BANGKOK (16 March 2018) – The UN Human Rights Office for South-East Asia condemns the execution of Singaporean national Hishamrudin bin Mohd for a drug-related offence this morning, expressing concerns that he had not been able to file a clemency petition. “Under international law, the death penalty may only be used for ‘the most serious crimes’ which has been interpreted to mean only crimes involving intentional killing,” said the Office’s Regional Representative, Cynthia Veliko. “Drug-related offences do not fall under this threshold. We deeply regret that in 2017, eight individuals were executed for drug-related offences in Singapore, which is a sharp increase from previous years. We have also received information that there was another execution for drug-related offences last Friday, bringing the total known figure to two executions so far in 2018,” she said.

On Monday, Mr. Hishamrudin’s family was informed that he would be executed on 16 March 2018. They were also informed that the petition for clemency had been rejected, although they had not yet filed a proper clemency petition on his case. Mr. Hishamrudin, 57, was arrested and charged with two offences for possessing a total of 38.50 grams of a pure form of heroin on 7 October 2010. He has consistently maintained his innocence, and claimed to have no knowledge of the nature of the drugs, nor that he possessed them for the purposes of trafficking. On 6 April 2016, Mr. Hishamrudin was convicted and sentenced to death under section 33B of the Misuse of Drugs Act. On 3 July 2017, his appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

UN Human Rights Office condemns execution for drug-related offences in Singapore

КПИ является самым молодым правозащитным комитетом в системе ООН — Конвенция по правам инвалидов вступила в силу лишь в 2008 году. Сейчас под документом стоит подпись 147 участников.

Россия ратифицировала Конвенцию в 2012 году. В соответствии со статьей 35 Конвенции, правительство подало в КПИ свой первый доклад о выполнении ее положений, который и был рассмотрен в 2018 году. Тогда же Фонд имени Андрея Рылькова (ФАР), выступая в качестве Секретариата российского механизма мониторинга реформы наркополитики, подал свой 

, где обозначил проблемы, с которыми люди с инвалидностью сталкиваются в связи с репрессивной наркополитикой государства.

В докладе отмечалось, что в 2013 году в России числились более 1 млн людей с инвалидностью в связи с психическим расстройством (ЛИПР), а наркопотребителей насчитывалось, по разным данным, от двух до семи миллионов.

В отсутствие точной статистики вывод о масштабе числа ЛИПР, употребляющих наркотики, можно сделать из данных Всемирной организации здравоохранения (ВОЗ), согласно которым распространенность потребления среди людей, страдающих от психических заболеваний, не меньше, чем среди тех, у кого таких заболеваний нет, либо из статистики других стран — в Канаде, к примеру, как минимум 20% ЛИПР имеют проблемы с употреблением психоактивных веществ. При этом, ВОЗ, Всемирная психиатрическая ассоциация и Европейский мониторинговый центр по наркотикам и наркозависимости, подчеркивают отсутствие научной статистики, доказывающей, что двойной диагноз — зависимость от психоактивных веществ, сопряженная с психическим расстройством — является следствием проблемного употребления наркотиков.

Комитет ООН по правам инвалидов рекомендовал России изменить подход к наркополитике

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), monitoring the implementation of the Convention by the States Parties, recommended Russia to reconsider their approach to drug policy. The CRPD was only recently established in the UN – The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into effect in 2008. Currently, there are 147 signatories. Russia ratified the Convention in 2012. In accordance with Article 35, the government submitted its first report on the implementation of rights expressed in the Convention, which was evaluated in 2018. At the same time, the Andrey Rylkov Foundation (ARF) as the Secretariat of the Russian Public Mechanism monitoring drug reform, submitted its 

, which highlighted the problems faced by persons with disabilities as a result of the repressive drug policy in the Russian Federation. The report stated that in 2013 over a million people with mental-health related disabilities (PMHD) were living in Russia. The estimated number of people who use drugs was between two and seven million.

In Russia, it is a widespread opinion that mental health issues amongst drug users are an effect of psychoactive substances. For this reason, instead of treating patients on general principles, they are subjected to repressive policies and unscientific methods of treatment, arrested by the police, convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. In total, 12 violations of the Convention were reported, including the general principle of non-discrimination. Upon examination of Russia’s report on the implementation of the rights expressed in the Convention, CRPD created recommendations for Russia. The recommendations contained several suggestions based directly on the ARF shadow report. Accordingly, CRDP urged to take into consideration the recommendations for Russia put forward in October 2017 by another UN committee – the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). CESCR expressed concerns of the level of drug addition and the punitive drug policy, which prevents drug users from seeking medical assistance, entering harm reduction programs and imprisons them for drug-related crimes. Consequently, CESCR recommended Russia to reconsider imprisonment for drug possession and start combating the stigma towards drug addicts, providing them medical assistance, adopting harm reduction programs and take more effective measures to diminish the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recommends Russia to change their drug policy approach

Removing newborn babies from women who are suffering from addiction helps neither mother nor child, says a doctor at the forefront of a movement to keep them together. The stress of that separation, Dr. Ron Abrahams believes, has been confused for withdrawal symptoms in the past. "Whenever you put a baby in an abnormal environment, it's going to exhibit abnormal behaviour," he says. "And that was interpreted by the medical system in those days as the baby withdrawing, when it was actually withdrawing from the mother."

Babies born into circumstances of addiction have usually been whisked away from their mothers immediately after birth. The newborns were then brought to neonatal intensive care units, to be monitored and treated for withdrawal symptoms. But babies are not born addicted, Dr. Abrahams says — they are born "exposed" to the drug. "Addiction is defined as seeking out the drug," he explains. "These babies don't seek out the drug, they are just experiencing some withdrawal from the drug that they were exposed to." That withdrawal can take about a week for these babies, he says, during which time there's a greater benefit in keeping them with their mothers.

Separating newborn babies from mothers with addiction does more harm than good, says doctor

Malcolm Turnbull has raised human rights concerns with the Philippines despite the country's President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to skip a special summit of Southeast Asian nations in Sydney. The prime minister is hosting nine of the ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Mr Duterte opted to stay home to attend a military graduation ceremony. Some analysts say it was a calculated move to avoid scrutiny and protests over his war on drugs which has killed 12,000 people. Mr Turnbull had a bilateral meeting with the Philippines foreign secretary Alan Peter Cayetano. It's understood the pair had a frank and open discussion on human rights. They also talked about Australian assistance to help quash a five-month-long Islamic State insurgency in Marawi, Philipppines. Australia has helped train Filipino troops in urban combat and provided surveillance aircraft.

ASEAN summit: Turnbull raises Duterte's drug war

IN NOVEMBER 2015, a Joint Oireachtas Committee published a report strongly recommending adopting a ‘harm reducing and rehabilitative approach to the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use’. In July 2017, the new Irish National Drugs Strategy, under action 3.1.35, provided for a Working Group to be set up to “Consider the approaches taken in other jurisdictions to the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use with a view to making recommendations on policy options to the relevant Minister within 12 months.” This group was established in December 2017 and will report in due course.

In effect, when we talk about a ‘harm reducing and rehabilitative approach to the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use’, we are talking about what is more commonly called ‘decriminalisation’. Currently, it is a crime to possess drugs – the State’s response to possession for personal use is founded in criminal justice – in the time of police and courts and lawyers, and the attendant costs to the taxpayer. Those advocating for decriminalisation are simply saying that this is not an optimal approach – not that the State should not respond to possession of drugs, but merely that the response should, in line with national policy on drug use, be founded in health and not crime. The evidence supporting such a move is strong, but to people unfamiliar with the issues, decriminalising possession can instinctively seem like a bad idea, so there is work to be done by advocates to explain to people what a health led response to drug use is, what it isn’t and what will happen when, hopefully, Ireland chooses to implement a more empathic and evidenced informed health based response to the possession of drugs for personal use.

News

UN Human Rights Office condemns execution for drug-related offences in Singapore

Комитет ООН по правам инвалидов рекомендовал России изменить подход к наркополитике

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recommends Russia to change their drug policy approach

Separating newborn babies from mothers with addiction does more harm than good, says doctor

ASEAN summit: Turnbull raises Duterte's drug war

'We need to help people who use drugs make healthier choices, not treat them as criminals'