IHRA’s human rights programme advocates against human rights abuses committed in the name of drug control and for all drug policies to be implemented in full conformity with human rights. The UN human rights treaty reporting system provides a forum to pursue both of these objectives and to contribute to the development of a human rights-based approach to drug policies.

IHRA has worked with national and international partners to submit ‘shadow reports’ on a range of countries to various UN human rights treaty bodies (with a focus on the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural rights). Through this process IHRA has helped national organisations to use the process as a framework for advocacy on key issues, and has contributed to the development of international human rights jurisprudence that establishes harm reduction ever more firmly as a requirement of international human rights law.

Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights

Sweden (2007/08) with Swedish Drug Users Union

Poland (2009) with Open Society Institute Global Drug Policy Program

Kazakhstan (2010) with Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, Anti-AIDS (Pavlodar), Equal to Equal (Almaty) and KREDO  (In Russian)

Mauritius (2010) with Collectif Urgence Toxida

Afghanistan (2010) with Transnational Institute

Colombia (2010) with  Institute for Policy Studies and Witness for Peace

Russian Federation (2010 – ongoing) with Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice

Committee on the Rights of the Child

Ukraine (2010) with Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (PDF, 176 KB)

Committee Against Torture

China with Human Rights Watch and Asia Catalyst (2008)