The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has urged Poland to scale up access to antiretroviral therapy for people who use drugs and are living with HIV, and to increase the availability of substitute drug dependence treatment – especially for people in detention. These recommendations have been made after advocacy and lobbying from IHRA’s Harm Reduction and Human Rights (HR2) team and the Open Society Institute (OSI).
In May 2009, Anand Grover – the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health – paid a visit to Poland to assess service provision in terms of sexual health, HIV and harm reduction, and their impact on the right to health. Following a series of field visits and meetings, Mr. Grover raised a number of concerns including the lack of available methadone maintenance treatment. He also noted that some practices in Poland restrict access to treatments. In October 2009, IHRA and OSI submitted a briefing to the CESCR that urged Poland to improve access to opioid substitution therapies. The briefing highlighted Poland’s obligations under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognises “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health”.
In its concluding observations, the CESCR stated that “The Committee is concerned at reports that only a small number of drug users have access to substitute drug dependence treatment, and that such treatment is even more limited for those in detention… The Committee calls on the State party to adopt measures to ensure that effective treatment of drug dependence is made accessible to all, including to those in detention”. The CESCR went on to express concern at “reports of limited access to treatment by HIV patients, particularly among drug users, and at the absence of information on provision of treatment following the closing of the above-mentioned programme” and recommended that the Polish Government “take measures to ensure that treatment and care be available to and accessible by persons living with HIV/AIDS
