An activist of the Mexican cannabis movement Plantón 420, shows marijuana plants, in protest to demand the regularization of cannabis, at the door of the Supreme Court of Justice of the nation, in Mexico City. EFE / Carlos Ramirez
At the recent 47th session of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released a study on drug policies. In this report, the Working Group examines how punitive drug policies have led to a large and disproportionate increase in detentions and jail terms for drug-related offenses around the world. The Working Group further observed that drug law enforcement often targets the poor and vulnerable groups, such as women and people of African descent. They call for the decriminalization of the use and possession, acquisition or cultivation of drugs for personal use.
At the same session of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations High Commissioner published a seminal report that analyzes systemic racism against Africans and people of African descent by agencies responsible for the implementation of human rights. laws in the world. She identifies that the conduct of special police operations in the context of the War on Drugs is a factor in the most frequent police-related deaths. In this report, the High Commissioner calls for the removal of laws and practices that incite racial discrimination in law enforcement, including reform of drug laws and policies.
These reports are important and timely for contemporary movements for human rights and drug policy reform, for at least two reasons. First, in a time of a long-awaited racial awakening, he asserts that the war on drugs is a major element that continues to support racist and abusive policing around the world. In Indonesia, in its three rounds of executions in 2015-2016, nine of the eighteen people executed for drug offenses were all African nationals. In the United States, blacks are almost four times more likely than their white counterparts to be arrested for possession of marijuana, despite similar rates of use. From reading both reports, it can be inferred that global efforts to eliminate racial injustice and discrimination in law enforcement involve the dismantling of punitive drug policies that are historically and inherently racist.
Second, it diagnoses repressive drug policies as a root cause of over-incarceration and overcrowding and advocates for a reorientation of policies towards alternatives to incarceration. Overcrowded prisons in poor conditions can amount to inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, or even torture. And as the COVID-19 pandemic reveals, places with high density and lack of adequate hygiene and sanitation, such as prisons, are battling the epidemic. The international drug control system which relies almost exclusively on criminalization and imprisonment is fueling this global phenomenon of mass incarceration. In Thailand, where the overcrowding rate exceeds 300%, at least 80% of the prison population is for drug-related offenses. In Indonesia, with a prison occupancy rate of over 200%, drug-related offenses occupy 50% of the prison population. Millions of people could have been prevented from being imprisoned if the decriminalization of certain drug-related offenses had been introduced.
The above reports mark a critical change in the architecture of the United Nations, particularly in its human rights system in Geneva. It not only recognizes the war on drugs as the main driver of various human rights victims around the world, but unequivocally calls for drug policy reform, including the decriminalization of drug use and possession. for personal use. Both reports align with the United Nations Common Position on Drugs and the United Nations Common Position on Incarceration.
Reading both reports, it can be inferred that global efforts to eliminate racial injustice and discrimination in law enforcement involve the dismantling of punitive drug policies that are historically and inherently racist.
However, given that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) – all based in Vienna – remain the dominant force. of international drug control. regime that seeks to create a drug-free world, one must be cautiously optimistic in interpreting such a decision. For so many years, Vienna has tended to be silenced and on some occasions ignored the anticipated human rights consequences of continued drug prohibition. It is therefore crucial to ensure that the achievements made in Geneva can help disrupt the prohibitionist regime. Here I would like to offer some thoughts on how the human rights community and drug policy reformers might capitalize on this momentum.
First, there should be a holistic and systematic approach in Geneva that will help mainstream the drug policy reform agenda into United Nations special procedures, treaty bodies and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). , and strengthen their capacity to fight drugs. -the challenges related to human rights. The human rights concerns related to drug laws and policies are so vast and sweeping, from indigenous groups to women, from the right to life to discrimination in health facilities and the livelihoods of people. opium producers to racial justice.
Any platform or initiative that can overcome silos and maintain and advance collaborative efforts between mandate holders and OHCHR is essential. As countries of the South bear the brunt of the war on drugs disproportionately, it is imperative that people who use drugs, affected communities and civil society in the South are able to lead and shape all the efforts that will occur.
However, strengthening UN special procedures, treaty bodies and OHCHR alone is not enough. To counterbalance the power of Vienna, the corresponding political body in Geneva, i.e. the Human Rights Council, should also be more active in reviewing member states’ human rights obligations. man when implementing their drug laws. Here is my second proposal. Member States that have embarked on drug policy reform quests should join forces and ensure that the Human Rights Council is fully equipped to deal with related human rights issues. drugs. This can start, for example, with states that are members of both the Human Rights Council and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to encourage system-wide consistency of human rights centrality in drug control in Geneva and Vienna. In addition, they can also integrate the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy into the work of the Council and the Commission.
Finally, human rights organizations should be more present in the drug policy space and help promote human rights accountability in law enforcement and enforcement. drugs, which range from monitoring and controlling financial aid in the area of drug aid to examining the excessive use of force in drug operations. In many places, human rights groups stand ready to condemn human rights violations committed under the pretext of the war on drugs. However, they may not be comfortable opposing the logic of the prohibitionist regime. But this is where the problem lies. A commitment to, for example, abolish the death penalty for drug offenses, cannot be combined with a mindset that maintains demonizing drugs.
As long as the current drug control paradigm maintains that drugs are an “evil” that the international community has a “duty to fight”, the justification for extreme policies and practices will always remain. You have to realize that the racist laws and practices of law enforcement, over-incarceration and all these human rights violations in the name of drug control stem from this underlying belief. To end the war on drugs, we must eliminate this oppressive ideology.
