HIV/AIDS and Human RightsHIV/AIDS at the 48th U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)A Human Rights Watch Brief on Narcotic Drugs (.pdf 2.47 MB, 78 pages) The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is the central agency in the United Nations system responsible for setting international drug policy. At its 48th session from March 7-14, 2005 in Vienna, the Commission will focus on HIV/AIDS. This year the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) chairs the consortium of U.N. agencies that makes up the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), making the Commission’s focus on HIV/AIDS particularly timely. Illicit drug use and HIV/AIDS Needle exchange and opiate substitution therapy, often referred to as “harm reduction,” are proven to prevent HIV/AIDS among injection drug users without increasing drug use or causing other side effects. Both are endorsed by leading medical authorities, including the World Health Organization. However, governments around the world either fail to provide—or in some cases actively impede—both needle exchange and substitution therapy. Despite some States’ arguments to the contrary, international drug conventions permit the establishment of these services. Such interference with proven HIV prevention infringes the right to highest attainable standard of health, recognized in several international treaties. Diplomatic pressure by the United States Subsequently, UNODC staff were instructed to “ensure that references to harm reduction and needle/syringe exchange are avoided in UNODC documents, publications and statements.” An Asia-Pacific drug control program sponsored primarily by the United States, Japan and Australia, issued a notice to all member countries reiterating its opposition to harm reduction. In February 2005, conservative members of the U.S. Congress called for hearings on U.S. support of harm reduction, calling it “harm maintenance.” No time to back down |
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