Corporación Humanas Colombia is a center for the study and action of feminist policies, whose mission is to promote and defend the human rights of women, humanitarian law and gender justice in Colombia and Latin America.

La Corporación Humanas –Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos y Justicia de Género-, es un centro de estudios y acción política feminista, cuya misión es la promoción y defensa de los derechos humanos de las mujeres, el derecho internacional humanitario y la justicia de género, en Colombia y Latinoamérica. Está conformada por un grupo de mujeres de diversas profesiones de las ciencias sociales, especialmente el derecho, la antropología y las ciencias políticas, que buscan contribuir a la promoción, difusión, defensa y protección de los derechos humanos de las mujeres, en el marco del Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos, del Derecho Humanitario y de la Justicia de Género, así como la promoción y realización de iniciativas que contribuyan a comprender la situación de las mujeres en diferentes contextos y superar las desigualdades de género en los ámbitos político, jurídico, económico, social y cultural. El trabajo de la organización le ha permitido participar en proceso de formación y difusión de hallazgos y recomendaciones encontradas a partir del trabajo investigativo en torno a los derechos de las mujeres, niñas y adolescentes. En el marco de su accionar ha desarrollado investigaciones que identifican los obstáculos que enfrentan las mujeres para acceder a la justicia y permiten realizar recomendaciones y observaciones para asegurar el derecho a vivir una vida libre de violencias. Esta experticia le ha permitido participar en procesos de capacitación, formación y difusión de las investigaciones, dirigidos a operadoras y operadores jurídicos, funcionarias y funcionarios públicos con la finalidad de que estos cuenten con la perspectiva y conocimiento de la problemática que enfrentan las mujeres y niñas victimas a causa de discriminación y puedan aplicar estos conocimientos a actuaciones de atención y orientación, así como a sus decisiones administrativas, investigativas y judiciales.

Corporación Humanas Colombia est un centre d'études et d'action politique féministe, dont la mission est de promouvoir et de défendre des droits fondamentaux des femmes, le droit international humanitaire et la justice de genre, en Colombie et en Amérique latine.

Corporación Humanas Colombia

Women are disproportionately affected by the prison industrial complex and repressive drug laws. Gender inequality, poverty, marginalisation and weak governance/criminal justice systems compound this situation.

In this interactive workshop, participants will share lived experiences of incarceration and bolster collective power to advocate for prison/drug policy reform with a strong feminist and intersectional perspective. It will be co-organised with formerly incarcerated women and feature interactive discussions to raise awareness of the impact of incarceration on women, and promote inspiring and forward-looking options for reform.

Organised by the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Equis Justicia para las Mujeres, WHRIN, IDPC, WOLA, Mujeres Libres and Corporacion Humanas Colombia.

Voices from the frontlines: Bolstering collective power to end the incarceration of women worldwide

In this submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on health, IDPC, Corporación Humanas Colombia, and Penal Reform International provide some examples of the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the sexual and reproductive health of incarcerated women, with a focus on period poverty.

Approximately 740,000 women are deprived of liberty across the world. An estimated 35% of them are in prison for drug offences, though that percentage is much higher in the countries with larger female prison populations, particularly in the Americas, and in South East Asia.

The world’s prison systems have been built by, and for, men. Women's specific needs are routinely ignored and deprioritised. One of the best examples of this trend is the disregard for the right to sexual and reproductive health of women deprived of liberty. This submission focuses on a particular aspect of this problem: the lack of access to menstrual health products, such as sanitary towels, for women who are in prison – also known as period poverty.

Even before the pandemic, in many countries women deprived of liberty had to rely on their family for the supply of menstrual health products, or for money to buy such products within prisons themselves.

When the pandemic hit these prison systems, the preferred response by many authorities was to completely cut off any visits and contact between prisons and the community, thus leaving women deprived of liberty with no access to the most basic menstrual health products.

Drawing on several country examples, and particularly on the research of Corporación Humanas Colombia, this submission explains this phenomenon, and how it constitutes a serious breach of the right to sexual and reproductive health of women deprived of liberty.

Period poverty in prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic: Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on health

Latin American prisons are among the most overcrowded in the world and generally do not have the capacity to effectively prevent, test and treat COVID-19. Although several countries in the region have announced measures to reduce the prison population, planned releases are insufficient, delayed in implementation, and in several cases arbitrarily exclude categories of people, such as those imprisoned for drug offences.

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, civil society in the region had been working for years in social, political and legal advocacy to improve conditions inside prisons, as well as to reform the criminal justice system and reduce the growing rates of incarceration. In the face of the current COVID-19 crisis, these same networks have mobilised to promote the reduction of the prison population, in several cases with success. Although the strategies take place in different political and legal contexts, civil society in the region faces common challenges, such as difficulties in establishing clear criteria and release mechanisms, the high percentage of people detained for drug offences, and the slowness of governments to proceed with the release of those who should be released according to the announced criteria.

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This event will include the participation of representatives of these networks, particularly people who have been directly affected by the serious situation in the region's prisons and the excessive use of prison in Latin America.

Claudia Cardona, Psychologist for the Corporación Humanas and leader of Mujeres Libres, Colombia

Andrea Casamento, President of the Asociación Civil de Familiares de Detenidos (ACIFAD), Argentina

Luciana Boiteux, Lawyer and Professor at the Law School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and coordinator of the Drug Policy Section of the Institute of Criminal Sciences, Brazil

Beatriz Maldonado Cruz, Leader of Mujeres Unidas por la Libertad, Mexico

Paula Litvachky, Executive Director of the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Argentina

Rodrigo Uprimny, Senior Researcher at Dejusticia and professor at the National University of Colombia.

COVID-19: Strategies to reduce the prison population in Latin America

No mês de abril de 2019, o presidente do Brasil, Jair Bolsonaro, decretou o fim das políticas públicas de Redução de Danos no país, reforçando a guerra as drogas

. A guerra as drogas é sempre uma guerra contra as pessoas, contra a saúde, contra direitos e contra a ciência.

A decisão do atual presidente potencializa a estigmatização das pessoas que usam drogas e fomenta a militarização dos territórios compostos pela população mais vulnerável, autorizando uma verdadeira chacina de pobres e negros das periferias das cidades brasileiras.

A delegação brasileira presente a 26 edição da Conferência Internacional de Redução de Danos, realizada em Portugal, na cidade do Porto, pede o apoio da comunidade internacional para assegurar a manutenção das políticas de redução de danos no Brasil e as conquistas que essas políticas produziram ao longo dos últimos trinta anos.

1. Acción Semilla, Bolívia
2. Acción Andina, Bolívia
3. Acción Técnica Social (ATS), Colombia
4. Andean Information Network, Bolivia
5. Asociación Costarricense para el Estudio e Intervención en Drogas (ACEID), Costa Rica
6. Baltimore County Health Department in the Harm Reduction Program Syringe Services Program, EUA
7. CAFAC y Cultura Joven A.C., México
8. Campaña por la Descriminalización de las Personas Usuarias de Drogas en Bolivia
9. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales, Argentina
10. Centro de Orientación e Investigación Integral (COIN), República Dominicana
11. Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos
12. Corporación Humanas, Colombia
13. Drug Policy Alliance, EUA
14. Ecuador Cannábico, Equador
15. Elementa DDHH, Colombia
16. Enlace, Espanha
17. Estudiantes por una Política Sensata de Drogas (EPSD), Bolivia
18. Federación Andaluza ENLACE
19. Frontline AIDS
20. Harm Reduction Coalition, EUA
21. Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center in Honolulu, HI, EUA
22. International Harm Reduction Association, Inglaterra
23. Instituto RIA (Mexico)
24. Intercambios Asociacion Civil, Argentina
25. Intercambios, Porto Rico
26. Latinoamérica Reforma, Chile
27. Law Enforcement Action Partnership, EUA
28. MUCD, Mexico
29. Observatorio de Cultivos y Cultivadores Declarados ilícitos (OCCDI), Colômbia
30. Open Aid Alliance's, EUA
31. Programa Libertas, Bolívia
32. Temblores ONG, Colombia
33. The Association for Humane Drug Policy, Noruega
34. Transnational Institute - Drugs & Democracy Programme, Holanda
35. Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), EUA

Declaração das organizações da sociedade civil sobre Brasil em HR19

In April 2019, the president Jair Bolsonaro declared the end of Harm Reduction public policies in Brazil, reinforcing the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs HAS ALWAYS BEEN a war against people, against Public Health, against Human Rights and against Science.

This decision worsens the stigmatization of people who use drugs. It also fosters the militarization of neighbourhoods composed of the most vulnerable populations; authorizing murder and imprisonment of poor and black people from the favelas and other marginalized regions of our cities.

The Brazilian delegation, present at the 26th International Conference on Harm Reduction held in Portugal in the city of Porto, requests the support of the international community to ensure the continuation of harm reduction policies in Brazil and the recognition of the achievements these policies have made over the last thirty years.

Brazil Statement at HR19

This report presents Colombia's experience in the implementation of the current drug policy with the purpose of contributing to the debates that will take place in the international arena over the next decade about how to address problems related to substances declared illicit To this end, the coalition Actions for Change shows the progress that has been made in Colombia in relation to the goals set out in the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action, describes the repercussions over the past ten years of the current policy on the rights of persons in Colombian territory, highlights good drug policy practices in the country, and identifies the risks and challenges faced in this area.

Colombia's experience in drug policy in the last decade

Cesar Gaviria Trujillo
Ex-president of the Republic of Colombia
Member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy

The undersigned organisations express our deep concern about your endorsement of a presidential candidate that promotes drug policy proposals contradictory to the recommendations made by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, of which you are a member. The Commission’s recommendations are crucial for the transition process in which Colombia finds itself and in order to achieve the transformation of a policy that requires structural change – the reason for which the Commission was created in 2011.

To date, the Global Commission has published 7 reports that have promoted:

Breaking the taboo: Promoting an open debate and policies that effectively reduce consumption, as well as prevent and reduce the harms related to drug use and drug control policies. This includes increased investment in the research and analysis of the impact of different policies and programmes.

Replacing the criminalisation and punishment of people who use drugs with the provision of health services and treatment for those who need them, including harm reduction programmes.

Eliminating criminal punishments for peasants and day laborers involved in the drug market by participating in the cultivation, processing, transportation or sale of drugs as a means of subsistence for their families; policies should instead focus on long-term socio-economic development efforts.

Encouraging governments to experiment with models for the legal regulation of drugs (like cannabis) that are designed to undermine the power of organised crime and safeguard the health and safety of citizens.

The proposed drug policy included in the government programme that you – and the party which you lead — have publicly supported are contrary to the Global Commission’s recommendations and the evidence from available research. The proposal:

Does not support drug policy change, although this is the reason for the existence of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Opposes the core elements of point 4 in the peace agreement.

Calls for the return of forced eradication strategies such as aerial spraying, which has proven to be ineffective in containing or reducing the cultivation of crops declared to be illicit.

Fails to embrace harm reduction as a strategy to protect the health of people who use drugs, while the Commission’s recommendation, based on a public health approach, has been precisely the opposite.

Proposes the prohibition of a ‘personal dose’, which in practice criminalises people who use drugs.

Opposes voluntary crop substitution, while supporting the return of aerial fumigation and the implementation of hard-line policies towards growers, while the Commission has recommended reducing the harms related to drug control policies in rural areas.

Does not agree with market regulation strategies, including that of medicinal cannabis.

It is also important to highlight that the Global Commission was explicitly included as an international monitor for the implementation of point four in the peace agreement between the government and FARC, which refers specifically to drug policy. This is particularly worrisome given that the government plan that you publicly support includes the revision and modification of point four of the accord.

We express deep concern that the positions that you have taken regarding drug policy in Colombia, despite your role as a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, weakens the role that the Commission may play with regards to the Colombian peace process.

We ask that you clarify your stance on the drug policy proposals made by the presidential candidate in question, that you state your position on these proposals, and consider whether that implies a change in your position with respect to those taken by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

In conclusion, the peace process currently underway in Colombia necessitates a transformation of drug policy, along the lines of the recommendations provided by the Global Commission. The presidential candidate that you and your party have publicly supported contradicts everything that the Commission defends and proposes drug policies whose effectiveness have proven to be counterproductive for the protection and the guarantee of human rights of the people involved in illegal economies.

The civil society organizations listed below as signatories will continue working to support peace in Colombia, accompanied by a transformation in drug policy that is consistent with human rights, health, development and social justice.

Open letter to Cesar Gaviria on the upcoming Colombian elections

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

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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

Ensaio Fotográfico e novo sitio na internet pretendem dar visibilidade aos custos sociais de políticas repressivas falidas, com foco no gênero

Na semana passada, em Washington-DC, o Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), junto ao Consórcio Internacional de Política de Drogas International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), e o Center for Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia) anunciaram o lançamento de um novo website investigativo e um ensaio de fotos para dar maior visibilidade aos custos humanos e sociais da política de drogas atual nas Américas. O sítio na internet, que dá destaque ao trabalho de um grupo de especialistas internacionais, traz dados atualizados de pesquisas e análises com destaques para as tendências relacionadas com gênero e opções de reforma legislativa, enquanto o ensaio de fotos photo essay mostra os custos humanos dessas políticas nas mulheres da América Latina. O projeto inclui especialistas de todo o hemisfério (e de fora dele), incluindo Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, Costa Rica, Equador, México, Puerto Rico, e dos Estados Unidos, Grã Bretanha e Uruguai.

Para acessar o site investigativo, clique aqui

Para ver o ensaio fotográfico, clique aqui

Mulheres das Américas estão sendo encarceradas a uma taxa alarmante por delitos de drogas de menor importância e não-violentos. Na Argentina, Brasil e Costa Rica, mais de 60 por cento da população carcerária feminina está nessa condição por crimes ligados ao tráfico de drogas; no Equador, este número alcança 80%. A vasta maioria dessas mulheres não está presa por tráfico em larga escala, mas apenas por tarefas que envolvem o transporte de pequenas quantidades com alto risco de prisão, como por transportarem drogas para o interior das prisões.

Essa opção de política criminal repressiva é a causa do incremento do número de prisões de mulheres (no Brasil o crescimento do número de mulheres presas (131%) foi o dobro da taxa masculina, entre 2005-2012) e tem como efeito direto a separação das famílias, impondo ainda esforços árduos dessas mulheres para encontrar um emprego decente no mercado formal, depois de terem cumprido suas penas, diante do estigma de ex-presidiárias que carregam, perpetuando um ciclo vicioso de desespero e encarceramento.

“O impacto devastador do encarceramento sobre essas mulheres e suas famílias, bem como sobre as comunidades onde elas moram apontam para a necessidade imediata de reformas das leis de drogas que têm servido de base para sentenças excessivamente pesadas e desproporcionais contra elas”

 afirma Rodrigo Uprimny, Diretor da ONG Dejusticia e ex-membro da Corte Constitucional da Colômbia.

 “É urgente que se implemente alternativas ao encarceramento desses autoras de pequenos crimes, praticados sem violência, especialmente aquelas que pertencem aos setores mais vulneráveis da sociedade”.

O grupo de trabalho internacional, que inclui funcionários de governos, advogados, pesquisadores e ativistas irá desenvolver um guia que recomenda estratégias para a reforma de políticas públicas dirigidas a mulheres presas por crimes ligados a drogas. Essas orientações servirão para avançar em políticas alternativas que protejam os direitos dessas mulheres e ainda contribuam para se por um fim ao encarceramento em massa de pessoas por crimes não violentos ligados a drogas.

Para complementar esse Guia, WOLA criou um ensaio fotográfico para mostrar os custos humanos da atual política de drogas nas Américas. As fotos contam estórias de quarto mulheres, cada uma delas proporcionando uma visão única sobre o preocupante e profundo ciclo de pobreza, envolvimento com pequenos delitos de drogas, prisão e reincidência para o qual mulheres são frequentemente levadas.

A política de drogas atual encheu as prisões da região com pequenos delinquentes, não violentos, enquanto os grandes cabeças das organizações do tráfico de drogas continuam livres

”, afirma Coletta Youngers, Assessora Sênior de WOLA. Nischa Pieris acrescenta que “

Essas estórias expressam um cenário de vulnerabilidade, desespero e encarceramento nas Américas. Embora as narrativas particulares tenham ocorrido na Costa Rica, tais estórias são perturbadoramente comuns em toda a região

”. Youngers e Pieris são as co-coordenadoras do Projeto.

As narrativas são baseadas em entrevistas feitas com mulheres que estavam ou que tinham sido encarceradas na Penitenciária Buen Pastor, em Costa Rica. Mais de 90 por centro das mulheres encarceradas têm mais de três filhos, o que agrava ainda mais a situação diante das dificuldades quase insuperáveis de sustento dessas crianças enquanto suas mães estão atrás das grades. Essas estórias foram escolhidas por sua representatividade dos perfis observados de mulheres encarceradas em todo o hemisfério.

International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), Dejusticia, e WOLA trabalham em colaboração com OAS Inter-American Commission of Women, a Costa Rican Association for the Study and Intervention in Drugs (ACEID), e Corporación Humanas, da Colômbia.

“Esse projeto tem por objetivo providenciar recursos úteis para políticos, grupos e governos que queiram promover políticas mais humanas e efetivas para mulheres encarceradas por pequenos delitos de drogas” 

afirma Marie Nougier, Pesquisadora e coordenadora de comunicação do IDPC. “

Nós trabalhamos para assegurar que a prisão seja apenas o ultimo recurso utilizado como punição para mulheres vulneráveis envolvidas com o pequeno tráfico, propondo o uso de intervenções que, ao contrário da prisão, possam reduzir os fatores pessoais e socioeconômicos de risco que as levaram a se envolver com o tráfico de drogas em primeiro lugar

Luciana Boiteux, professora de Direito Penal da UFRJ e pesquisadora associada ao Projeto afirma que “

a realidade retratada nas entrevistas é bem semelhante a das presas por drogas no Brasil, onde prevalece a opção pela pena de prisão, em detrimento de alternativas

a guerra contra as drogas, em todo o continente, é uma guerra contra os mais vulneráveis, mas atinge especialmente, em nosso país, de forma irreparável, mulheres pobres, negras e mães, a maioria delas responsável pelo sustento da casa, portanto, ao se prender uma mulher, os filhos são igualmente afetados pela sua ausência, especialmente os menores, causando graves danos sociais, por isso temos que pensar urgente na reforma dessa cruel política

O site ainda não está traduzido para o português mas até a conclusão do projeto deverá ser incluída a versão para essa língua. Do Brasil, participam do projeto a Prof. Luciana Boiteux, da UFRJ e membro da Rede Pense Livre e a Dra. Valdirene Dalfemback, diretora de Políticas Penitenciárias do Departamento Penitenciário Nacional do Ministério da Justiça.

Jessamine Bartley-Matthews
Communications Officer, WOLA
+1 (202) 797-2171
press@wola.org

Corporación Humanas Colombia

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