News
International Drug Crime Measures 'Lead' to executions'
21 June 2010
Enforcement by Britain, the UN and the EU backs up regimes that ignore human rights, says report The United Nations, the European commission and individual states including Britain are flouting international human rights law by funding anti-drug crime measures that are inadvertently leading to the executions of offenders, according to a… Read more
Colombia's War on Drugs fails in Cordoba, Guaviare, and Cauca
08 June 2010
The Colombian departments of Cordoba, Guaviare, and Cauca saw significant increases in coca cultivation in 2009, although national production dropped 16%, El Tiempo reported Tuesday. According to a forthcoming United Nations report, coca production in the northern department of Cordoba rose from 1,710 to 2,700 hectares, a 58% increase, after… Read more
A Worrying Front in the War on Drugs
06 June 2010
This article by Patrick Gallahue in the Guardian's Comment is Free is based on his article published last month in the International Yearbook on Human Rights and Drug Policy . Last year, the US embarked on a controversial and ill-advised strategy for dealing with the Afghan drug trade. It placed 50 traffickers with links to the Taliban on a… Read more
Why the Vietnamese Don't Want to Go to Rehab
28 May 2010
Why the Vietnamese Don't Want to Go to Rehab: Drug treatment in Southeast Asia is brutal, exploitative, and practically worthless By Joe Amon, Human Rights Watch (Published in Foreign Policy , 28 May 2010) Excerpt This month, nearly 600 drug addicts broke out of a rehabilitation center in the northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong. The… Read more
Children in the Line of Fire in Ciudad Juárez
10 May 2010
Excerpt from a story published by Inter Press Service News Agency on May 10, 2010. CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico, May 10, 2010 (IPS) In Ciudad Juárez, the most violent city in Latin America, Mexico's war on drugs has left at least 110 children dead in the past three years, and over 10,000 have lost parents. Civil society organisations are… Read more
Children's Voices: Experiences and Perceptions of European Children on Drug and Alcohol Issues
01 May 2010
The European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction has launched a thematic paper on the perspectives of children affected by drugs and alcohol use and policies. The launch coincides with international children's day, June 1st. It is an important contribution and one delivered very much in the spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of… Read more
Skin on the Cable: The Illegal Arrest, Arbitrary Detention and Torture of People Who Use Drugs in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch (2010)
25 January 2010
The Illegal Arrest, Arbitrary Detention and Torture of People Who Use Drugs in Cambodia In this 93-page report Human Rights Watch documents detainees being beaten, raped, forced to donate blood, and subjected to painful physical punishments such as "rolling like a barrel" and being chained while standing in the sun. Human Rights Watch also… Read more
Thailand: Convictions of Police in Drug Campaign Abuse a ‘First Step’
14 December 2009
Excerpt from a story originally published by Human Rights Watch on December 14, 2009 The conviction of eight police officers for crimes in anti-drug operations should be a catalyst for the Thai government to end police abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 8, 2009, the Talingchan district court in Bangkok found Police Captain… Read more
Trinidad and Tobago and Belize propose the inclusion of the Crime of International Drug Trafficking in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, ICC (2009)
29 October 2009
The proposal, presented in the lead up to next year's Review Conference in Uganda, would place "The crime of international drug trafficking" alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression. It does not, however, have much support from States parties to the ICC and is unlikely to go forward for review. It is… Read more
Human Rights Council Resolution supporting Harm Reduction, Human Rights Council (2009)
25 September 2009
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council at its 12th regular session specifically supporting harm reduction measures in both preambular and operational paragraphs. This is the first time harm reduction has been explicitly supported by the Council. It had not been endorsed at the former Commission on Human Rights. Human Rights Council Res… Read more
The War on Drugs has Failed. Now we need a more Humane Strategy
06 September 2009
Excerpt from a commentary by Former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, published in The Observer , 6 September 2009. It is time to admit the obvious. The "war on drugs" has failed, at least in the way it has been waged so far. In Latin America, the "unintended" consequences have been disastrous. Thousands of people have lost… Read more
The Needle and the Damage Done
24 June 2009
Excerpt from a commentary by Damon Barrett published in The Guardian, June 24, 2009. The World Drug Report shows we cannot tackle the drug trade without dealing with development justice and human rights Friday is World Drug Day, intended "to inspire people to act against drug abuse and trafficking." Yesterday, to mark the event, the UN… Read more