Summer School on Human Rights and Drug Policy, Central European University, Budapest, 11-22 July

The International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy is taking part in the first summer school on human rights and drug policy to take place at the Central European University, in Budapest, Hungary.

The course covers a range of issues, from the international drug control regime to public health and supply side isses.

Damon Barrett of the Centre is lecturing and facilitating working groups on international law, human rights and the international drug control system, and the rights of the child.

http://www.summer.ceu.hu/02-courses/course-sites/drug/index-drug.php

Course Director: Desmond Cohen, Formerly Dean School of Social Sciences, University of Sussex, UK and Director of the HIV/AIDS and Development Program, UNDP; Advisor OSI Global Drug Policy Program

Faculty:
Damon Barrett, Senior Analyst in Human Rights, Harm Reduction Association, UK and International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy, Ireland
David Bewley-Taylor, Senior Lecturer, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Swansea, UK
Balazs Denes, Executive Director, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Budapest, Hungary
Krzysztof Krajewski, Professor of Criminology, Jagellonian University, Krakov, Poland
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, Director, Global Drug Policy Program, OSI, Warsaw, Poland
Daniel Mejia, Professor of Economics, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Wiktor Osiatynski, Visiting Professor, CEU, Budapest, Hungary

The course aims to situate drug policies globally within a framework of fundamental human rights, and to assess the extent to which country and international drug policies fail to meet human rights standards. Discussion will focus partly on the identification and understanding of human rights including those that have their basis in international agreements and laws, and in part on evaluation and assessment of the gap between rights and practice in the implementation of drug policies in many countries and regions. The focus of the course will be global and participants will be drawn from all regions internationally.

A mix of teaching modes will be used and faculty are encouraged to minimise the use of formal lectures. Emphasis will be on discussion and interactive learning with maximal use of written and non-written materials. There exist considerable amounts of audio-visual media and these will be extensively used as a basis for group discussion. Time will be allocated for personal reading and participants will be encouraged to interact personally with faculty so as to deepen understanding of the issues. Site visits and discussions with civil society organisations and groups will be a feature of the programme of activities.

All those attending the course will be provided by CEU with a Certificate of Attendance. Opportunities will also be provided during the course for personal discussions with Faculty. It is intended that further work after the conclusion of the course be encouraged both in respect of research and programme analysis and development. Course faculty will be prepared to provide follow up assistance through personal agreement with students

Briefing on Bolivia’s concurrent drug control and other international legal commitments

Damon Barrett
International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy
July 1, 2011

Bolivia’s denunciation of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is not just about one treaty. It is about finding an appropriate balance between multiple concurrent and conflicting international legal obligations. When international treaties ratified by or acceded to by Bolivia and relevant jurisprudence are taken into account, it is clear that Bolivia would find itself in breach of multiple international agreements were it to fully implement the 1961 Single Convention as written. A reservation on the 1961 Single Convention is the most reasonable and proportionate way to address this conflict.

Download the backgrounder (PDF)

This is particularly so in relation to indigenous peoples and free prior and informed consent relating to issues that affect them. The manner in which Bolivia translates international obligations under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs into national legislation, programmes and policies must be consistent with its obligations to respect indigenous peoples rights that flow from its obligations under contemporary international, constitutional and (indigenous) customary law. The proposed reservation provides the means through which these obligations can be harmonised. Without it the Convention would constitute a unilateral imposition of a ban on the coca leaf on indigenous peoples, and a failure to fulfill the obligations to hold good faith consultations in order to obtain their consent and to ensure their cultural and physical survival.

A second question relates to whether the reservation is compatible with other concurrent international legal obligations, in this case under the law of treaties and children’s rights. An analysis of these agreements set against Bolivia’s proposal reveals no apparent conflict.

This backgrounder is divided into two sections.

I. Considers drawing a balance between the Single Convention of 1961 and
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966
• International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights 1966
• International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 1965
• UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People 2007
• ILO Convention 169 – Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 1989
• UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003
• UN Convention on the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988
• Convention on Biological Diversity 1992

II. Considers the compatibility of the proposed reservation with
• Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969
• Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989
• ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour 1999

Bolivia Withdraws from the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs

TNI/WOLA Press release
Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Bolivian government formally notified the UN Secretary General of its withdrawal from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (as amended by the 1972 Protocol) yesterday. The withdrawal will enter into effect on 1 January 2012. At that time, Bolivia will re-accede to the Convention with a reservation on the coca leaf and its traditional uses.

Bolivia’s step – the first of its kind in the history of the UN drug control treaties – comes after the rejection earlier this year of its proposal to delete the Single Convention’s obligation that “coca leaf chewing must be abolished” (article 49). A number of countries, including the United States, objected.

TNI and WOLA express their full understanding and support for the decision taken by the Morales administration, with the approval of the Bolivian legislature. After its proposed amendment was rejected, Bolivia had no other choice but to withdraw from the Convention, given the need to reconcile its international treaty obligations with the country’s new 2009 Constitution, which allows for a period of four years for the government to “denounce and, in that case, renegotiate the international treaties that may be contrary to the Constitution.”

According to the 2009 Constitution: “The State shall protect native and ancestral coca as cultural patrimony, a renewable natural resource of Bolivia’s biodiversity, and as a factor of social cohesion; in its natural state it is not a narcotic. It’s revaluing, production, commercialization and industrialization shall be regulated by law” (article 384). Martin Jelsma, director of TNI’s Drugs and Democracy program, points out: “The restrictions placed by the Single Convention on the coca leaf and its traditional uses – in the absence of any evidence of its harmfulness, were an historical error and a violation of indigenous rights.” The other procedure available under the treaty to correct this error – apart from the amendment that was already rejected – is a World Health Organization (WHO) review of the classification of the coca leaf. Bolivia considers that the outcome of such a WHO procedure would likely take too long to comply with the four-year Constitutional deadline.

We call on the international community to express understanding and support for the decision taken by the Bolivian government. Other countries with comparable legal conflicts regarding the status of the coca leaf, such as Peru, Colombia and Argentina, would be well-advised to follow Bolivia’s step and/or to initiate the long overdue WHO review.

CONTACT:
Kristel Mucino, TNI/WOLA Drug Law Reform Project Communications Coordinator
kmucino@wola.org; 617-584-1713

RESOURCES:

Backgrounder: Bolivia’s denunciation of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
Backgrounder: Bolivia’s concurrent drug control and other international legal commitments
Press conference by H.E. Pablo Solon, Permanent Representative of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, on Bolivia’s decision to withdraw
Martin Jelsma, Director of TNI’s Drugs and Democracy Program, on “Lifting the Ban on Coca Chewing”
Drug Law Reform Website: Unscheduling the Coca Leaf