Harm Reduction services in Mauritius, it seemed opportune to gather the stakeholders working in the field of substance use for a reflection on the intellectual premise of Harm Reduction. At the core of Harm Reduction is the respect for human rights, including for People Who Use Drugs (PWUDs) and a concern for public health. Thus, a comprehensive Harm Reduction policy is one that ought to privilege the rights and well being of the client, hence the theme of this conference.

Over the three days of the conference, experts and practitioners from Mauritius, the Indian Ocean and beyond participated in a series of sessions touching on different aspects of Harm Reduction.

Read more information at the file attached

Collectif Urgence Toxida (CUT)

Region

Translations

Related Content

NGOs urge UNODC's Executive Director to mark Human Rights Day with a call to reform drug policies that entrench inequality

Over 300 NGOs call on the United Nations to take immediate action on the hundreds of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders in the Philippines

CUT position paper on harm reduction programmes in Mauritius

Why a zero tolerance approach against drugs will fail

IDPC workshop: Being part of the process

Responding to the needs of harm reduction clients for more effective service delivery