Robust Cooperation Crucial to Dismantling Gangs Using Terrorist Networks for Drug-Trade Profits, Speakers Tell General Assembly Special Session
High Commissioner for Human Rights Says ‘Intense Frustration’ Tempered His ‘Supressed Excitement’ over Outcome Document
Robust cooperation — especially among legal, financial and law enforcement authorities — would be crucial to dismantling trafficking groups exploiting terrorist networks to foment the illicit trade in drugs, experts from government, civil society and the United Nations agreed today, as the General Assembly continued its special session on the world drug problem.
Day two of the special session, which runs until 21 April, featured two round-table discussions. During the first, titled “supply reduction and related measures; responses to drug-related crime; and countering money-laundering and promoting judicial cooperation”, seven panellists explored obstacles to collaboration, offering guidance on how to improve both the exchange of best practices and the effectiveness of investigative entities. They also discussed proportionality in drug-crime sentencing in the interest of protection from cruel or inhumane treatment.
In that context, panellist Hana Serwaa Tetteh, Ghana’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, called for “balanced and smart” criminal justice responses that would see national police working with local communities to promote a culture of lawfulness. Such efforts should also encourage collaboration among law enforcement bodies in patrolling borders and anti-corruption measures, given the tendency of criminal groups to influence public officials.
Another panellist, X-Cons Chairman Peter Söderlund, emphasized: “Abuse cannot be punished away.” Recounting his personal journey from drug addict and criminal to leader of a movement in Sweden dedicated to helping addicts create positive change, he urged States to condemn the death penalty and instead use citizens as a resource to change people’s lives. The United Nations, for its part, should support non-governmental groups in helping former prisoners reintegrate into society, he said.
William Brownfield, Assistant Secretary of State of the United States, agreed that prosecuting drug-addicted individuals was not the solution. To reduce the supply of illicit drugs, Governments must consider alternative means of development. “We can’t just tell people in impoverished areas what they cannot grow,” he said, adding that it was not enough simply to provide substitute crops. Expanded State services and infrastructure could persuade farmers to forego the cultivation of illicit crops.
Seiji Kihara, Japan’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, said the huge profits enjoyed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) from heroin trafficking spoke to the growing links between drugs and terrorism.
In the ensuing discussion, ministers and other senior officials called attention to the principle of shared responsibility in redesigning international cooperation to better tackle drug trafficking and money-laundering, notably through improved exchange of information and best practices. Others described supply-reduction challenges, including the lack of skilled law enforcement officers and the need for stronger legal frameworks.
During the second round table, on “cross-cutting issues: drugs and human rights, youth, women, children and communities”, four panellists presented ways in which to facilitate access for people with drug-use disorders to relevant social and care services, in line with the international drug-control conventions. The right to health was fundamental and essential, as reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, they agreed, emphasizing that human rights were universal and applicable to drug users.
Gabriel Wikström, Sweden’s Minister for Health Care, Public Health and Sport, said his country considered the special needs of all people, including women and girls, working to ensure that gender equality impacted all polices and resource allocations. There must be gender-specific treatment programmes and an understanding of the different needs of women and men. He urged the special session to pave the way for a smarter, more inclusive, gender-sensitive, human-rights-based and health-oriented international drug policy.
In a similar vein, Anne Maria-Goretti of Justice for All, the International Drug Policy Consortium and the West Africa Drug Policy Network, described the devastating impacts of “the war on drugs” on drug users, noting that suspects were often subjected to inhumane treatment and that innocent people had lost their lives. Civil society, States and United Nations human rights experts had all expressed concerns about summary or arbitrary executions carried out in the name of drug control, and the special session should ensure United Nations system-wide coherence in tackling the world problem since there was no consensus on drugs and human rights.
In a separate address, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights, applauded references to the commitment to a human rights-based approach in the outcome document adopted by the special session on the opening day. He noted, however, that people’s rights continued to be violated by criminal justice systems, while punishments were handed down without an understanding of the drug problem in all its dimensions.
He said he would have liked to see the outcome document mention the right to health, as provided for in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as its explicit use of such terminology as “opioid substitution therapy” and “needle and syringe exchange”. It also made no reference to the death penalty, or the persistence of arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudicial killing of drug suspects. The outcome document also did not address discrimination against ethnic minorities and women, or include a recommendation by the Committee on the Rights of the Child that child drug users should not be subjected to criminal prosecutions.
The General Assembly will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 21 April, to conclude the special session on the world drug problem.
Round Table 2
The General Assembly opened the day with a round-table discussion on “supply reduction and related measures; responses to drug-related crime; and countering money-laundering and promoting judicial cooperation”.
It featured presentations by the following panellists: Hana Serwaa Tetteh, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of Ghana; Seiji Kihara, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan; William Brownfield, Assistant Secretary of State of the United States; Milton Romani, Secretary-General of the National Drug Board, Presidency of Uruguay; Konstantin Gobrusenko, Deputy Head of Department on Countering Money-Laundering of the Federal Monitoring Service, Russian Federation; Peter Söderlund, X-Cons, Sweden; and Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, United Nations.
TAYEB LOUH, Co-Chair and Minister for Justice of Algeria, opened the discussion by emphasizing the importance of international cooperation among judicial entities and specialized agencies, especially financial information units. The round table would explore the obstacles to such collaboration, how to improve the exchange of best practices, and policies that should be adopted in order to limit the use of new psychotropic substances. Other questions would explore how to improve the effectiveness of investigative entities, especially public prosecutors, and the exchange of information among financial intelligence units, and how to conduct joint investigations into money-laundering.
Ms. TETTEH said the goals of supply reduction must include enhancing regional and subregional capacity to combat drugs, as laws on their own had failed to create the desired effect. Ghana joined the call for “balanced and smart” criminal justice responses, she said, adding that police and others at the national level must work with local communities to promote a culture of lawfulness and reduce drug-related crime. The principle of proportionality must be encouraged when considering punishment for drug crimes. Border control was critical, and Ghana planned to improve its border patrol force, recognizing that without cooperation among different law-enforcement authorities, efforts to combat trafficking in drugs, firearms and ammunition would not succeed.
In addition, given the tendency of criminal groups to influence public officials, efforts must include anti-corruption measures for law enforcement and judicial officials, she emphasized. Cross-border information-sharing was essential and the sharing of best practices through trainings and workshops at all levels was to be recommended. On money-laundering, she called for implementation of provisions against the practice contained in all relevant international instruments, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. West Africa had seen an increase in the production of new psychoactive substances and sought cooperation to stem their proliferation, even as the subregion addressed the diversion of chemicals used in drug production, she said.
Mr. KIHARA described drug trafficking as one of the most traditional forms of organized crime, saying it was increasingly linked with terrorism and created further destabilizing effects since criminal groups used drugs to entice people to blow themselves up. Today, there was greater focus on amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances. “In short, the world drug problem is an increasing threat,” he said. While the production, trafficking and use of drugs were crimes in Japan, awareness of prevention was rising and lifetime prevalence rates for cannabis and methamphetamine stood at 1 and 0.5 per cent respectively, signs of the country’s success. Yet, drugs were a global problem that must be tackled by the global society, regardless of national situations, notably by addressing loopholes in national drug-control mechanisms, in line with the principle of common but shared responsibility.
Noting that his country had supported Afghanistan’s counter-narcotics efforts for nearly 10 years, he said links between drugs and terrorism in that country were increasing due to the high profits enjoyed by the Taliban and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) from heroin trafficking. Japan emphasized alternative development, helping poor farmers and women transition from the production of poppy flowers to the cultivation of roses and saffron. In sub-Saharan Africa, Japan supported the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in assessing the links between organized crime and terrorist financing. In Central Asia, the Prime Minister of Japan had expressed a new engagement to counter the rise of new psychoactive substances in the region, he said.
Mr. BROWNFIELD, emphasizing that international drug policy was ripe for reform, said efforts must better target drug traffickers, with law enforcement responses better distinguishing victims from traffickers in the supply chain. Prosecuting “mules”, or drug-addicted individuals, was not the solution. Rather, the response to those with substance-use disorders must provide a path to recovery and allow law enforcement to focus exclusively on violent traffickers. It was also important to distinguish between group leaders and young people forced to join such gangs, he said, citing his country’s efforts in Central America as example of supply reduction. To reduce illicit drug supply, States must also consider alternative means of development. “We can’t just tell people in impoverished areas what they cannot grow,” he said, adding that it was not enough simply to provide substitute crops. Expanded State services, eradication where appropriate and adequate infrastructure could persuade farmers to forego the cultivation of illicit crops. More broadly, supply-reduction efforts would help create more effective drug-control policies in pursuit of the goals contained in the three United Nations drug conventions, he concluded.
Mr. ROMANI said efforts to address the world drug problem focused excessively on reducing supply, while the characteristics of transnational criminal organizations were constantly changing, creating a formidable challenge for countries and communities. Today, those groups were multinationals with specific economic objectives not always focused exclusively on drugs. They worked as businesses, including through the trafficking of arms and people. It was a complex phenomenon, and the international community must think about market logic when trying to control and regulate drugs, he emphasized.
There was no evidence that the effects of reducing supply were always beneficial, he continued, noting that there was a biased view of drug control that did not respond to the full phenomenon, which was very complex and multidimensional. Unless all aspects of the drug problem were addressed, the so-called “war against drugs” would become a war against people, he warned. There were new approaches that identified alternative ways to address the drug problem and they must to be considered, he said, stressing also that there must be a strategy to regulate and control markets. Anti-drug efforts should not be about legalization, but rather about regulating production and use.
Mr. GOBRUSENKO said the drug trade was, in fact, a criminal business with an established financial infrastructure, and significant experience had been gained as the international community attempted to combat the trade component of drug trafficking. There must be further consolidation of efforts on the part of the entire international community. Illegal drugs were profitable, which enabled international criminal networks to engage in a number of activities that put entire communities at risk and undermined stability and security. Money laundering had become a truly global threat, particularly to economic security, he emphasized, noting that it had been established that drug profits were being used to finance terrorism.
He went on to state that drug money was infiltrating the entire global financial system, adding that money-laundering involved the use of modern technology, including the Internet, encryption techniques and other methodologies for preserving anonymity. A significant portion of drug profits were crossing State borders via drug routes into financial hubs that were used for the redistribution and further reinvestment of drug money. Effectively countering drug gangs would require the liquidation of their financial base, he said, stressing the need for greater coordination of financial intelligence and law-enforcement units at both the national and international levels. Further strengthening international cooperation could achieve breakthrough results in destroying the global drug economy.
Mr. SÖDERLUND recounted his personal story of having spent nearly five years in prison for drug crimes, after which he had decided to “take a different road” by motivating other addicts to change their ways. After 10 years, he had built a movement in 30 cities in Sweden. X-Cons, an organization of former addicts and criminals, was a cost-effective alternative in which society could invest to create positive change, he said. It was one of the biggest anti-crime organizations in the country, yet there were no resources to support its work, which had forced it to scale down operations.
National resources had been invested in criminals and drug addicts, but more were needed to help people recover from addiction and reform their criminal behaviour, he continued, adding that he was not only a former addict who was unaware of how Governments were combating the drug problem. However, their efforts would fail unless they supported individual and civil society efforts. More resources were needed to support the work of X-Cons, he said, pointing out that popular movements had been effective in preventing drug use and crime. He urged the United Nations to support individuals and non-governmental groups in helping those released from prison, and called on countries to use their citizens as a support resource that could change lives. “Abuse cannot be punished away,” he emphasized, urging States also to condemn the death penalty.
Mr. FELTMAN said that he headed a department that assisted States in preventing and resolving potentially violent disputes. Drug trafficking and transnational organized crime had complicated those efforts. Calling attention to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its underpinning philosophy, he said it called for a holistic approach to the most pressing problems facing humanity. However, six months after its adoption, the United Nations was again perpetuating a “silo approach” to one of its first test cases — the world drug problem. While the outcome document adopted by the special session included references to human rights and development, tackling the drug problem — in the spirit of the 2030 Agenda — required moving beyond discussions of supply and demand reduction to include poverty, inequality and violence reduction, he emphasized. “If the global approach to drug policy had unintended consequences, we cannot reasonably claim that they were unexpected,” he continued. The drug economy generated billions of dollars each year, dwarfing counter-narcotics budgets, and the illegal drug trade was among the main drivers of homicidal violence around the world. States must support the anti-drug conventions, as well as new, humane efforts to minimize unintended consequences, he stressed. That could lead many to question traditional assumptions, some of which preceded the first counter-narcotics framework. Evidence-based policymaking required that decision makers must not be afraid to consider all options.
In the ensuing discussion, speakers called attention to the principle of shared responsibility in redesigning international cooperation to better tackle drug trafficking and money-laundering, notably through stronger information sharing and exchange of best practices.
The representative of Panama said modern mechanisms were in place in that country to counter money-laundering, terrorism financing and weapons of mass destruction, and the legal framework had been restructured to combat drug-related crime.
The representative of Nicaragua said her country had put a number of strategies in place to contain drug trafficking, which was of particular concern given its geographic location in a key drug-transit region. Particular focus had been placed on strengthening the criminal justice system so that it could effectively investigate, sanction and prosecute drug-related crimes.
The representative of Afghanistan said his country faced a number of counter-narcotic challenges, including domestic and regional insecurity, and a lack of sustained donor support, regional cooperation and addiction-treatment centres.
The representative of Pakistan, emphasizing that strict law enforcement was the key to successful supply-reduction efforts, reported that 28 international drug trafficking organizations had been dismantled in his country over the last year.
The representative of El Salvador noted with concern that his country had seen no decrease in the consumption of illicit drugs over the last 15 years, due in part to a lack of financial resources to address their prevalence.
Some speakers highlighted particular domestic supply-reduction challenges, including the lack of capable and skilled law enforcement officers, the need for stronger legal frameworks for the prosecution of drug-related crimes and the complex, multidimensional nature of transnational drug trafficking.
The representative of Mongolia echoed that concern, saying her country had transitioned from a drug-transit hub to a consumer of drugs. As a result, it was in need of more effective police and border-patrol forces, many of which were poorly equipped to address complex transnational trafficking issues.
The representative of Zambia reported a similar situation, saying that the training of law enforcement officers in counter-narcotic capabilities was an ongoing process in her country. Specific efforts focused on airport and land border interdictions and chemical diversion to exert greater control over the flow of drugs.
The representative of India said regulations on precursors had been revised and laws on money-laundering amended to address the challenges associated with illicit financial flows.
The representative of Indonesia said money-laundering was a particular challenge in his country, which had adopted a zero-tolerance policy on drug crimes and engaged in strict law enforcement measures. Effectively addressing money-laundering at the international level required a wider exchange of information, greater cooperation among international financial institutions and more concerted efforts to tackle the link between corruption and drug use.
The representative of Singapore said cross-border sharing of information at the regional and international spheres was of critical importance as countries sought to address drug-related crimes, emphasizing that United Nations entities had an important role to play in building State capacities.
Other speakers highlighted the need for early warning and monitoring systems to evaluate, analyse and gather information on new and emerging challenges.
Also speaking this morning were representatives of Colombia, Turkey, Nigeria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Italy, Spain, Israel, Singapore, Mexico, China and the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes and the International Narcotics Control Board.
Round Table 3
The General Assembly continued in the afternoon, holding a round-table discussion on “cross-cutting issues: drugs and human rights, youth, women, children and communities”.
It featured presentations by the following panellists: Ana Helena Chacón, Vice-President of Costa Rica; Gabriel Wikström, Minister for Health Care, Public Health and Sport of Sweden; Dyan Setia Utami, Deputy Head of the National Narcotics Board, Indonesia; and Anne Maria-Goretti, Justice for All, International Drug Policy Consortium, West Africa Drug Policy Network, Ghana. Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, also made an intervention.
Ms. CHACÓN said her country used 60 per cent of assets seized from drug trafficking for efforts to reduce demand. It operated a drug- and alcohol-treatment facility that had been in operation for 60 years, gaining a great deal of experience in those areas. Women were among the populations most in need, which was why Costa Rica sought to reduce the penalties for women convicted of drug-related offences, particularly those introduced to drugs while in detention, she said. Most incarcerated women had been forced to leave their children with family members or in otherwise precarious situations, which further exacerbated the social ramifications of drug use.
She went on to state that Costa Rica preferred to focus on prevention, rather than incarceration, and in a recent reform, the country had sought to recognize gender conditions in anti-drug legislation and policies, and to reduce jail sentences for women convicted of drug-related offences. Alternative sentences had been established for women in conditions of vulnerability, including those living in poverty or who were the primary caregivers for dependents. Costa Rica was the first country in the region with a public sector network that addressed the vulnerable conditions of women involved in drug-related crimes, she said, adding that it worked to implement a human rights approach to all actions linked to drug use.
Mr. WIKSTRÖM said his country actively considered the special needs and perspectives of all people, including women and girls, working to ensure that gender equality impacted all policies’ resource allocations. Girls’ and women’s rights were human rights, and gender equality was at their heart, he said, emphasizing the importance of gender-specific treatment programmes and an understanding of the different needs of women and men. Sweden opposed the death penalty in all circumstances, deeming it not a proportionate response to drug crimes, he said.
Stressing that the right to health was fundamental and essential, as reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said leaders must combine initiatives for the whole population with measures directed towards individuals and groups with specific needs. With human rights being universal, they also applied to those using drugs or suffering from substance-abuse disorders. Specific policies aimed at preventing young people from using drugs were important, he said, underlining also that efforts must be made to support the children of parents suffering the effects of drug use. It was to be hoped that the special session would help pave the way to a smarter, more inclusive, gender-sensitive, human-rights-based and health-oriented international drug policy.
Ms. UTAMI noted that about 246 million people consumed narcotic drugs, according the 2015 World Drug Report, and the number of drug abusers in Indonesia had increased in the last 15 years. In response, the Government had devised a balanced national strategy to reduce demand and supply, in line with the three international drug-control conventions. Rehabilitation programmes played a pivotal role in such efforts, with treatment programmes designed to cure addiction and empower addicts by providing them with the skills to help them reintegrate into society, she said, noting that the number of drug users in Indonesia had fallen from 4.2 million in 2011 to 4 million in 2015.
When crimes involved women and youth, protection of their rights must be guaranteed, in line with the Constitution and national law, she said. Integrated assessment teams comprising public health and law enforcement officials had been posted in provinces and cities since 2014, with the aim of minimizing the incarceration of drug users and ensuring their right to support services. More broadly, Indonesia was seen by transnational organized criminals as a potential market for illegal drugs, and their influence had spread through many parts of the country into all levels of society, with disastrous impacts, she noted. The rights of all people must be protected, she said, stressing that the drug problem was complex and required a comprehensive response.
Ms. MARIA-GORETTI, describing the devastating consequences of “the war on drugs” on users, said that suspects in ghettos were often subjected to inhumane treatment, and innocent people had lost their lives. “Individuals who use drugs are humans. They deserve to be treated as humans,” she emphasized. It was time to place people at the centre of global public health policy, and it was worrying that the right to life had been so comprised by supply-reduction strategies.
Noting that the death penalty could be applied only for the most serious offences under international law, she emphasized, however, that capital punishment was not in line with human rights obligations and must be condemned. Civil society, States and United Nations human rights experts had all expressed concerns about summary or arbitrary executions carried out in the name of drug control, she said, expressing concern about the negative effects of such criminalization.
She went on to stress that drug users had a right to access life-saving health services without fear of discrimination. The story was no different for women, who were never at the centre of the discussion, yet they faced greater social stigma. They lacked gender-sensitive treatment facilities, and since society believed female drug users were a disgrace and deserved to be punished, they were often abused, even by police. The special session should ensure United Nations system-wide coherence in tackling the world drug problem in the absence of consensus on drugs and human rights, she said.
The special session then heard an address by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mr. AL HUSSEIN, High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that his “suppressed excitement” stemmed from the modest and discernible progress made, citing the outcome document references to human rights and its commitment to a human-rights-based approach, as well as to medication-assisted therapy. He said his “intense frustration”, however, stemmed from the realization that the “needle could be moving much faster”. People had had their rights violated by criminal justice systems and punishments handed down without an understanding of the drug problem in all its dimensions, he noted. When drugs were decriminalized and health care, including harm reduction, was available, drug-dependent people were less likely to resort to criminal behaviour, as they could receive opioid substitution therapy. He said he would have liked to see references in the outcome document to the right to health, as provided for by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the explicit use of such terminology as “opioid substitution therapy” and “needle and syringe exchange”.
That the outcome made no reference to application of the death penalty, while the global trend was towards ending its use, was highly regrettable, he continued, emphasizing that his office had determined that capital punishment was incompatible with international human rights law. He expressed concern that the outcome document also failed to acknowledge such violations as arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, and that it did not refer to the obligation of States to investigate and prosecute police personnel responsible for drug-related offences. It also did not address discrimination against ethnic minorities and women, who were disproportionately sentenced to prison terms for drug crimes. Nor did it include a recommendation by the Committee on the Rights of the Child that child drug users should not be subjected to criminal prosecution. While the text addressed indigenous peoples, the language was ambiguous and should have stated that indigenous peoples should be allowed to use drugs for cultural or religious practices.
In the ensuing discussion, speakers called attention to the need to protect human rights while addressing drug issues, including by taking the specific needs of women and children into account when considering drug-control policies and punishment.
The representative of Colombia said the quest to create a “drug-free world” had been accompanied by an excessively repressive focus that disproportionally affected the most vulnerable. It was incumbent upon States to implement public policies that recognized the various levels of responsibility within drug chains and to deal with them in a differentiated manner proportionate to the role they played.
The representative of the United States noted the importance of age-appropriate measures tailored to the needs of children, saying many who sought addiction treatment in her country were not receiving it, which demonstrated that choosing incarceration over treatment had not reduced the drug problem.
The representative of China stressed that drug-control measures must take into account the need to guarantee the human rights of the majority of people, as well as the human rights of drug offenders. It was important to keep in mind the public security and social problems that drug use created, and not to focus on the issue solely as a public health concern.
Other delegates stressed that the protection and promotion of human rights should be extended to all individuals, including drug users who had committed drug-related offences.
In that vein, the representative of Italy said both drug users and drug traffickers were entitled to adequate health care, protection from mistreatment and torture, as well the right to life and to not face discrimination.
The representative of Mexico said her country promoted proper health care for women drug users while taking into account their need for fair and balanced sentencing for drug-related crimes.
In sharing national experiences, the representative of Singapore said his country had focused on supporting the families of drug abusers, given their potential to play a clear and positive role in rehabilitation.
The representative of El Salvador echoed those sentiments in stressing the role of the family when rehabilitating young drug-affected people. Nevertheless, it was difficult in the absence of opportunities for decent work and professional training.
The representative of South Africa also stressed the role of the family, particularly positive parenting, as well as the reunification and reintegration of former drug abusers.
The representative of Brazil said that, given the diversity in his country, the Government had begun to more actively consider how different ethnic or racial groups were affected by drug policies.
The representative of Sudan said his country had created social and religious programmes to rehabilitate young people who abused alcohol and drugs.
The representative of Kuwait highlighted a number of anti-drug awareness campaigns launched in his country, in cooperation with civil society.
The representative of the a non-governmental organization Community Legal Aid Institute recalled his experiences in supporting people convicted of drug-related offences in Indonesia, including his work with a man who suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder who had understood that he would face the death penalty only two hours before his execution. “The death penalty is senseless and it must stop,” he emphasized, to a burst of sustained applause.
The representative of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy added that States were not the arbiters of their own compliance with human rights obligations. “That would be like [the] Fédération Internationale de Football Association assessing its own corruption,” he said.
The representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the global drug problem was in many respects a human rights problem, undermining the right to the highest attainable standards of health. In turn, safety from crime was a prerequisite for the enjoyment of human rights. The response to the world drug problem must align fully with human rights standards, which required qualified health personnel, well-trained on drug-use disorders. The continuity of services, from counselling to treatment and HIV and hepatitis prevention, should be ensured, including in prisons, and be accompanied by a move away from compulsory drug rehabilitation centres.
Also speaking today were ministers and senior officials representing Israel, Thailand, United Kingdom, Argentina, Portugal, El Salvador, Malaysia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Australia, Benin, Indonesia and the Russian Federation, as well as the European Union, International Narcotics Control Board, World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).
Speaking on behalf of civil society were representatives of Active Society Friendship and Peace, and Active.