The OHCHR summarises discussions on the need for a rights- and evidence- based approach to drug policy, including decriminalisation, harm reduction, legal regulation and structural changes to the global drug control regime.
The report includes the following concluding remarks, echoing IDPC Executive Director, Ann Fordham’s statement at the intersessional panel available here:
Ms. Fordham began her concluding remarks by addressing the question related to discussions of drug policies outside of the Vienna setting. She stressed that while the Commission on Narcotic Drugs was the policymaking body with the prime responsibility for drug policy at the United Nations, the Commission’s resolutions and the 2019 Ministerial Declaration welcomed and called for contributions from all relevant United Nations entities, including the United Nations human rights bodies. In this regard, she noted that the Human Rights Council and OHCHR had a mandate to promote the enjoyment of all human rights by all people, including people who use drugs, as recognized by many treaty bodies and special procedures, which had incorporated this issue into their reports and recommendations. While addressing the issue of a coherent approach to drugs across the United Nations system, Ms. Fordham drew attention to the United Nations system common position supporting the implementation of the international drug control policy through effective inter-agency collaboration. This position was adopted in 2018 under the leadership of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and committed all United Nations entities to promote drug policies centered on health and human rights. This includes promoting the abolition of the death penalty, harm reduction strategies, and the decriminalization of drug use and possession for personal use. As an example of the involvement of the Council’s special procedures in drug policy, Ms. Fordham mentioned the statement released by 16 special procedure mandate holders on World Drug Day in 2023, which called for an end to punitive approaches to drug control.
Despite such wide involvement of already existing special procedures and due to the gravity of the situation, Ms. Fordham reiterated the need for a new special procedure mandate specifically focused on drug policy and human rights. In response to the issue of regulation and decriminalization, Ms. Fordham commended the recommendation to Member States, in the OHCHR report, to consider legal regulation of drugs for non-medical purposes, given the widespread human rights violations associated with prohibition. She cited Germany, Malta and Uruguay as examples of States that had framed their initiatives to regulate cannabis as a tool to protect human rights and fight organized crime. Given the need to monitor and evaluate legal regulation and negative and positive effects on health, human rights, development and security of any drug policy, Ms. Fordham called on all relevant United Nations agencies, including OHCHR, to participate in such evaluations. She ended by discussing the benefits of the responsible regulation of substances, such as tobacco, which enabled governments to increase taxes and reduce the levels of the use, while addressing tobacco-related harms without harsh judicial measures.
g2410310_EN
