Amicus curiae brief to Colombian Constitutional Court: Decriminalisation, the UN drug conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Is the decriminalisation of possession of controlled substances for personal use consistent with international law?

Damon Barrett, Project Director of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy, has submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Constitutional Court of Colombia (Docket D-8371) in a case challenging the criminalisation of possession for personal use.

The submission (jointly with the International Harm Reduction Association, where Damon is senior human rights analyst) asks whether decriminalisation of personal possession of controlled drugs is permissible in international law, looking at the three core international drug conventions and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. They are treaties that are sometimes seen as precluding decriminalisation or moves away from ‘restrictive’ drug policies. Upon analysis, however, this is not the case. Four broad conclusions are made:

• There is nothing in international law to prohibit Colombia decriminalising possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use if it were found that to criminalise such possession would be unconstitutional
• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child does not require criminalisation and there is a question mark about whether criminalisation for personal possession is an ‘appropriate measure’ for the purposes of the Convention.
• Tests of proportionality and arbitrariness require scrutiny of criminal laws applied to drug use.
• The burden of proof is on the State to justify criminalisation.

¿Es la despenalización de la posesión de sustancias controladas para uso personal consistente con el derecho internacional?

Este informe se centra en las convenciones internacionales sobre drogas y la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos del Niño. Son tratados que en ocasiones se interpretan como que prohíben la despenalización o las acciones que se distancien de las políticas “restrictivas” de drogas. Sin embargo, al analizarlas se demuestra que este no es el caso. Cuatro grandes conclusiones se han extraído de la discusión que sigue:

• No existe ninguna disposición en el derecho internacional que le prohíba a Colombia despenalizar la posesión de pequeñas cantidades de drogas para uso personal, al determinarse que la penalización de dicha posesión es inconstitucional.
• La Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño no exige la tipificación penal y existe duda acerca de si la penalización de la posesión para uso personal podría considerarse como una “medida adecuada” a la luz de los propósitos de la Convención.
• Los test de proporcionalidad y arbitrariedad requieren el escrutinio de las leyes penales aplicadas al uso de drogas.
• La carga de la prueba recae sobre el Estado para justificar la penalización.

UN child rights committee calls for drug law reform and specialised harm reduction for children at risk

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child last week issued strong recommendations calling for “specialised and youth-friendly drug dependence treatment and harm reduction services for children and young people” and amending “laws that criminalise children for possession or use of drugs” which may “impede access to such services”.

The recommendations were made to the Government of Ukraine during the country’s periodic review process at the 56th session of the Committee. The Concluding Observations, reproduced below (and available at the Committee’s website) are an important addition to jurisprudence relating to children and drug use.

UN Doc No CRC/C/UKR/CO/4, paras 59 & 60

Drug, tobacco, alcohol and other substance use

59.       The Committee is deeply concerned at the increasing practice of drug injection among children, affecting in particular children in prison, children left behind by migrating parents, children in street situations, and that drug use constitutes a main reason for HIV infection. It is deeply concerned at the lack of specialized youth-friendly services aimed at treatment and rehabilitation for these at-risk children, and that legal and attitudinal barriers impede access to such services (such as order of the Drug Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs no. 40/2/1-106 of 18 January 2011). The Committee is also concerned that the State party’s drug strategy 2010-2015 fails to take these issues sufficiently into account and that new regulations relating to personal possession of drugs may bring more at risk adolescents into contact with the criminal justice system. In addition, the Committee is deeply concerned at the very high proportion of and early initiation age of tobacco and alcohol use among children, related in part to the ineffectiveness and weak enforcement of existing legislation prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and alcohol to children.

60.       The Committee recommends that the State party, in partnership with non-governmental organizations, develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing the

alarming situation of drug abuse among children and youth and undertake a broad range of  evidence-based measures in line with the Convention, and to:

(a) Develop specialised and youth-friendly drug dependence treatment and harm reduction services for children and young people, building on recent legislative progress on HIV/AIDS and the successful pilot programmes for most at risk adolescents initiated by UNICEF;

(b) Ensure that criminal laws do not impede access to such services, including by amending laws that criminalise children for possession or use of drugs;

(c) Ensure that health and law enforcement personnel working with at-risk children are appropriately trained in HIV prevention and that abuses by law enforcement against at risk children are investigated and punished;

(d) Intensify enforcement of the prohibition of the sale of alcohol and tobacco to children and to address root causes to substance use and abuse among children and youth.