Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all. Within Human Rights Watch, we have experts on the impact of the war on drugs on security and human rights in countries like Colombia and Mexico; on access to controlled medicines; and on harm reduction and HIV. On each of these topics we have conducted research, analysis and advocacy from a human rights perspective.

Human Rights Watch defiende los derechos de las personas en todo el mundo. Investigamos abusos de derechos humanos, exponemos los hechos ampliamente en los medios y presionamos los que tienen el poder de respetar los derechos y garantizar la justicia. Human Rights Watch es una organización internacional independiente que funciona como parte de un movimiento vibrante de defensores de la dignidad humana y promovemos los derechos humanos para todos. Dentro de Human Rights Watch, contamos con expertos enfocados en el impacto de la guerra contra las drogas sobre la seguridad y los derechos humanos en países como Colombia y México; sobre el acceso a las substancias fiscalizadas; y en la reducción de daños y el VIH. En cada uno de estos temas, hemos llevado a cabo investigaciones, análisis y la promoción de una perspectiva de derechos humanos.

Human rights Watch défend les droits des personnes du monde entier. Nous effectuons des recherches poussées sur les abus de droits humains, exposons les faits, et mettons la pression sur ceux qui ont le pouvoir de respecter les droits humains et la sécurité juridiciaire. Human Rights Watch est une organisation internationale indépendante qui travaille dans le cadre d’un mouvement qui soutient la dignité humaine et promeut les droits humains pour tous. Au sein d’Human Rights Watch, nous avons des experts sur l’impact qu’engendre la guerre contre la drogue sur la sécurité et les droits humains dans des pays tels que la Colombie et le Mexique ; sur l’accès aux médicaments contrôlés ; et sur la réduction des risques et le VIH. Sur chacun de ces sujets nous avons mené des recherches, des analyses et des plaidoyers sous l’angle des droits humains.

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A new joint report from Human Rights Watch and the Drug Policy Alliance shows thousands of people are being deported every year for drug offenses that in many cases no longer exist under state laws, harming and separating immigrant families.

Punitive federal immigration laws separate families, destabilize communities, and terrorize noncitizens, all while overdose deaths have risen and drugs have become more potent and available.

Congress should reform immigration law to give immigration judges discretion to make individualized decisions. States should ensure drug reforms apply to non-citizens as well.

'Disrupt and vilify': The war on immigrants inside the US war on drugs

The Senate is expected to vote in the coming days on an amendment to article 5 of Brazil’s Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy, that would restrict that right by criminalizing the possession of illegal drugs regardless of quantity. If approved, the proposed amendment would be put to a second vote at the full Senate and then go to the Chamber of Deputies.

“Decades of drug policy failure in Brazil should make clear that criminal law is simply ineffective to address the harmful use of drugs and leads to serious human rights abuses,” said Andrea Carvalho, Brazil researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of cementing a failed policy in the constitution, lawmakers should follow the example of many other countries by decriminalizing the possession of drugs for personal use and developing effective health strategies to prevent and respond to problematic substance use.”

Current law already criminalizes drug possession for personal use, but introducing this language in the constitution would make it much harder to pursue much-needed drug policy reforms in Brazil, Human Rights Watch said.

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, has made clear that the constitutional amendment is a pre-emptive attempt by lawmakers to counter an upcoming Supreme Court decision that could improve drug policy, Human Rights Watch said. Pacheco introduced the proposal on September 14, 2023, a few weeks after the Supreme Court resumed its review of a case that will decide whether current Brazilian law violates the Constitution. Upon introducing the bill, Pacheco stressed that it is Congress that “defines the laws in the country” and other branches of government should recognize that authority.

Brazil: Reject bill that entrenches failed drug policy

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: Stop abusive anti-drug operation and release those arbitrarily detained

 government should withdraw a draft law that would give the authorities broad powers to detain people in military-run “rehabilitation” centers, placing them at great risk of abuse, Human Rights Watch said today. The 

, submitted to parliament on September 23, 2022, would allow the compulsory detention in centers of “drug dependant persons, ex-combatants, members of violent extremist groups and any other group of persons.”

The Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill would establish a new administrative structure controlled by the Defense Ministry to operate “rehabilitation” centers staffed by military personnel. The proposed law, which human rights advocates have already 

, does not describe the basis for being sent for “rehabilitation,” but other recent government policies provide vague and arbitrary powers to forcibly “rehabilitate” people who have not been convicted of any crime.

“The Sri Lankan government’s proposed ‘rehabilitation’ efforts appear to be nothing more than a new form of abusive detention without charge,” said 

, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Rehabilitation Bill would open the door widely to more torture, mistreatment, and endless detention.”

Sri Lanka: Draft ‘rehabilitation’ law would spur abuse

World Report 2021 is Human Rights Watch’s 31st annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide, drawing on events from the previous year.

In his keynote essay, “Biden’s Challenge: Redeeming a US Role for Human Rights,” Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth addresses the shortcomings and human rights violations of the outgoing Trump administration, while setting forth recommendations for how the incoming Biden administration may help the US reclaim its role as a world leader through global partnerships and recommitting to human rights at home.

One step, as Roth suggests, is to set such commitments to upholding human rights via legislation. Narrow Democratic majorities attained in both houses of Congress from the 2020 election will be invaluable to Biden as he hopes to hit the ground running in his first 100 days. Other commitments, however, such as the ratification of core human rights treaties, will require a degree of bipartisanship not seen during Trump's term in office, since they will require the support of two-thirds of the Senate in order to be passed. As Roth summarizes, "Biden’s task is to find a way, through policy and practice, to make upholding human rights more central to US government conduct in a way that has a better chance of surviving the radical changes in policy that have become a fixture of the US political landscape."

Perhaps the greatest challenge before Biden, is the task of reframing how fundamental human rights are understood in the US. In Trump's final year at the helm, thousands of families seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border were forcibly separated from each other and children were segregated into cages, systemic racism was brought into the spotlight once again as deep-seated racial injustices continued to act with apparent impunity, and the COVID-19 pandemic revealed glaring deficiencies in the country's ability to provide universal access to health care and other basic necessities during a crisis.

The rest of the volume consists of individual country entries, each of which identifies significant human rights abuses, examines the freedom of local human rights defenders to conduct their work, and surveys the response of key international actors, such as the United Nations, European Union, African Union, United States, China, and various regional and international organizations and institutions.

More specifically in relation to drug policy, the report highlights numerous human rights violations, including:

Drug policy shortcomings disproportionally punishing those who have the smallest influence in sustaining the illicit drug trade (in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States).

False drug charges and police raids weaponised for political purposes (in Azerbaijan and the Philippines).

Racial disparities in policing (in the United States).

Widespread violence and killings perpetrated by state and non-state actors (in Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Syria).

Lack of access or limited access to essential medicines due to conflicts, global health crises, or stigma (in Argentina, Brazil, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Israel and Palestine, and the United States).

Human Rights Watch: World Report 2021

Over 60 Groups Urge UN Body to Ensure Accountability

(Geneva) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should establish an independent international investigation on extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations in the Philippines, Human Rights Watch said today, joining dozens of other human rights and civil society groups worldwide in calling for an investigation. The council will convene its 45th session on September 14, 2020.

On August 27, 62 human rights and civil society groups sent a letter to UN member and observer countries at the Human Rights Council to express their “continued grave concern over ongoing extrajudicial executions and other serious human rights violations” in the Philippines. Over 30 groups from the Philippines signed the letter, representing much of the country’s human rights and civil society movement.

“The several dozen Philippine and international groups calling for an investigation into the Philippines is a remarkable show of solidarity that members of the UN Human Rights Council should not ignore,” said Laila Matar, deputy Geneva director at Human Rights Watch. “The extrajudicial killings and other severe rights abuses in the Philippines continue unabated, and the groups endorsing this letter are saying enough is enough.”

The four-page letter and its six-page annex outline the “grave concern over ongoing extrajudicial executions and other serious human rights violations in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ in the Philippines, fueled by incitement to violence and discrimination by the highest levels of government with near-total impunity.” The groups urged the council to respond “robustly” to the recent report on the situation in the Philippines by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Human Rights Council should act on Philippines - Civil society letter

A man was sentenced to death in Singapore for drug trafficking offenses. In a country that has zero tolerance for illicit drugs, that’s nothing new, but in a first for the city-state, the sentence was delivered remotely, via Zoom.

Punithan Genasan, a 37-year-old Malaysian, was sentenced to death by hanging after he was initially found guilty of heroin trafficking back in 2011.

Genasan’s lawyer, Peter Fernando, told Reuters that his client received the judge’s verdict on a Zoom call last Friday and is considering an appeal — though he didn’t object to the sentence being delivered via video call as no other legal arguments were presented.

The Singapore authorities said the death sentence was delivered via Zoom “for the safety of all involved in the proceedings.”

Singapore has suspended all but the most urgent court cases since it went into lockdown in early April to combat the spread of coronavirus.

But rights groups have slammed the decision to deliver such a verdict remotely.

Singapore just sentenced a drug trafficker to death via Zoom

(Manila) – Thousands of children in the Philippines have suffered lasting physical, emotional, and economic harm from President Rodrigo Duterte’s abusive “war on drugs,” Human Rights Watch said in a report and accompanying video released today. Governments at the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2020 should support an independent international investigation into the “drug war” killings in the Philippines, including violations against children.

The 48-page report, “‘Our Happy Family Is Gone’: Impact of the ‘War on Drugs’ on Children in the Philippines,” details the plight of children whose parents or guardians have been killed. Many children have suffered psychological distress, and all experienced economic hardship made worse by the death of a family breadwinner. The increased poverty and trauma have led many children to leave school or compelled them to work. Some children who lost a family member have faced bullying in their school and community. Some were forced to live on the streets.

Philippines: Lasting harm to children from "drug war"

The unsanitary, overcrowded prisons and juvenile detention centers in most Latin American and Caribbean countries offer prime conditions for outbreaks of COVID-19 that could severely affect the health of detainees and of the population at large, Human Rights Watch said today.

In March 2020, inmates in detention facilities in several Latin American countries rose up to protest a lack of protective measures against COVID-19 and efforts to lock them down. Hundreds escaped, dozens of people were injured, and at least 40 people died in connection with the protests in Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil.

“An outbreak of coronavirus in Latin America’s prisons would be an enormous public health problem that would affect not just the detainees but also the rest of the population,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “There is still time, but the authorities need to act immediately to avoid an entirely foreseeable health disaster.”

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