The UN Human Rights Committee challenged Canada’s refusal to accept positive obligations under the right to life, as advocates warn that punitive drug policies and the denial of life-saving services like supervised consumption are driving thousands of preventable toxic drug deaths.
The VNGOC and 125 co-signing organisations have issued an open letter to the UN, calling for urgent reforms to address procedural barriers that effectively exclude civil society.
In a first for the Commission on the Status of Women, the text explicitly recognises women in prison, opening possibilities for justice for nearly one million women incarcerated globally.
Ten years after the 2016 UNGASS, punitive drug policies remain dominant globally, with human rights violations, rising deaths and shrinking civic space undermining promises of reform.
WHO, UNAIDS and UNODC provide practical, step-by-step guidance for implementing and scaling up needle and syringe programmes as a core harm reduction intervention to prevent HIV, hepatitis C and overdose among people who inject drugs.
UNDP provides guidance to ensure that digital technologies for HIV and health are used ethically, protect human rights, and advance equity in the digital age.
At UNGA 80, global leaders unite to expose how punitive drug policies harm women’s health and equality and to advance gender-responsive, rights-based reforms that uphold justice and health.
UNSG António Guterres proposes a restructuring of drugs, development, human rights, and HIV bodies, raising questions about oversight, civil society participation, and programme continuity.
EHRA, Union for Equity and Health, and PULS urge the Committee to interrogate Moldova’s punitive drug policies, which criminalise people who use drugs, restrict health and employment outcomes, and deepen stigma.
The WHO’s long-overdue review of the coca leaf is a historic test of whether global drug policy can finally confront its colonial roots and uphold Indigenous rights.
Global civil society groups call on the UN Secretary-General to ensure the independence, credibility and representativeness of the UN review's expert panel, and to champion meaningful, rights-affirming reform.
