Human rights and drugs, converging universes
“Converging universes: 20 years of human rights and drug policy at the United Nations” is the new IDPC briefing paper that takes stock of the intersection between human rights protection and drug policies globally.
Has been published the IDPC briefing paper edited by Adrià Cots Fernández And Marie Nougier entitled “Converging universes: 20 years of human rights and drug policy at the United Nations”. The document illustrates the recent and progressive interest in the global drug policies of the UN system of protection of Human Rights. You can download it herewhile below you will find the translation of the presentation by the editorial staff of Fuoriluogo.
In recent years, the historic isolation between United Nations (UN) drug policy and human rights bodies has eroded significantly, and with increasing speed. The human rights consequences of drug policies have become an inevitable – if contentious – topic in global drug policy debates, and human rights bodies routinely monitor the impact of these.
The growing convergence between the UN human rights and drug policy regimes is the result of 15 years of progress across the UN environment, with contributions from the Geneva, Vienna and New York bodies strengthening and they encourage each other. Civil society has been a constant and necessary presence, expanding the horizon of what is possible, conveying key information within the United Nations system and constantly advocating for change.
Despite a reluctance to engage in drug discussions until the 1910s, the Geneva-based human rights system gradually became more influential in urging this alignment. The first call for convergence between the two regimes came from Geneva in 2008. Since then, a large number of UN human rights bodies have considered drug policies as part of their mandate, including the Council for human rights, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), special mandate procedures and human rights treaty bodies.
A parallel shift in priorities also took place in Vienna, at least initially. In 2008, the first, and so far only, resolution dedicated to human rights within the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) was adopted, thus legitimizing human rights within the CND agenda. In subsequent years, member states began to incorporate human rights language into plenary declarations; new resolutions have been adopted on topics closely aligned with a human rights approach. In 2014, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) finally condemned the use of the death penalty for drug crimes, abandoning its longstanding refusal to recognize human rights violations related to drug control.
These changes have been vigorously pursued by progressive member states and civil society. The 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs provided an opportunity to accelerate the inclusion of a stronger human rights narrative in drug policy debates across the United Nations system. This involved defining human rights as the new pillar of the global drug response and adopting the strongest negotiating text to date. In part, this progress was due to the unprecedented involvement of UN human rights bodies in the preparations for the Special Session following the first Human Rights Council resolution on drugs in 2015.
The 2015 Human Rights Council resolution mobilized Geneva bodies to increase attention on drug policies after UNGASS. Since then, OHCHR has remained steadily engaged on the drug issue, while attention has increased on special mechanisms. In parallel, the guidance provided by human rights treaty bodies has become more systematic and ambitious. Recent developments, such as the announcement of a new General Comment on Drug Policies by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), show that this trend will intensify in the future.
The constraints of consensus-based drug policy-making and strong coordination from conservative member states have stalled progress on the implementation of human rights in the CND debate. However, human rights have gained visibility and influence within the Commission, thanks to continued pressure from civil society, the increased presence of OHCHR and human rights mechanisms in Vienna and the now constant references to human rights by States interested members. The centrality of human rights in responses to drugs is also recognized in the Common Position of the United Nations System on Drugs, adopted in November 2018 by the Governing Council composed of the heads of 31 United Nations entities.
2022 may have marked a turning point in consensus-based policymaking on drug-related issues at the UN. The first ever votes took place both in the CND (albeit on a procedural issue) and in the UN General Assembly, where a substantial majority of member states supported a strong new human rights text in the annual resolution on drugs. It remains to be seen whether the international community is really ready to end the longstanding consensus on UN drug policy. However, this opens the door to new possibilities in global drug policy debates and demonstrates that a majority of countries now unequivocally support a greater role for human rights and human rights bodies.
[Foto: General view of the Human Rights Council. Credit: UN Photo by Pierre Albuoy, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]