Harm Reduction International’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.
Harm Reduction International 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 Harm Reduction International 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
