A decade after UNGASS: progress and unfulfilled promises - IDPC statement at #CND69

IDPC Statement on agenda item 5(e) at the 69th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Thank you, Chair, for giving me the floor.

I am making this statement on behalf of the International Drug Policy Consortium, a global network of 200 civil society and community organisations working to advance drug policies grounded in human rights and social justice.

IDPC has produced a new flagship report, The UNGASS Decade in Review: Gaps, Achievements and Paths for Reform, and it draws sobering conclusions. Despite important new commitments to promote health, human rights and development in the last decade, the global drug control system continues to generate profound and preventable harm.

Drug policies globally continue to drive criminalisation and mass incarceration, with people living in poverty, women, LGBTQI+ people, racialised communities and young people being disproportionately affected.

Extrajudicial killings in the name of combatting the drug trade are escalating and continue to be committed with impunity.

Between 2016 and 2021, the UN reported 2.6 million drug use-related deaths. These deaths are preventable through policies that support, don’t punish, people who use drugs.

Funding for life-saving harm reduction services remains insufficient and is shrinking.

Access to controlled medicines for pain relief also remains deeply unequal.

In cultivation areas, Indigenous Peoples and farming communities continue to face violence, forced eradication and economic marginalisation.

Excellencies,

The UN drug control system is facing profound crises and requires urgent reform. A decade on from UNGASS, incremental change will not suffice.

We therefore welcome the multidisciplinary panel of independent experts. It has a historic opportunity to recommend ambitious reforms guided by the following core principles:

First, that drug policy be fully aligned with international human rights law. Drug control cannot be used to justify violations of the right to life, health, or freedom from discrimination.

Second, a decisive rebalancing towards public health, including removing criminal penalties for drug use and related activities, and scaling up harm reduction and voluntary, evidence-based treatment.

Third, embed drug policies within development- and gender-responsive approaches, particularly for communities affected by illicit crop cultivation and by punitive enforcement.

Fourth, prioritising accountability, ensuring that serious violations of international law committed in the name of drug control are systematically monitored and addressed. Impunity is no longer an option.

The panel’s review must be inclusive. Civil society and affected communities — including people who use drugs, Indigenous Peoples, farmers, formerly incarcerated people and youth — must be meaningfully involved throughout. Their lived experience and expertise are indispensable to building a credible, effective and just system.

Meaningful involvement requires consultations, a call for written inputs, and a commitment by the panel to reflect these inputs into its recommendations. We will soon publish a series of more detailed recommendations on this important issue.

The next decade must not repeat the failures of the past. IDPC stands ready to engage constructively to support transformative change. The lives of millions are at stake.

Thank you.