IDPC and five other organisations called on the UN to correct historic injustices, respect Indigenous perspectives, and address the harmful impacts of current drug policies.
Punitive drug policies in ASEAN have failed to achieve ‘drug-free’ goals, while harm reduction offers a pragmatic, rights-based alternative already showing results in the region — albeit torpedoed by Singapore's hardline stance.
Broadening harm reduction to include the benefits and everyday motivations of drug use fosters solutions grounded in lived experience and limits reliance on criminalisation.
Poramet Tangsathaporn reports that civil society in Southeast Asia is urging ASEAN to drop punitive drug laws and adopt harm reduction in its post-2025 strategy, warning current approaches fail communities and fuel abuses. Advocates call for rights, inclusion, and change.
Nine human rights groups condemn the Maldives’ push to impose the death penalty for drug trafficking, warning it violates international law and defies global abolition trends.
The 'war on drugs' against cocaine fuels Amazon deforestation, empowers organised crime, and endangers Indigenous communities, all of which speak of the need for rights-based reform.
