Beyond Prohibition: Unpacking the Connection between Drug Policies and Sustainable Development Priorities

Side event on the margins of the 2023 SDG Summit, 19 September 2023, 6:30-7:30 PM, UN Conference Building, Conference Room 7

The Permanent Missions of Brazil and Colombia to the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme and Open Society Foundations are co-organizing a side event entitled "Beyond Prohibition: Unpacking the Connection between Drug Policies and Sustainable Development Priorities” in conjunction with the 2023 SDG Summit. The event aims to raise awareness about the intricate relationship between drug policies and development, inform policymakers, and showcase exemplary practices. Attendees will include representatives of UN Member States, UN entities, civil society, academics, donors, and the media. Tentatively, our program will include the following speakers:

Kasia Malinowska, Director, Drug Policy, Open Society Foundations

Mandeep Dhaliwal, Director, HIV and Health Group, UNDP

Arlene Tickner, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN

Marta Machado, National Secretary for Drug Policy of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, Brazil

Helen Clark, Commissioner, Global Commission on Drug Policy

Ilze Brands Kehris Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Head, OHCHR Office in New York

The 2023 World Drug Report identifies a recognized link between drug cultivation and transit with deforestation, illegal logging, and illegal mining operations in the Amazon region, covering Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Recognizing there are many drivers contributing to these dynamics, the report fails to consider the gaps and problems of current drug policies which create significant incentives for such activities, particularly in areas of conflict, poverty and economic disadvantage. Without a major reframing of the "world drug problem" which centers sustainable development priorities alongside drug policy dynamics, there is a risk of falling short of achieving the 2030 Agenda.

The UNGASS 2016 Outcome Document emphasizes the complementary and mutually reinforcing nature of efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and effectively address the world drug problem. In November 2018, the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) adopted the “United Nations System Common Position supporting the implementation of the international drug control policy through effective inter-agency collaboration.” The Common Position calls for evidence-informed, rights-based, health-centered and more effective drug control policies. However, the proposed comprehensive zero draft of the Political Declaration to be adopted at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in September 2023 does not currently mention the issue at hand. Without a robust, sustainable development-led approach to drug policy, drug control efforts are likely to impede progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda and leaving no one behind.

The expected outcomes are increased awareness of policymakers on the relationship between drug policies and development priorities and familiarity with global good practices. The event will contribute to improving alignment of national drug control mechanisms with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The proposed event will also contribute to better informed national development plans and strategies that effectively address the “world drug problem,” while achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

For more information please contact: Boyan Konstantinov, Policy Specialist, UNDP HIV and Health Team (boyan.konstantinov@undp.org)

Nabina Panday, Programme Officer, Open Society Foundations (nabina.panday@opensocietyfoundations.org)

Beyond prohibition: Unpacking the connection between drug policies and sustainable development priorities

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

GENEVA (23 June 2023) – The international community must replace punishment with support and promote policies that respect, protect and fulfil the rights of all, UN experts* said today. Ahead of the

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 2023, they called for transformative change in the international approach to drugs, focusing on health and other human rights and issued the following statement:

“The ‘war on drugs’ may be understood to a significant extent as a war on people. Its impact has been greatest on those who live in poverty, and it frequently overlaps with discrimination directed at marginalised groups, minorities and Indigenous Peoples. In our reporting and experience, we have 

 that such discriminatory impact is a common element across drug policies with regard to the widest range of human rights, including the right to personal liberty; freedom from torture, ill-treatment and forced labour; fair trial rights; the right to health, including access to essential medicines, palliative care, comprehensive drug prevention and education, drug treatment, and harm reduction; the right to adequate housing; freedom from discrimination and the right to equal treatment before the law; right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; cultural rights and freedoms of expression, religion, assembly and association.

Globally, drug control has had massive costs for the dignity, humanity and freedom of people of African descent, with reports showing that people of African descent face disproportionate and unjust law enforcement interventions, arrests and incarceration for drug-related offences. In various countries, the ‘war on drugs’ has been more effective as a system of racial control than as a tool to reduce drug markets. Policing interventions based on racial profiling remain widespread, whilst access to evidence-based treatment and harm reduction for people of African descent remains critically low.

Around the world, women who use drugs face significant stigma and discrimination in accessing harm reduction programmes, drug dependence treatment and basic health care. Although one in three people who use drugs are women, women constitute only one in five people in treatment. Women are also 

 affected by criminalisation and incarceration, with 35% of women in prison worldwide having been convicted of a drug-related offence compared to 19% of men. The causes of women’s interaction with the criminal justice system in relation to drugs are complex, often linked to other factors such as poverty and coercion, and may reflect systemic gender inequality in society more broadly. Of note, most women in prison for drug related offences have little education.

Under international law, States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose capital punishment for the ‘most serious crimes’, meaning crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing. Drug offences clearly do not meet this threshold. However, drug-related offences are still punishable by death in over 30 countries, and human rights experts have raised concerns about evidence of its discriminatory impact on individuals belonging to minorities.

Everyone without exception has the right to life-saving harm reduction interventions, which are essential for the protection of the right to health of people who use drugs. However, according to UN 

, only 1 in 8 people with drug dependence have access to appropriate treatment, and the coverage of harm reduction services remains very low. The situation is particularly critical for women, LGBTIQ+ persons, and other marginalised groups, for whom harm reduction and treatment services may not be adapted or respond to their specific needs. Women and LGBTIQ+ persons also face even higher levels of stigma, including self-stigma, and discrimination than men who use drugs.

As the world grows older, drug use among people over 65 has also increased. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the health and well-being of older persons, and studies show an increased use of pain relievers, tranquillizers, and sedatives among this age group. Older drug users are also more often using the dark web, social media, and online forums to obtain illicit substances resulting in a rise of drug-related deaths among older populations.

The criminalisation of substances traditionally used by Indigenous Peoples such as the coca leaf can also result in the suppression, undermining and marginalization of traditional and indigenous knowledge systems and medicine, which has wide-ranging health impacts and is rooted in discriminatory hierarchies and conceptions. Forced eradication of crops, including through the aerial spraying of highly hazardous pesticides, can cause serious harm to the environment and clean water, as well as to the health and welfare of Indigenous communities. Indigenous Peoples that might be affected by these and other drug control operations must be meaningfully consulted, and guarantees should be given that their lives, cultural practices, lands and natural resources are not violated.

Criminal laws and the punitive use of administrative and other sanctions stigmatise already marginalised populations. Criminalisation results in significant barriers to access to health services (including those for HIV and palliative care) and in other human rights violations. As called for by the UN system Common Position on drug-related matters, drug use and possession for personal use should be decriminalised as a matter of urgency. Drug use or dependence are never a sufficient justification for detaining a person. Compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centres need to be closed and replaced with voluntary, evidence-informed, and rights-based health and social services in the community.

“People first: stop stigma and discrimination, strengthen prevention”

 the United Nations and the international community have a historical responsibility to reverse the devastation brought about by decades of a global ‘war on drugs’ on communities that have been marginalised and discriminated against.

, we call on Member States and all UN agencies to ground their drug policy responses in international human rights law and standards. States and international bodies that provide financial or technical assistance on drug policy should ensure that these policies are gender-responsive while upholding and actively seeking to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

We urge Member States and international bodies to supersede their current drug policies with ones grounded in the principles of the application of a comprehensive, restorative and reintegrative justice approach. Effective, community-based, inclusive, and preventive measures are equally important.

Now more than ever, the international community must replace punishment with support and promote policies that respect, protect and fulfil the rights of all.”

Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights

Meskerem Geset Techane and Melissa Upreti

Working Group on discrimination against women and girls

Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences

Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities

Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

Special Rapporteur on the right to education

Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences

Special Rapporteur on trafficking in person

Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism

Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment

Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples

Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons

Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions

Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes

of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work voluntarily; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.

UN experts call for end to global ‘war on drugs’

Conference room paper submitted by Czechia at the 66th CND, titled “Opportunities and Challenges for the Engagement of Civil Society in Human Rights Oriented Drug Policies”

The conference paper concerns Item 6 of the provisional agenda for the 66th Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, 13–17 March 2023.

Follow-up to the implementation at the national, regional, and international levels of all commitments, as reflected in the Ministerial Declaration of 2019, to address and counter the world drug problem.

The Czech Republic puts strong emphasis on evidence-based, integrated, balanced drug policies rooted in the freedom of citizens, the protection of human rights, dignity and the rule of law, and these values were central to the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) from July to December 2022 – culminating in the adoption by consensus of Council Conclusions on Human Rights-Based Approaches in Drug Policies in December 2022.

This Conference Room Paper, presented to the 66th Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March 2023, seeks to explore the importance of the human rights approach within drug policies. This includes, inter alia, the effective implementation of all human rights commitments, the adoption of more humane, proportionate and rational approaches to drug policies, the prevention of stigma and discrimination, and the mainstreaming of comprehensive health responses to the world drug situation, including risk and harm reduction measures, and gender- and age-sensitive perspectives. This Paper focuses especially on the effective drug responses that are grounded in human rights obligations, such as the decriminalization of low-level drug offences and personal use, harm reduction, and civil society participation as a central principle. 

As such, this paper mirrors the Czech Republic’s own national and international commitments in line especially with the 

Outcome Document of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS)

United Nations System Common Position Supporting the Implementation of the International Drug Control Policy Through Effective Inter-agency Collaboration

International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy

Furthermore, the CND and the Czech Republic can both demonstrate a track record of, and strong commitments to, the promotion and protection of civil society engagement and civic space within drug policy. This Conference Room Paper also explores the vital role that civil society partners play in this sector, and how this can be further enhanced and secured as we approach the midterm review of the commitments made in the 2019 Ministerial Declaration, anticipated in March 2024.

'Opportunities and challenges for the engagement of civil society in human rights oriented drug policies' - Czechia CND conference room paper 

On the 12th and 13th December 2022, Ghana hosted the first ever National Dialogue on the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy, with the involvement of more than 60 participants from Ghana’s government, the UN system, and national and international civil society associations. 

The two-day event was co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Narcotics Control Commission, in partnership with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Program, the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy at the University of Essex, and the International Drug Policy Consortium. 

After welcome addresses by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the session was opened by the Minister of Interior Hon. Ambrose Dery, who emphasized that in 2020 Ghana adopted the Narcotics Control Act (Act 1019) in order to treat drug use and drug dependence as health matters. In this context, the National Dialogue aimed to create space for a broad range of stakeholders to discuss drug-related issues from a human rights perspective, and to develop key recommendations for the way forward. 

A series of high-level speakers noted that human rights approaches to drug policy are crucial to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and discussed how the Guidelines could be used to help implement and strengthen Ghana’s 2020 reforms. A series of technical panels and breakout group discussions ensued, concluding in recommendations for the way forward. Highlights included recommendations to ensure the effective depenalization of drug use and drug dependence (including retroactively); ensuring access to drug treatment and harm reduction services in the community; developing cannabis regulations that improve the lives of small-scale farmers and communities; and establishing gender-sensitive drug services.

UN Common Position on Drug Policy

Beyond prohibition: Unpacking the connection between drug policies and sustainable development priorities

UN experts call for end to global ‘war on drugs’

'Opportunities and challenges for the engagement of civil society in human rights oriented drug policies' - Czechia CND conference room paper

'National Dialogue on the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy' - Ghana CND conference room paper