The IHF is an NGO working for the reduction of the harms to health among drug users and sex workers, and for their acceptance and equality in society. We carry out direct services for these target groups, train professionals and advocacy actions for policy change in Bulgaria.

IHF es una ONG que trabaja para reducir los daños de salud asociados con los usuarios de drogas y los trabajadores sexuales, y para promover su inclusión social. IHF proporciona servicios directamente a estos grupos, ofrece formaciones a profesionales y desarrolla políticas de incidencia para influenciar la política de drogas en Bulgaria.

L’IHF est une ONG travaillant sur la réduction des risques sanitaires parmi les usagers de drogues et les prostitué(e)s, et leur intégration sociale. L’IHF offre des services directement à ces groupes ciblés, elle forme des professionnels et mène une campagne de sensibilisation pour un changement de politique en Bulgarie.

Initiative for Health Foundation (IHF)

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

The young man was diagnosed 12 years ago with multiple sclerosis, and after a few months his condition started to worsen. After lengthy internet research, and several consultations with medical doctors, he decided to take his own action. He began using marijuana extract to manage the symptoms of this incurable disease. In the beginning, he was buying cannabis from street dealers, but he was worried about the quality of the substance, and he wasn`t sure if it was the right type or contained other illegal substances. That`s why he decided to grow his own cannabis plants.

Kalchev was arrested on the 26th April 2013 for growing two cannabis plants at his home. After a long police investigation and public trial, he was acquitted on 26th of March 2014. Three medical expert witnesses concluded that use of medical marijuana moderated MS symptoms, decreased feelings of fatigue and stiffness, and favorably affected Marin Kalchev’s general condition. The judge, Galja Mihailova, concluded that he had committed the crime under conditions of extreme necessity, in order to improve his health.

The court decision became extremely popular on social networks and online media, and attracted huge support within Bulgarian society.

Medical Marijuana (no) Precedent in Bulgaria

People who use drugs, often comit small crimes to obtain money for the substance. In Bulgaria there are about 2,000 drug users in prison, about 20% of all prisoners. Society expects that the prison "will do" - will punish and correct unwanted behavior. But drug dependence should be treated as a health issue. Could the drug-crime cycle be interrupted if these people had the chance to receive treatment instead of prison? "

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

Initiative for Health Foundation video

On the 7th – 8th November 2013, the Global Fund’s Board will consider revisions to the Eligibility, Counterpart Financing and Prioritization Policy (ECFP), based upon recommendations from its Strategy Impact and Investment Committee (SIIC). While some of these recommendations are positive; others, if adopted without changes, would have negative consequences for middle-income countries (MICs) and particularly regions with MICs such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

We – the organizations representing civil society and including communities of people living with these diseases, i.e. key affected populations from different countries and regions - are deeply concerned about these recommendations and would like to share with Global Fund Board members our position on several critical issues that should be considered by the Board during its deliberations.

Joint statement of civil society organisations to the Global Fund

Just days after cannabis was legalised in Colorado and Washington states, regulation of weed became a new hot issue in Bulgaria, after two fundamentally different poll results were published.

The National Centre for Public Opinion Research conducted a poll among 1000 adults from 86 communities, concluding that 81% of Bulgarians are opposed to the legalisation of marijuana. At the same time one of the most popular Bulgarian television stations took its own poll, and reached a completely different conclusion. Their figures indicate that 85.65% of those questioned support the legalisation of cannabis.

The truth is probably somewhere between what the government and the poll it commissioned claims. On one hand, it seems likely that the evidence-based information available online for those who speak foreign languages does not reach the majority of Bulgarian society. On the other hand, the older population, who used to live under communist rule, tends to connect drugs with crime and see them as a sign of “modern social decline”. Also, the majority of the population take their information from newspapers and television, which tend to only cover the criminal aspect of drug-use; a perfect way to strengthen stigma against people using drugs.

Bulgaria after US marijuana legalization

During its annual meeting in Vienna in March 2012, the Drug Policy Network in South East Europe decided to publish a quarterly Newsletter for a more regular communication between the Network organisations.

The Newsletter was prepared and published by Diogenis, Drug Policy Dialogue in South East Europe, in collaboration with the members of the South East Europe Drug Policy Network. Each newsletter focuses on two or three countries in the region, for which updates are provided on issues related to drug policy reform, criminal justice, social and health programmes and human rights.

The first edition of the Newsletter provides updates on drug policy developments in Albania and Greece.

http://www.diogenis.info/index.php?menu_id=3c34fe9e-8120-11e0-822c-1c0ce76237ea&language=en

Initiative for Health Foundation (IHF)

Region

Translations

Related Content

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

Medical Marijuana (no) Precedent in Bulgaria

Initiative for Health Foundation video

Joint statement of civil society organisations to the Global Fund

Bulgaria after US marijuana legalization

Newsletter No. 1 of the South East Europe Drug Policy Network