Realising rights: Developing human rights-based indicators for drug control

Human-rights based indicators must be included in the monitoring and evaluation of drug policy, Harm Reduction International’s Gen Sander told UN member states today. Speaking at an event hosted by the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy and the UN University in New York, she emphasised the fact that current indicators of success in drug policy – numbers of people arrested and prosecuted, amount of hectares of illicit crops destroyed, quantity of drugs seized – are also indicators of human rights risk.

Introducing human rights-based indicators is the only way to ensure that drug policy works to promote the health and welfare of humankind by respecting, protecting and fulfilling international human rights obligations.

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