Decolonising drug policy: Protecting the coca leaf and Indigenous rights – Statement to the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The following statement was submitted for the consideration of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), and summarised in an oral statement shared with the Interactive Dialogue held with the EMRIP during the 60th regular session of the Human Rights Council, on 24 September 2025. A full recording of the Dialogue is available here and the oral statement can be found further below.

In this joint declaration, we draw the attention of the Expert Mechanism on the need to ensure that international and national drug policies are fully aligned with the rights of Indigenous Peoples – in particular the right to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices. Unfortunately, historically the rights of Indigenous communities have been mostly sidelined, ignored or undermined. This is particularly the case in relation to the coca leaf.

In the Andean-Amazonian region, the coca leaf has been protected by Indigenous Peoples, cultivated it in small quantities, and used for traditional uses as part of their ancestral heritage for millennia.

And yet, the coca leaf was included in Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, a historical error justified at the time by racist and colonialist arguments – and which is now at odds with a number of international legal instruments that protect the use of the plant as an expression of the cultural, traditional, nutritional and medicinal practices of Indigenous Peoples.

The World Health Organisation now has the opportunity to repair this historical error, as it is currently conducting a critical review of the coca leaf – a review that could lead to the removal of the plant from the 1961 Convention. The WHO will delineate its recommendation on the matter at its 48th session from 20 to 22 October 2025.

This critical review is a key step towards decolonising drug policy and protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples to cultivate and use the coca leaf.

Nationally, some countries have already established mechanisms to protect the coca leaf for their Indigenous communities. Bolivia withdrew from the 1961 Single Convention and re-accessed it with a reservation on the coca leaf, enabling a national legally regulated market for the plant. When ratifying the 1988 Convention, Colombia made a reservation on the use of the coca leaf as part of the culture of Indigenous Peoples, and the country’s 1986 Statute on Drugs allows for a differentiated treatment for the coca leaf cultivated in Indigenous territories.

The removal of the coca leaf from the UN drug control treaties would enable the creation of national and international markets for the coca leaf, as well as the protection of Indigenous Peoples’ right to cultivate and use the plant, via mechanisms such as the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, or protections under the UNESCO World Heritage.

We call on the Expert Mechanism to make an official statement in support of human rights-oriented drug policies that fully respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and to call on the WHO to adequately reflect the views and recommendations of indigenous Peoples as it elaborates its recommendations in relation to the coca leaf.

We urge the Expert Mechanism to raise awareness of this issue at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, requesting the Forum to also make an intervention at the WHO’s session on 20 October.

Finally, we strongly encourage the Expert Mechanism to consider conducting a study on the impacts of drug policies on the rights of Indigenous Peoples – including their right to self-determination, free and informed consent, and enjoyment of their traditional medicines.

Signatory organisations:

• International Drug Policy Consortium (Global)
• Corporación Viso Mutop (Colombia)
• Transnational Institute (Global)
• Dejusticia (Colombia)
• Alianza por la Vida y la Dignidad en Los Yungas (Bolivia)
• PLATAFORMA COLI: Coca Orgánica Libre e Informada (Bolivia)

Joint statement at the interactive dialogue with the Expert Mechanism on the rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP)

60th Session of the Human Rights Council

Mr President,

My name is Pedro Arenas, I am representing Viso Mutop and the International Consortium, IDPC. I live in Guaviare, a region located in the western part of the Colombian Amazon.

The coca leaf, which has been fundamental to Andean-Amazonian Indigenous cultures for millennia, was wrongly classified in the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, based on colonial and racist arguments. This classification contradicts international protections for the cultural, medicinal and nutritional practices of indigenous peoples.

The World Health Organisation is currently conducting a critical review of the status of the coca leaf and has a unique opportunity this October to correct this error. The review is a fundamental step towards decolonising drug policy and guaranteeing indigenous rights.

Countries such as Bolivia and Colombia have already taken steps to protect the coca leaf in Indigenous communities. Removing the plant from international treaties will ensure that Indigenous rights are protected under instruments such as the Nagoya Protocol and UNESCO frameworks.

On behalf of six organisations, we urge the Expert Mechanism to:

• publicly support human rights-based drug policies;
• promote the consideration of Indigenous perspectives in the WHO critical review process;
• raise awareness of this issue in the Permanent Forum; and
• conduct a specific study on the effects of drug policy on Indigenous rights.

Thank you very much.