Indigenous rights, knowledge and expertise should be centred in coca leaf review - IDPC statement to the 47th WHO ECDD

Statement by the International Drug Policy Consortium at the occasion of the 47th WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence

Delivered by Marie Nougier, IDPC Head of Research and Communications

Thank you very much for giving me the floor. My name is Marie Nougier and I am here representing the International Drug Policy Consortium – a global network of over 190 NGOs that come together to promote drug policies grounded in social justice and human rights.

I am based in the UK, and my statement relates to the critical review of the coca leaf.

This critical review is coming nearly 75 years after the UN banned the traditional uses of the plant by listing it in Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This is despite the fact that the coca leaf has been used for millennia by Indigenous Peoples in the Andean-Amazonian region for traditional, religious, ancestral and medicinal purposes.

At the time, the decision to place the plant under strict international control was based on colonial and racist arguments, as is further explained in Bolivia’s dossier annexed to its request for the critical review.

First of all, IDPC calls on the ECDD to correct this historical wrong – and to explicitly distance itself from past racist arguments made by WHO officials themselves regarding the plant.

Secondly, since 1961, a large body of research has shown that the coca leaf does not result in health harms, but may, in fact, have possible benefits, including as a medicine, as a food supplement, and for social, cultural and religious purposes. In addition, the basic premise of the 1961 Single Convention is that plants are only scheduled as a narcotic drug when they are considered to produce harmful effects similar to other scheduled substances. This is certainly not the case for the coca leaf when compared to the effects of cocaine use.

Thirdly, various UN entities have increasingly recognised the need to decolonise drug policy and align the UN drug control regime with human rights – including Indigenous Peoples’ rights. This includes statements from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, and resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Human Rights Council.

As with all UN bodies and entities, the World Health Organization is also bound by the obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights – which is one of the overarching pillars of the United Nations. As such, any scheduling decision by the ECDD should also take due account of human rights considerations.

We therefore welcome the decision made by the ECDD to consider the ‘traditional uses’ of the coca leaf, as one of the key topics of the critical review report. We hope that this will ensure that the traditional knowledge and culture of Andean-Amazonian Indigenous Peoples are duly recognised and seriously taken into account as the ECDD conducts its critical review and elaborates its recommendations on the plant.

Linked to this, my last point relates to the need to ensure a transparent and inclusive process that enables the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples in the critical review. So far, Indigenous Peoples can only feed into the process by participating in the opening segment of the ECDD session today, and in a year’s time at its 48th session. Considering that the right to cultivate and use the coca leaf constitutes a major part of their ancestral, traditional and religious practices, it would be highly recommended that Indigenous Peoples are consulted at various stages of the review process, including:

• In the information collection phase, ensuring that the questionnaire that will be shared with member states next year can also be shared with Indigenous experts
• By ensuring that Indigenous Peoples can receive the draft critical review report, and are able to discuss its conclusions at a special meeting of the ECDD
• By inviting Indigenous experts to participate in specific segments of the 48th session of the ECDD that relate to the coca leaf, and not just the public hearings.
• And finally, by soliciting the advice of other UN entities that work on Indigenous Rights’ issues.

I invite you to read IDPC’s advocacy note, submitted as a written contribution for this ECDD session, and which further elaborates on the points I have made today.

Thank you very much for your consideration and I wish you a fruitful session.