GREA is a Swiss network which promotes its vision and effective action to deal with addiction problem and drugs.

El GREA es una red suiza que promueve una acción eficaz sobre los problemas relacionados con la adicción y las drogas.

GREA est un réseau suisse qui promeut une action efficace pour les problèmes liés à l’usage et la dépendance à la drogue.

Groupement Romand d'Etudes des Addictions (GREA)

El IDPC se une a más de 30 organizaciones de todo el mundo que piden que se ponga fin a la operación Yukthiya y que, en su lugar, se allane el acceso voluntario a una atención basada en pruebas. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

We, the undersigned organisations, are deeply concerned about the drastic intensification of anti- drug operations in Sri Lanka leading to significant human rights violations.

On 17 December 2023 the Acting Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennekoon, with the endorsement of Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles, spearheaded an operation titled “Yukthiya”, with the stated aim of controlling “the drug menace”. The operation is ongoing as of 10 January 2024, with at least one thousand persons arrested daily.

This operation is unfolding in a context of already severe repression against persons who use or are suspected of using drugs, who suffer discrimination and stigma within the Sri Lankan criminal justice system and society.

Alongside the Sri Lankan police, members of the armed forces have been supporting this operation, during which several human rights violations have been reported. These violations include alleged arbitrary arrests, primarily against individuals from marginalised socio-economic communities; searches conducted without warrants or reasonable suspicion; and degrading treatment including strip searches in public as well as cavity searches. The searches and arrests have been televised, in violation not only of the right to privacy (and of basic human dignity) but also of a person’s right to be presumed innocent. According to lawyers, persons are being arrested even when no drugs are found in their possession, simply for having been arrested for drug offences or having been sent to compulsory rehabilitation in the past. The arrests of main livelihood earners and mothers have adversely impacted the ability of families to meet their basic needs during a time of economic crisis in Sri Lanka, and the wellbeing of children.

Persons are being arrested primarily under Section 54A of the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, an offence which is non-bailable. As a result, those arrested are bound to spend time (sometimes months) in pretrial detention, thereby exacerbating already poor conditions of imprisonment in an overburdened prison system. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has previously stated that the existing prison conditions and treatment of incarcerated persons are “inhumane and degrading.”At present, as per statistics issued by the Department of Prisons, the level of overcrowding of the prison system is at nearly 200% - with punitive drug policies playing a significant role: as of 2022, 63% of convicted persons were sentenced for drug-related offences.

The total reported number of arrests pursuant to operation Yukthiya has exceeded 29,000 as of 9 January 2024, while nearly 1,500 people are in administrative detention in police custody for further investigation.  At least 1,600 more persons have been sent for compulsory drug rehabilitation, in violation of several fundamental rights; including the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to consent to and withdraw from medical treatment. “Drug treatment” in these centres is abstinence-based, essential harm reduction services are not available, and persons undergo severe withdrawal symptoms without any medical assistance while in detention. The use of violence to discipline and punish has been reported in at least two compulsory drug rehabilitation centres which are within the purview of the Bureau of the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation and are operated by the military, which is in itself a violation of international standards.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in its statement at the conclusion of its visit to Sri Lanka in 2017 expressed concern regarding the involvement of military personnel in drug treatment and rehabilitation, the fact that strenuous physical exercise was the core component of compulsory drug treatment, and at the lack of trained professionals to monitor the health of people in detention. Furthermore, the statement highlighted the irregularities in the judicial process by which persons were sent to drug rehabilitation centres without a medical assessment.

More broadly, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has highlighted that by denying persons access to substitution therapies, states are subjecting “a large group of people to severe physical pain, suffering and humiliation, effectively punishing them for using drugs and trying to coerce them into abstinence.” The Special Rapporteur has further stated “forcible testing of people who use drugs without respecting their autonomy and their right to informed consent may constitute degrading treatment, especially in detention settings. States are obliged to respect the enjoyment of the right to health, including by refraining from using coercive medical treatment. The requirement of informed consent, including the right to refuse treatment, should be observed in administering any treatment for drug dependence.”

Since the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs, there is international consensus on pursuing a holistic and health and human rights-based approach to drugs, which encompasses supply and demand reduction as well as harm reduction. The 2019 Ministerial Declaration on drugs – the current global drug policy document - as well as multiple resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and the UN Human Rights Council reiterate and recommend a similar approach.

A punitive and militarised approach to drug control contravenes recognised international human rights standards and guidelines, is ineffective to protect individual and public health, and ultimately fails to make communities safer.

Africa Network of People Who Use Drugs (AfricaNPUD) (Africa)

Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) (Asia)

Association for Humane Drug Policy (Norway)

Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation (CDPE) (Canada)

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) (Argentina)

Corporación Acción Técnica Social (Colombia)

Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network (Europe)

Drug Harm Reduction Advocacy Network Nigeria (Nigeria)

Foreningen Tryggere Ruspolitikk /Safer Drug Policies (Norway)

GREA - Groupement Romand d'Etudes des Addictions (Switzerland)

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)

International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) (Global)

International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) (Global)

Skoun, Lebanese Addictions Centre (Lebanon)

Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network (Zimbabwe)

Sri Lanka: Alto a las operaciones antidroga abusivas y liberación de las personas detenidas arbitrariamente

Los signatarios rechazan la decisión del gobierno colombiano de reactivar las fumigaciones para erradicar cultivos declarados ilícitos, esta vez por vía terrestre. Durante el proceso preparatorio para la Sesión Especial de Naciones Unidas sobre el Problema Mundial de las Drogas, las organizaciones aquí firmantes fuimos aliadas del esfuerzo del gobierno colombiano, apoyamos sus propuestas, y celebramos las declaraciones públicas en las que llamaban la atención sobre la necesidad de repensar una política desequilibrada que ha centrado la persecución contra los eslabones más débiles de la economía de la droga, como son los campesinos cultivadores. En estos discursos, su gobierno reconocía también que la política de drogas vigente le había significado a Colombia muchas vidas perdidas y otros impactos devastadores.

Por todos estos motivos, vemos con preocupación esta decisión, que no es coherente con el discurso que hemos apoyado y celebrado, pues es contraria a la evidencia, viola el principio de precaución y pone en alto riesgo los derechos a la salud, al ambiente sano y al trabajo, entre otros derechos de comunidades rurales y de los erradicadores. Sin que previamente se implemente un adecuado enfoque de desarrollo territorial, concertado con las comunidades, la erradicación forzada ha probado ser equivocada y nociva. Esta decisión resulta contraria también a los resultados del acuerdo de paz en materia de drogas, frente al cual deberían priorizarse más bien medidas coherentes para generar confianza para su futura implementación.

Los signatarios apoyan además la reciente declaración de la Coalición en pro de la reforma a la política de drogas, mediante la cual solicitan al gobierno revocar la decisión, y además anuncian la posibilidad de emprender acciones con el fin de detener esta riesgosa medida. Nosotros, como organizaciones internacionales que trabajamos en pro de la reforma a las políticas globales de drogas, apoyamos a la sociedad civil colombiana en sus esfuerzos por construir políticas de drogas efectivas, compatibles con los Derechos Humanos y la búsqueda de la paz en ese país. Solicitamos al Presidente Santos establecer un diálogo franco y espacios de cooperación con la sociedad civil y las comunidades rurales, así como los demás sectores afectados por la actual política de drogas, a fin de reformar conjuntamente dichas políticas, y ofrecemos además nuestro apoyo, en la medida de nuestras capacidades, para este fin.

WOLA – Oficina en Washington para Asuntos Latinoamericanos

Fundación Latinoamérica Reforma – Chile

Groupement Romand d’Etudes des Addictions – Suiza

Asociación Costarricense de Estudios e Intervención en Drogas

International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service – España, Holanda y Uruguay

Centre for Science in Drug Policy – Canadá

Suscríbase a las Alertas mensuales del IDPC para recibir información sobre cuestiones relacionadas con políticas sobre drogas.

Groupement Romand d'Etudes des Addictions (GREA)

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Contenido relacionado

Sri Lanka: Alto a las operaciones antidroga abusivas y liberación de las personas detenidas arbitrariamente

Declaración sobre la reactivación de las fumigaciones terrestres en Colombia.