Human Rights, Health and Harm Reduction: States' Amnesia and Parallel Universes

IHRA's 'HR2' (Harm Reduction and Human Rights) team have released a new report entitled "Human Rights, Health and Harm Reduction: States' Amnesia and Parallel Universes”. This report is the transcript of the keynote speech delivered by Professor Paul_Hunt (then UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health) at the opening of 'Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA's 19th International Conference' in Barcelona, Spain on May 11th 2008. It contains some of the strongest comments to date from a UN human rights monitor in support of harm reduction and against human rights abuses resulting from drug policies and practices. It details some of the multiple human rights abuses experienced by people who use drugs and criticises the 'bizarre' situation in which countries can acknowledge their human rights obligations on one hand, yet suffer 'amnesia' about these obligations when they participate in the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. IHRA hopes that this speech and report will be a useful reference tool for future advocacy and research on harm reduction and human rights around the world.