Essential medicines, unequal access — Joint submission to the OHCHR

Harm Reduction International (HRI), the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) warn that people who use drugs continue to face unacceptable barriers to essential medicines and life-saving harm reduction services, including naloxone, opioid agonist therapy and needle and syringe programmes.

Despite harm reduction being firmly recognised as part of the right to health, criminalisation, stigma, discrimination and restrictive laws continue to deny people timely, voluntary and quality care, with particularly severe impacts on marginalised communities.

The submission calls on states to move away from punitive approaches, decriminalise drug use, dismantle legal and administrative barriers to care, end coercive treatment practices, and guarantee comprehensive, rights-based harm reduction for all who need it.