Read the latest updates from Harm Reduction International
News and Announcements
Day 1 - Beyond 2008 NGO Forum on Drugs: Harm Reduction receives broad support
07 July 2008
This week in Vienna, over 300 NGOs from around the world, including Harm Reduction International, are meeting for 'Beyond 2008 - A Global Forum on the 1998-2008 Review of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Illicit Drugs'. The purpose of the Forum is to develop recommendations to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) and… Read more
“Drug traffickers must be executed immediately” – Indonesia plans to speed up executions for drug offences
30 June 2008
Indonesia has used this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking to execute two Nigerians for heroin smuggling . They are the first people to be executed for drugs in the country in four years. Despite pleas for clemency from the Nigerian Government, Samuel Iwachekwu Okeye, 37, and Hansen Anthony Nwaoysa, 40, were… Read more
Methadone Legal under the UN Drug Conventions, according to...the UN Drug Conventions!
19 June 2008
Over the past week, the HR2 team has been reading through our recently arrived (and notoriously difficult to obtain) copies of the Official Commentaries on the 1961, 1971 and 1988 UN Drug Conventions, as well as the Commentary to the 1972 Protocol amending the 1961 Convention. These four volumes, each several hundred pages in length, are… Read more
Day 2 - UN High Level Meeting on AIDS: AIDS activists call for humane drug policies
12 June 2008
On Day 2 of the UN High Level Meeting on AIDS, a group of civil society organisations including Harm Reduction International collaborated to draft an open letter to senior UN officials to raise concerns about the UN-sponsored International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26th. According the UNODC, goal of the… Read more
Day 1 - UN High Level Meeting on AIDS: Statement from Youth RISE
11 June 2008
Youth RISE (Resource. Information. Support. Education) is an international youth network for reducing drug-related harm. Youth RISE is youth-driven and set up to work with young people from around the world to reduce the risks and harms associated with substance use. During Day 1 of the High Level Meeting on AIDS, Caitlin Padgett,… Read more
Day 1 - UN High Level Meeting on AIDS: Harm Reduction International speaks on harm reduction and human rights
09 June 2008
The 2008 High Level Meeting (HLM) on AIDS opened this morning at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Country delegations and civil society representatives from around the world have come together under the theme 'Uniting the World Against AIDS'. The meeting opened with a plenary session addressed by the UN Secretary-General, among… Read more
Canadian Government's attempts to shut down Vancouver's Safe Injecting Facility ruled unconstitutional
28 May 2008
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted users and staff at Insite, the Vancouver Safe Injecting Facility (SIF), a constitutional exemption from prosecution under federal drug laws. This decision prevents attempts by the Canadian government to shut down North America's only SIF. The court challenge was taken… Read more
Harm Reduction International launches 'Global State of Harm Reduction 2008'
22 May 2008
Harm Reduction International has launched a major new report entitled ‘Global State of Harm Reduction 2008: Mapping the response to drug-related HIV and hepatitis C epidemics’ . The report, co-authored by Harm Reduction International's Catherine Cook and Natalya Kanaef , consolidates existing data on drug use, HIV and hepatitis C,… Read more
Professor Paul Hunt, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health addresses Harm Reduction International's 19th international harm reduction conference
13 May 2008
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standard of health today used his opening speech at the 19th international harm reduction conference to call on UN member states and the UN drug control system to abide by the "Article 1 objectives of the UN Charter" In the strongtest statement to date on drug policy and harm… Read more
The Life of a Human Rights Resolution at the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
22 April 2008
Below is a brief overview of the progress of the first ever human rights resolution to make it through the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. It is a ground-breaking event, but also a glimpse into the unwillingness of CND member states to consider human rights and the hypocrisy of many states that only weeks earlier had attended the UN Human… Read more