Project Directors
International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy was founded in 2009 by Rick Lines and Damon Barrett.
Rick Lines has been working in HIV/AIDS, human rights and drug policy research and advocacy since the early 1990s. He is known for his work on prisoners’ rights, harm reduction and the death penalty for drug offences, and regularly speaks and publishes on these and other topics.
Rick has held senior posts with non-governmental organisations in Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, and has acted as a technical assistance advisor on HIV in prisons for several UN agencies. He currently works as the Executive Director of the International Harm Reduction Association in London.
Rick is a member of the Technical Advisory Group to the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, established by UNDP and UNAIDS, and is a Core Member of the Reference Group to the United Nations on HIV and Injecting Drug Use. He holds Masters Degrees in both Sociology and International Human Rights Law.
Damon Barrett is recognised for his leading work on the development of a human rights based approach to drug policy at the international level. He has worked to raise the profile of drug policy issues at the UN Human Rights Council and among the UN human rights treaty bodies. He has authored numerous reports and articles on human rights and drug policy, and has spoken internationally and delivered trainings on human rights, the UN system and rights based approaches.
Damon was a member of the UK delegation to the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in 2008 where he helped to argue through the first ever human rights resolution adopted by the Commission. He was again a member of the UK delegation to the CND in 2009 and 2010.
He currently works as the Senior Human Rights Analyst for the International Harm Reduction Association in London. Damon holds an LL.B. in Law as well as a Masters Degree in International Human Rights Law.
Damon and Rick are Editors-in-Chief of the International Journal on Human Rights and Drug Policy.