Children in Mexico: Criminals or Victims?

Children in Mexico’s ‘Drug War’: Criminals or Victims?

Mexico’s drug war has taken its toll on children. More than 30,000 of them have been involved in organized crime, according to the Children’s Rights Network (REDIM).

These children are paid by drug gangs to do minor roles such as drug running or being lookouts, but some have been trained to kill. This was the case of 14-year-old Edgar Jimenez, nicknamed ‘El Ponhis’ or ‘The Cloak’, arrested last year. Jimenez had been kidnapped at the age of 11 and forced into crime.

The circumstances that have lead to children’s involvement in organized crime vary, according to the story published by CNN. Social exclusion and economic marginality play a strong role. But also coercion by threats of violence against them or their families.

In this sense, the Children’s Rights Network has urged the government to recognize them as victims of child abuse. In a country where 30,000-50,000 people have died in the ‘drug war’, children have been orphaned and neglected.

There is a need to “take into account the long-term psychological damage to children associated with high levels of violence and the resultant breakdown in family, community, and social structures”, according to Aram Barra and Daniel Joloy’s article in Children of the Drug War: Perspectives on the Impact of Drug Policies on Young People. If the government does not take responsibility for upholding their rights, the long term consequences will not only be felt by these children and their families, but on whole communities.

As Barra and Joloy conclude, “drugs should be addressed as a public health and development issue, rather than a security issue, and only if children are truly placed at the forefront of more effective drug policies rather than being left to drift in a sea of violence.”

Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies (Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad campuses) – 6-10 February 2012

The International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy will be holding a series of seminars within the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies.  The topic of the lectures will be ‘Concerned with the health and welfare of mankind?’ – Drugs, Human Rights and bridging ‘Parallel Universes’.

The seminars will be held at the Kingston, Jamaica campus on 7 February, the Bridgetown, Barbados campus on 8 February and the Port of Spain, Trinidad campus on 10 February.

Public and Social Policy Programme, National University of Ireland, Galway – 1 February 2012

The International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy will present a 2-hour seminar on ‘Drug Control and Public Policy’ as part of the curriculum of the BA in Public and Social Policy at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Opium brides

PBS Frontline broadcasted on January 3 a thought provoking reportage on Afghanistan’s opium brides. Reporter Najibullah Quraishi journeyed into the Afghan countryside to reveal the deadly bargain local farm families have been forced to make with drug smugglers in order to survive.

Watch this story and related stories in Frontline’s website.

For more information on the opium brides, read also “In the Shadows of the Insurgency in Afghanistan: Child Bartering, Opium Debt, and the War on Drugs by Atal Ahmadzai and Christopher Kuonqui, published in Children of the Drug War: Perspectives on the Impact of Drug Policies on Young People.

‘Harm Reduction and Human Rights’, D. Barrett and P. Gallahue, Interights Bulletin, Winter 2011.

Human Rights and Abuses to Health Care, Interights Bulletin, Winter 2011, Volume 16, Number 4.

Harm Reduction and Human Rights

Abstract

‘Harm reduction’ is a phrase that may be unfamiliar to many in the human rights field despite the fact that its ethos and way of working is very close to it. Based on pragmatism, evidence, and compassion, harm reduction has been often misunderstood, side-lined, and isolated from human rights discourse. This paper shows how harm reduction has made important strides in human rights bodies of the United Nations. However, its application is critically absent anti-narcotics policy despite evidence of grave human rights violations done in the name of the “war on drugs” . The paper concludes that jurisprudence and scholarship around the human rights dimensions of harm reduction will be critical in understanding what works in protecting people from drug-related harms, but what is appropriate and necessary in a democratic society to achieve this legitimate aim

Download the full version of the publication.

A new language for the children of the drug wars

For decades, governments have used the rhetoric of war to describe their drug control efforts and rally their populations behind hardline policies they say will help protect children. Nayeli Urquiza, Research Fellow at the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy, argues it’s this very terminology that encourages the abuse of children by turning them into enemies of the state.

This guest editorial was originally published in the November issue of Matters of Substance, a publication of the New Zealand Drug Foundation.

For more information on this issue, read the book “Children of the Drug War: Perspectives on the Impact of Drug Policies on Young People”. Available online or download the PDF at www.childrenofthedrugwar.org

2012 Summer Course on ‘Human Rights and Drug Policy’-Central European University

The Central European University, based in Budapest, taking applications to the course “Human Rights and Drug Policy”. The course will be held from 16 July-27 July, 2012.

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.

Faculty includes Damon Barrett, co-founder of the International Centre on Human Rights Policy, as well as other experts in the field. The course is organized in cooperation with the Open Society Insititute and the Central European University.

For more information on how to apply, click on the CEU’s website.

Mexico, war crimes and a slippery slope

The war on drugs in Mexico has left thousands of people dead and a country in peril. But how can international law address this situation?

In an article published by Open Democracy, Patrick Gallahue comments on the recent petition made by Mexican human rights activists to the International Criminal Court to prosecute the Mexican government for crimes against humanity. What are the possible consequences of considering the drug war an armed conflict? Gallahue makes a convincing argument that in order to arrive to peace, we need not necessarily call the situation in Mexico a war.

To read the full article, click here