News
Launch of Landmark International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy in Vienna (March 2019)
15 March 2019
A coalition of UN Member States, UN entities and leading human rights experts meeting at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna launched a landmark set of international legal standards to… Read more
The House I Live In - Director Eugene Jarecki on the War on Drugs: 'Everybody is a victim' (November 2012)
26 November 2012
This mini-documentary was published by The Guardian in November 2016. The mini-documentary looks at the failure of the 'war on drugs' in the USA. Topics covered are how the criminal justice system criminalizes the poor and uneducated. It poses the question; is the war on drugs a major success in that it keeps police officers busy, private… Read more
Jamie Doward, 'Drugs death penalty States must lose aid, says charity', The Guardian (London, 14 September 2013)
14 September 2013
UK-based charity, Reprieve, writes to deputy-Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, to cease providing anti-narcotics aid to countries using the death penalty for drugs offenses. Read more
Denmark Ends Iranian Drug Crime Support, Christian Wenande (2013)
09 April 2013
Denmark announced its withdrawal of development aid to the UNODC for anti-narcotics programs in Iran due to the continued use of executions for drug offenses. For more details, see the full article here . Citation : Christian Wenande, 'Denmark Ends Iranian Drug Crime Support', The Copenhagen Post (2013) Read more
Narcotics Watchdog Turns Blind Eye to Rights Abuses
28 March 2012
Patrick Gallahue's most recent op-ed presents a strong argument against the reluctance of the International Narcotics Control Board to condemn the human rights violations done in the name of drug control. The INCB, a quasi-judicial monitoring mechanism known and 'guardian' of the international drug control treaties, has remained silent about the… Read more
Say NO to death for drugs
23 February 2012
In this commentary , published in The Hindu, Rick Lines and Anand Grover, present a long list of international and domestic jurisprudence that defy the justifications for handing down death penalties for drug offenders in India. They argue that, although most experts agree that drug offences do not warrant death penalties, countries like India… Read more
Afghan Children Ensnared in Heroin Trade With Iran
16 February 2012
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) published this week an exclusive investigation on the use of Afghan children as drug mules, who take high risks to smuggle heroin into Iran. The story highlights the risks not only from swalling pellets with heroin, which can burst during the way, but also how children are vulnerable to… Read more
Children in Mexico: Criminals or Victims?
19 January 2012
Mexico's drug war has taken its toll on children. More than 30,000 of them have been involved in organized crime, according to the Children's Rights Network (REDIM). These children are paid by drug gangs to do minor roles such as drug running or being lookouts, but some have been trained to kill. This was the case of 14-year-old Edgar Jimenez,… Read more
Mexico, War Crimes and a Slippery Slope
03 January 2012
The war on drugs in Mexico has left thousands of people dead and a country in peril. But how can international law address this situation? In an article published by Open Democracy, Patrick Gallahue comments on the recent petition made by Mexican human rights activists to the International Criminal Court to prosecute the Mexican government for… Read more
A New Language for the Children of the Drug Wars
30 November 2011
For decades, governments have used the rhetoric of war to describe their drug control efforts and rally their populations behind hard-line policies they say will help protect children. Nayeli Urquiza, Research Fellow at the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy, argues it’s this very terminology that encourages the abuse of… Read more
Mexican Human Rights Group asks ICC to probe President and Top Officials
25 November 2011
Reuters reported that a group of human rights activists have requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a formal investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mexico. They are asking the world's first permanent war crimes court to investigate "the deaths of hundreds of civilians at the hands of the military and drug… Read more
Children of the Drug War in Ciudad Juarez
10 November 2011
In the city of Juarez, about 7,000 children have become orphans of the 'War on Drugs'. Read the transcript of the story by David Fuentes on how the violence in the Northern state of Mexico has affected children and their families. Story by David Fuentes (W Radio, Chihuahua Correspondent) On this “Day of the Dead”, cemeteries in this borderland… Read more