Statement by Mr. Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights at the event on the UNGASS 2016 on the World Drug Problem: focus on people, public health and human rights New York, 9 February 2016

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
I will address five substantive themes that have also been addressed in the 2015 OHCHR report on the impact of the world drug problem on the enjoyment of human rights. Let me start first with the right to health. The need for harm reduction programmes was recognized by the UN Human Rights Council, already in 2009. Today, such measures, including syringe exchange programmes and opioid substitution therapy, are available in slightly less than half of countries worldwide. Harm reduction measures help to substantially reduce HIV infections as well as the transmission of other blood borne viruses. Opiod substitution therapy and opiod overdose antidotes can save many of the 69,000 lives lost every year from opiod overdose. This is a matter not only of the right to health, but of the right to life.

This brings me to the issue of decriminalization. The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health in 2010 called for decriminalization of the possession and use of drugs, as had WHO and UNAIDS. This is because criminalization of possession and use has been shown to cause significant obstacles to the right to health:

- In States where drug use is criminalized, drug users may refrain from seeking health care for fear that they could be arrested or imprisoned, included on drug registries, or subjected to treatment against their will.

For these reasons, we endorse the Special Rapporteur’s, WHO’s and UNAIDS’ call on States to consider decriminalizing possession and use of drugs.

Second, let me raise some issues relating to criminal justice,

It has been estimated that 33 countries or territories continue to impose the death penalty for drug-related offences, resulting in approximately 1,000 executions annually. In some States, drug-related offences account for the majority of executions carried out.

According to the UN Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on torture, non-violent drug-related offences do not meet the threshold of the “most serious crimes”, specified in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and which is required for the imposition of the death sentence.

According to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, persons suspected of having committed drug-related offences are also particularly at risk of arbitrary detention. In some States, persons who are arrested for drug-related offences are kept in custody without being charged for a substantially longer period of time than those arrested for other crimes, or are automatically held in pre-trial detention without examining the individual circumstances of their case.

Drug users may also be subjected to torture or ill treatment in custody to obtain a confession or other information. The Special Rapporteur on torture and the Human Rights Committee have both noted that law enforcement officials, in some States, have intentionally withheld substitution therapy from drug- dependent suspects in custody to extract confessions or obtain other information, a practice they found to constitute torture.

Third, the prohibition of discrimination,

In some States, convictions for drug-related offences result in disproportionately harsh sentences for relatively minor offences, and adversely affect a range of rights or entitlement to benefits. Let me quote former Secretary-General Kofi Annan who said, “A criminal record for a young person for a minor drug offence can be a far greater threat to their well-being than occasional drug use.” Our report recommends that, given the severe impact that a conviction can have on a person’s life, consideration should be given to alternatives to prosecution and imprisonment of persons for minor, non-violent, drug-related offences.

Fourth, the rights of the child,

Consistent with the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, children should not be subject to criminal prosecution. Responses should focus on health education, treatment, including harm reduction measures, and social re-integration.

And finally, fifth, the rights of indigenous peoples,

They have the right to follow their traditional, cultural and religious practices, and where drug use is part of these practices, it should in principle be permitted.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me conclude. People do not lose their human rights because they use drugs. They have the right to health, the right to life, the right to be treated without discrimination, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and freedom from torture and other forms of ill treatment. A State’s response to drug use is both more efficient and more humane when it focuses on the health and well-being of the individual, with full respect for her or his dignity and humanity.

Let’s do our best to reflect this people centred approach in the General Assembly’s Special Session in April.

Thank you.