Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Harm Reduction International and the co-signatories of this statement welcomes the three reports before the Council, addressing access to medicines and vaccines, the impact of drug policies on women and girls, and the question of the death penalty.

Together, these reports underscore a fundamental point: drug policy and human rights are inextricably linked, and drug policy debates must fully account for their far-reaching human rights implications.

Criminalisation and punitive drug control policies continue to create barriers to health services, disproportionately affect women and other marginalised communities, and drive use of the death penalty worldwide.

Yet, while these punitive approaches continue to receive significant public resources, essential health and harm reduction services remain severely underfunded. This is not simply a policy failure. It is also a question of how States choose to use their available resources to fulfil their human rights obligations.

We therefore call on States and other relevant actors to divest from punitive drug control and invest in health, community and justice, including voluntary, evidence-based and gender-responsive harm reduction and treatment services. We further call for the meaningful participation of women, girls and people who use drugs in shaping drug policies that affect their lives, and urge all actors to ensure that drug policies and resources uphold the right to health and human dignity.

We call on States, UN agencies and other international actors to ensure that their policies, programmes and funding do not contribute to or enable human rights violations in the name of drug control, including the death penalty for drug-related offences. We finally call on the Council to adopt a new resolution on drug policy in line with commitment made in 2025.

Co-signatories:

1. International Drug Policy Consortium
2. Elementa
3. Dejusticia
4. World Coalition Against the Death Penalty
5. Parliamentarians for Global Action
6. Capital Punishment Justice Project
7. The Prisoners’ Future Foundation (PFF)