Day 2 - Beyond 2008 NGO Forum on Drugs: NGOs call upon CND to abandon 'The Spirit of Vienna'

During Day 2 of the 'Beyond 2008 NGO Forum', delegates agreed unanimously that the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs should abandon the so-called 'Spirit of Vienna', CND's self-imposed consensus decision-making process, and instead vote on contentious issues.

Democratic majority voting, which is mandated under ECOSOC rules where consensus is not possible, would end the current status quo where a small handful of Member States are allowed to block CND resolutions (in practice often used to prevent mentions of harm reduction and human rights).

In the draft Beyond 2008 resolution debated today, NGOs included a call to CND that they utilise the option to call a vote when Member States are not in full agreement on a resolution. This was proposed by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

Whether CND will appreciate the spirit emanating from Vienna this week remains to be seen.

Day 1 - UN High Level Meeting on AIDS: IHRA speaks on harm reduction and human rights

The 2008 High Level Meeting (HLM) on AIDS opened this morning at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Country delegations and civil society representatives from around the world have come together under the theme 'Uniting the World Against AIDS'.

The meeting opened with a plenary session addressed by the UN Secretary-General, among other speakers. This was followed by a Civil Society Hearing, in which selected civil society representatives were invited to present on key issues related to HIV. IHRA was one of the two speakers invited to address the issue of injecting drug use and harm reduction.

IHRA's Senior Policy Advisor, Rick Lines, is representing IHRA at the HLM. Below is the text of his speech this morning at the Civil Society Hearing.

* * *

"Last month, the International Harm Reduction Association published a report entitled The Global State of Harm Reduction, documenting the injection-driven HIV epidemic and the harm reduction response worldwide.

That report found the global state of harm reduction to be very poor indeed.

Approximately 11.6 million people inject drugs in 158 countries around the world. Most have little or no access to syringe exchange or opioid substitution therapy. The UN Secretary-General estimates that 92% of people who inject drugs in low- and middle-income countries have no access to HIV prevention services of any kind. For some populations, such as people in prisons, access to harm reduction is even worse.

This situation has real human consequences.

As many as 3.3 million people who inject drugs are already living with HIV, and in some countries up to 80% of HIV infections are linked to unsafe injecting. Still people who use drugs face significant barriers to accessing anti-retroviral therapies in many countries.

Harm reduction programmes and access to anti-retroviral therapies for people who use drugs must be massively and rapidly expanded, not only as an essential public health measure, but also as a matter of human rights.

People who use illegal drugs do not surrender their fundamental rights. The provision of harm reduction programmes is an integral element of State obligations under the right to health enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. As described by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Professor Paul Hunt:

‘[H]arm reduction stands as a clear example of human rights in practice. What began as a health-based intervention in response to HIV must today be recognised as an essential component of the right to the highest attainable standard of health…Every state therefore has an obligation to implement, as a matter of priority, national comprehensive harm reduction services for people who use drugs.’[1]

Therefore, for Member States and for the UN system as a whole, harm reduction is not a policy option. Harm reduction is a legal requirement.

Yet in many countries, the development and mainstreaming of harm reduction programmes is hampered by punitive and prohibitionist drug laws and policies. Indeed, the Special Rapporteur has lamented that States too often suffer from what he calls ‘acute amnesia’[2] when it comes to issues like harm reduction.

For example, in addition to this UNGASS process on AIDS, there is also an UNGASS process on drugs, which will culminate in a High Level Meeting in March in Vienna. The UNGASS process on drugs has historically been resistant to harm reduction. Commitments on HIV prevention made by Member States this week in New York must not be forgotten when those same States meet to discuss drug policy in Vienna. Civil society organisations represented here this week must ensure that our voices are heard in that UNGASS process on drugs.

This High Level Meeting on AIDS must send a clear message in support of harm reduction. That message must be reaffirmed by the State delegations to the UNGASS process on drugs, and result in unambiguous support for HIV prevention and harm reduction at that meeting."

------------

[1] P Hunt (2008) ‘Foreword’ – The Global State of Harm Reduction. International Harm Reduction Association.
[2] P Hunt (11 May 2008) ‘Human Rights, Health & Harm Reduction: States’ amnesia and parallel universes’ – Keynote Address at the 19th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm, Barcelona.

CND day 2 - IHRA statement on human rights and harm reduction during plenary debate on demand reduction

This afternoon, during the second day of the 51st session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, IHRA's Senior Policy Advisor, Rick Lines (at bottom left of the photo-click on image to get full size) addressed delegates during a plenary debate on demand reduction.

A copy of IHRA's statement is below.

"Each December, the UN General Assembly adopts a resolution entitled 'International cooperation against the world drug problem'. This resolution states that drug control activities must be 'carried out in full conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and…with full respect for…all human rights and fundamental freedoms'.

This resolution of the UN’s highest policy-setting body directs CND to prioritise human rights. Yet to date, mention of human rights has been almost completely absent from CND’s work. In effect, CND has failed in its obligation to take direction from the General Assembly.

This year agencies across the UN system celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And in this year we see hope for change.

We welcome Mr. Costa’s comments yesterday on the need to promote human rights in drug control activities, including the need to end the death penalty for drug offences. We welcome the statement in INCB’s most recent Annual Report that 'Due respect for universal human rights…is important' and that 'Non-respect…can undermine the conventions.'

Such words are important. But words are not enough. True leadership comes only when words are turned into action. We need action from CND to ensure that international human rights law is placed at the heart of its work.

What does human rights leadership from CND mean?

Human rights leadership means taking action to promote the right to health. For example, last year the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health affirmed that the provision of harm reduction programmes is a necessary part of State obligations to fulfill the right to health. In this context, human rights leadership means that CND must robustly and unambiguously support harm reduction measures such as syringe exchange, opioid substitution treatment and safe injecting rooms, among other interventions. It also means ensuring that drug treatment programmes are voluntary and not coercive. It means that statements from drug control bodies like INCB are based on evidence and human rights obligations, and that affirmative action is taken to correct misinformation.

Leadership also means taking action to prevent human rights abuses in the name of drug control before they occur, and speaking out when there is legitimate fear of imminent human rights violations.

For example, in recent weeks, there have been indications from the Royal Thai government that it plans to resume its 'war on drugs'. It is important that UN agencies and Member States seek clarification of the government’s intentions in this regard. However, recent public comments by a government Minister have raised fears among many that the State intends to relaunch the campaign of extrajudicial killings seen in 2003, in which over 2,800 people were killed. This campaign was criticised by the UN Human Rights Committee, among other human rights monitors. Leadership on human rights means that CND and Member States must speak out clearly against abusive 'drug-control' policies wherever they occur.

Leadership on human rights means ensuring that UN-sponsored drug control activities have the promotion of human rights as key performance indicator, one fully integrated into programme planning and evaluation. We enjoin CND to ensure that UN drug control agencies undertake human rights impact assessments of all activities prior to their approval and implementation, as well as during and after the approved activities have begun. Only through such a process of assessment and monitoring can we be certain that UN-sponsored drug enforcement programmes do not result in human rights violations, and that they effectively promote the respect and fulfillment of human rights and the rule of law that is central to the UN’s mission.

Finally, leadership on human rights means using the democratic majority voting mechanism provided for CND under ECOSOC in cases where consensus is not possible on human rights issues, and ending the current status quo where a small handful of Member States are allowed to block human rights language in CND resolutions. This status quo undermines the promotion and protection human rights, a mission fundamental to the object and purpose of the UN. When consensus is not achievable, CND Members must vote and let the world see which States are willing to stand up to support human rights, and which are not.

In this 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we can no longer allow the 'spirit of Vienna' to undermine the spirit of the Declaration."

Thanks to Steve Rolles at Transform Drug Policy Foundation for the photo.

Recalibrating the Regime: The Need for a Human Rights-Based Approach to International Drug Policy - Beckley Foundation Report 13

This new report, co-authored by the HR2 team, looks at the tensions between some aspects of the global drug control system and international human rights law. The report highlights that, despite numerous instances of human rights abuses perpetrated in the name of drug control, there has been little engagement with this issue by the responsible bodies, the UNODC, INCB and the human rights treaty bodies.

The report was published by the Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme, and is co-authored by IHRA, Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

Sweden, harm reduction and the right to health: An update

Today, the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights releaseed its "List of Issues", a series of questions for the Swedish government on its implementation of the International Covenant on Econimic Social and Cultural Rights.

In its fifth 'Periodic Report' to the Committee, Sweden had ommitted all mention of illegal drug use and harm reduction. HR2 and the Swedish Drug Users Union requested, in November, that the Committee raise this with the Swedish government.

We are very pleased that the Committee has, indeed, taken up this request and has asked the Swedes to "provide disaggregated data concerning the incidence of HIV/AIDS, in particular regarding the coincidence of drug use and HIV/AIDS and indicate how successful harm reduction measures have been (such as needle exchange programmes), whether they are foreseen to be scaled, and whether such programmes are foreseen in detention facilities?"

We now await the Swedish government's response, which must be in time for its meeting with the Committee in November 2008

IHRA and the Swedish Drug Users' Union address the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights

Today, Damon Barrett from IHRA's HR2 programme and Berne Stalenkrantz from the Swedish Drug Users' Union (SDUU) made statements at the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva, criticising Sweden's denial of needle exchange as a violation of the right to health contained in art. 12 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.

The statements came as part of the 'shadow reporting' process to supplement Sweden's periodic report to the Committee. Though the state's report is supposed to document its progress on respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights contained in the Covenant, Sweden had omitted all mention of illegal drug use and harm reduction. This is despite the fact that the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health had visited Sweden in 2006 and specifically recommended that harm reduction programmes be rolled out nationally in order to enhance the right to health of injecting drug users.

In a shadow report submitted to the Committee in October, HR2 and SDUU raised cocnerns about the estimated 20,000 injecting drug users in Sweden and the lack of harm reduction in prisons and called on the Committee to request information from Sweden on illegal drug use, harm reduction and HIV rates among people who use drugs.