results: 116 of 116 documents

• visit to costa rica

  special rapporteur on health - 2024
  special rapporteur on health

  visit to costa rica

  Document Number

  a/hrc/56/52/add.2

  Year

  2024

  Country

  costa rica

  Document Type

  country visit

  Keywords

  decriminalisation

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  128. The large number of complaints made by persons deprived of their liberty in relation to health care was brough to the attention of the Special Rapporteur. Although persons deprived of liberty are treated within health services located outside detention centres, she was concerned to learn about the lack of protocols that could contribute to a non-guarantee of due process to redress.

  129. The Special Rapporteur was informed that a significant number of women deprived of their liberty had experienced violence throughout their lives and had needs related to mental health care, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  130. The Special Rapporteur was informed that the women’s prison she visited had very basic provision of health care. Women in prison have access to preventive medical check-ups, such as pap smears, nevertheless there were reports of delays in the provision of comprehensive care and medicines, including the timely provision of contraceptives.

  131. The Special Rapporteur was concerned to learn about cases of violence against persons who use drugs in the health system and the denial of health care to persons who are homeless. She was concerned to learn about the lack of specialized health care for older persons using drugs.

  132. Furthermore, she was concerned to learn that persons who inject drugs are reportedly not included in the HIV prevention plan. She also heard reports that allegedly the National Institute of Women does not provide services to women drug users.

  133. She was concerned to learn that, among drug users, several transgender women who use drugs are reportedly obliged to use the names assigned to them under their assumed gender and not their chosen names.

  140. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government and other relevant stakeholders: (...)
  (e) Adopt harm reduction approaches and decriminalization of drug use, coupled with appropriate policy and evidence-based protocols in the provision of accessible, acceptable, affordable and quality health;
• concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of north macedonia

  committee against torture (cat) - 2024
  committee against torture (cat)

  concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of north macedonia

  Document Number

  cat/c/mkd/co/4

  Year

  2024

  Country

  north macedonia

  Document Type

  concluding observations

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, right to be free from torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment, harm reduction, right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

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  14. (...) Moreover, the Committee is concerned about the allegedly insufficient access to adequate health care, including mental health care, dental treatment and drug use disorder treatment, due to the lack of medication, qualified medical personnel, including psychiatrists, and qualified psychologists in prisons. In this connection, the Committee acknowledges the positive efforts made by the State party to employ new medical personnel by the end of 2024, to incentivize medical staff by providing a hardship allowance and to provide health insurance coverage for all convicted prisoners, among other measures. (...) 15. The Committee urges the State party: (...)

  (b) To intensify its efforts to ensure that there are sufficient suitable medical personnel, materials and medicines and that detainees have access to a medical examination as soon as possible after their entry to the facility and as often as necessary thereafter so that their health needs, including those related to mental health conditions, infectious diseases and drug use disorders, can be identified and adequately addressed;
• concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of austria

  committee against torture (cat) - 2024
  committee against torture (cat)

  concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of austria

  Document Number

  cat/c/aut/co/7

  Year

  2024

  Country

  austria

  Document Type

  concluding observations

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, right to be free from torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment, drugs, drug use, and people who use drugs, harm reduction, right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

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  26.While taking note of the information provided by the State party regarding care programmes for persons deprived of their liberty who have drug or substance use disorders and suicide prevention programmes, the Committee is concerned about the recent increase in the number of suicides and other sudden deaths in Austrian prisons, reportedly as a result of a lack of adequate medical assistance and treatment, in particular for persons with mental health problems (arts. 2, 11 and 16).
• concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of azerbaijan

  committee against torture (cat) - 2024
  committee against torture (cat)

  concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of azerbaijan

  Document Number

  cat/c/aze/co/5

  Year

  2024

  Country

  azerbaijan

  Document Type

  concluding observations

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, right to be free from torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment, right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, harm reduction, oversight mechanisms

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  18.While noting recent efforts to improve conditions of detention in the State party, including through the construction of new penitentiary facilities in Zabrat, Umbaki and Lankaran and through reforms implemented through Presidential Order No. 2668 of 10 February 2017, the Committee remains concerned that:
  (c)Prisons and pretrial detention centres lack sufficient medical equipment and medicines and do not have adequate programmes to tackle drug use among detainees, including opioid substitution therapy, or infections associated with narcotic consumption;
  (d)Comprehensive data regarding the number and causes of deaths in custody, along with investigations and prosecutions regarding deaths in custody, was not provided to the Committee;
  (e)In prisons and pretrial detention centres, detainees suffer from shortages in custodial and medical staff, including nurses and staff qualified in the provision of psychological and psychiatric assistance;
  (h)Solitary confinement may continue for periods beyond 15 days and medical doctors are involved in certifying prisoners as fit to undergo punishment, having a detrimental effect on their relationship with patients. In addition, while the Committee welcomes information that solitary confinement is no longer used on children in practice, it is concerned that the placement of children in solitary confinement is still permitted by law (arts. 2, 3, 11 and 16) 19. The State party should:
  (a) Continue its efforts to improve the conditions of detention in all places of deprivation of liberty and alleviate the overcrowding of penitentiary institutions and other detention facilities, including through the application of non-custodial measures and the recruitment of an adequate quantity of trained staff. In this regard, the Committee draws the State party’s attention to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) and the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules);
  (b) Ensure that all necessary measures are taken to ensure the right of persons deprived of their liberty to the highest attainable standard of health, inter alia, through the provision of the necessary human, material and financial resources, including the hiring of an increased number of physicians, nurses, psychiatrists and other medical personnel, and through the introduction of drug rehabilitation programmes, which provide not only psychological and social assistance, but also provide effective and continued medical interventions for detainees suffering from different forms of addiction;
  (c) Adopt measures to ensure that all deaths in custody are investigated in a prompt and impartial manner by an independent body, taking into account the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death, and maintain up-to-date and disaggregated data on deaths in custody as a measure by which to more effectively prevent them;
  (d) Assess the effectiveness of strategies and programmes for the prevention of suicide, self-harm and violence, evaluate the existing programmes for the prevention, detection and treatment of chronic, degenerative and infectious diseases in prisons and continue improving medical treatment in places of deprivation of liberty, in particular in pretrial and temporary detention facilities;
• human rights in the context of hiv and aids

  human rights council (hrc) - 2024
  human rights council (hrc)

  human rights in the context of hiv and aids

  Document Number

  a/hrc/56/l.13

  Year

  2024

  Country

  global

  Document Type

  resolution

  Keywords

  hiv, hep c and tuberculosis in prison, right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, people deprieved of liberty

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  12. Calls upon States, in the context of HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, care and support, to incorporate human rights education and training for health-care workers, the police, law enforcement officers and prison staff and other relevant professions into pre- and post- qualification training, with a special focus on non-discrimination, free and informed consent and respect for the will and preferences of all, confidentiality and privacy and non harassment, so as to allow outreach and other service activities and exchange best practices in this regard; 25. Recognizes that timely, equitable and unhindered access to safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics and other health products and technologies is one of the fundamental elements for the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the corresponding objectives of universal health coverage and health for all, without discrimination, with special attention to reaching those furthest behind first, and urges States to ensure access to and the use of the full range of HIV interventions, including by tailoring combination HIV prevention, early detection, including the use of self-tests, in line with national testing algorithms and World Health Organization guidance, and HIV diagnosis, treatment, care and outreach services to meet the diverse needs of key populations and all persons living with HIV, including in prisons and other custodial settings.
• drug use, harm reduction and the right to health

  special rapporteur on health - 2024
  special rapporteur on health

  drug use, harm reduction and the right to health

  Document Number

  a/hrc/56/52

  Year

  2024

  Country

  Not available

  Document Type

  report

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, harm reduction, right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, drugs, drug use, and people who use drugs, minorities

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  5. The harms related to drug use have been fuelled by ill-advised legal and political strategies, part of the “war on drugs” led by the global North, which, since the 1970s, has heavily criminalized and stigmatized the production, distribution and consumption of psychoactive drugs, with devastating effects across the globe and particularly in the so-called global South. Regrettably, the existing international legal framework on drug control has propelled the criminalization of drug use, naming addiction to drugs as an “evil” that States must combat. In turn, it has influenced States’ drug laws and policies at the domestic level through stringent punitive measures, including imprisonment or other penalties of deprivation of liberty, as called for in the international framework. However, the risk of harsh punishment has not served as a deterrent to drug use. Moreover, drug laws and policies have resulted in the violation of various human rights, including the right to health, with a disproportionate impact on people who have been made the most vulnerable.

  22. (...) The original aim of the treaties was to protect the health and welfare of humankind. However, current drug control policies have primarily taken a punitive approach to suppress the market in illicit drugs, and many countries have adopted repressive policies, with consequent impacts on human rights. The International Narcotics Control Board has urged all Governments to consistently apply internationally recognized human rights principles and protections when designing and implementing drug control policies and has emphasized the importance of ensuring sufficient availability of controlled substances at the global level to ensure access to and the availability of substances for the treatment of pain. It has also called upon all States to develop mechanisms to improve the collection of information on drug use prevalence, with the aim of developing drug use prevention and treatment strategies that are based on evidence and tailored to each country’s specific needs. Furthermore, it has called upon States to shift efforts from compulsory and involuntary treatment services for people who use drugs towards alternatives to imprisonment and punishment in drug treatment and rehabilitation.

  34. States are under an obligation to respect the right to health by, among others, refraining from denying or limiting equal access for all persons, including prisoners or detainees, to curative and palliative health services. Persons who are deprived of their liberty are equally entitled to the right to health, and those who use drugs are particularly vulnerable when deprived of their liberty in facilities that have inadequate health-care services. The obligation to respect the right to health includes providing persons deprived of their liberty with the necessary medical care and appropriate regular monitoring of their health and to refrain from denying or limiting their equal access to preventive, curative and palliative health-care services. Furthermore, all persons deprived of their liberty must be treated with dignity and humanity, which includes persons deprived of their liberty for drug-related crimes. The Special Rapporteur stresses that an approach aimed at increasing access to evidence-based and voluntary treatment is most effective in reducing drug use and the social harm caused and is also in compliance with the international drug control conventions.

  35. Within prison settings, high rates of drug use by injection, a lack of access to harm reduction services and a lack of prevention and treatment services lead to a high prevalence of HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis. Many prisons fail to provide appropriate medical care, including evidence-based treatment for drug use disorders, or deny people who use drugs the opportunity to provide informed consent before being tested or treated. In this regard, the Committee against Torture has recommended ensuring the provision of medical services to prisoners, in particular those with drug use disorders, and taking all measures necessary to implement the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules). In addition to the Nelson Mandela Rules, the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules) and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (the Beijing Rules) are applicable to women and children, respectively, deprived of their liberty.

  80. The Special Rapporteur underlines the need for States to move from a reliance on criminal law and instead take a human rights-based, evidence-based and compassionate approach to harm reduction in relation to drug use and drug use disorders.

  84. Harm reduction services such as needle exchange programmes and opioid substitution treatment should be implemented in order to realize the right to health and the right to benefit from scientific progress and its applications.

  85. On the basis of the principles of equality and non-discrimination, transparency, participation and accountability, the Special Rapporteur recommends that States:
  (a) Urgently ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, while paying attention to immediate interventions and the longer-term social transformation required, so asto recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;
  (b) Urgently and comprehensively examine the legal frameworks governing drug control for their impact on public health and human rights, in particular on populations that have been historically disadvantaged and that have borne a disproportionate harm;
  (c) Decriminalize, repeal, rescind or amend laws and policies that have a negative impact on the right to health and that perpetuate different systems of oppression, such as racism and colonialism;
  (d) Approach evidence-based harm reduction as conducive to the realization of the right to health and health-related rights. As part of their obligations to guarantee the right to health, States must ensure that harm reduction services are in line with the operationalization of the right to health approach, namely that services are available,acceptable, accessible and of quality. The provision of services must be non-discriminatory in law and in practice;
  (e) Comply with human rights law and standards and remove barriers to harm reduction services, including through the distribution of harm reduction information, facilities, services and goods through various means of outreach, including mail-order distribution, mobile and in-person services, automated dispensing machines and direct delivery. Such services and goods should be available in spaces and during times when people are using drugs;
  (f) Decriminalize the use, possession, purchase and cultivation of drugs for personal use and move toward alternative regulatory approaches that put the protection of people’s health and other human rights front and centre. Responsible regulatory frameworks would then need to be cohesively developed by States that are informed by scientific evidence (e.g. the risks associated with each drug and their possible mitigation, capacity to establish and enforce adequate regulations for that drug) and taking into account power asymmetries (e.g. major corporations’ influence on policymaking);
  (g) Call upon private actors to respect human rights, as indicated in the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights;
  (h) Ensure that peer-led initiatives remain at the forefront, with political and policy support and stable and sufficient resourcing and funding;
  (i) Support the training and continuous education of health-care professionals that is necessary to ensure the “do no harm” principle;
  (j) Partner with peer-led initiatives to collect comprehensive data and help guarantee equal access to harm reduction services and programmes in a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing way, considering in particular the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as Black and Indigenous populations, minorities, LGBTIQA+ persons, migrants, sex workers and women;
  (k) Fund programmes to challenge prevalent stigmas surrounding drug use and programmes to enhance providers’ competency in providing non-discriminatory services to people who use drugs. Where possible, harm reduction, such as home delivery of opioid agonist therapy medication, offering dosing at community pharmacies and distributing opioid agonist therapy in outreach settings, should be combined with other forms of care (e.g. mental health and social services);
  (l) Design harm reduction services so that they provide suitable environments for women who use drugs, including by providing integrated sexual and reproductive health care, information and services, and childcare;
  (m) Ensure that drug control policies do not impede access to essential medicines, including but not limited to those required for palliative care and pain management (including for children) and harm reduction (e.g. methadone and buprenorphine), for any populations or medical need such as abortion care, paying particular attention to populations that have faced marginalization and overpolicing in the context of drugs;
  (n) Ensure that drug law enforcement does not lead to violations of the enjoyment of the right to health, paying particular attention to the disproportionate impact that drug laws, policies and policing have had on marginalized groups and people who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including women and girls, Black persons, racial and ethnic minorities, Indigenous Peoples, children and young people, people living in poverty, sex workers, migrants and LGBTIQA+ persons;
  (o) Desist from law enforcement practices that hamper the right to health, including the seizure or destruction of injection equipment and the prosecution of health-care and harm reduction service providers;
  (p) Ensure that law enforcement agencies do not target health facilities, supervised drug consumption rooms or needle and syringe programmes as a strategy for drug law enforcement;
  (q) Encourage employers to end the widespread use of drug testing in employment decisions, which has documented racial disparities, considering the lack of evidence to support a causal connection between drug testing and improved safety or productivity;
  (r) Protect against undue influence over policymaking by anti-rights groups and powerful private industries, including the pharmaceutical industry and the private prison industry, whose interests may conflict with the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health for all;
  (s) Collect disaggregated data and statistics on drug-related matters, with adequate safeguards for privacy and confidentiality, to inform policymaking in an efficient and effective manner;
  (t) Recognize the cultural and medicinal uses of plants and flora for their rich diversity beyond western medical paradigms by protecting the rights of Black people, Indigenous Peoples and people of African descent to grow, access and use such plants and flora without extraction and depletion by industries;
  (u) Revise the international legal framework on drug control to best align with international human rights norms and standards, harm reduction approaches and the operationalization of the right to health approach (that services are available, acceptable, accessible and of quality), facilitating drug laws and policies at the domestic level to be centred on dignity, public health and human rights, as well as grounded in
  the best available evidence, free from conflicts of interest;
  (v) End criminalization, stigmatization and discrimination, as they represent structural barriers to accessing services and establishing therapeutic relationships, leading to poorer health outcomes as people may fear legal consequences. This will improve trust, dialogue, creativity and innovation in this urgent moment of a paradigm shift;
  (w) Put global advocacy and high-level statements of intent into action to uphold the right to dignity. The realization of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health of people who use drugs, people with drug use disorders and people whose health and well-being is affected by drug laws and policies must be respected, promoted and fulfilled in the move towards substantive equality.
• visit to luxembourg

  special rapporteur on health - 2024
  special rapporteur on health

  visit to luxembourg

  Document Number

  a/hrc/56/52/add.1

  Year

  2024

  Country

  luxembourg

  Document Type

  country visit

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, women

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  86. The Special Rapporteur commends article 26 (1) of the 2018 law on reforming the prison administration, which states that all detainees should have an adequate and appropriate right to health care best suited to their health status. It also states that all detainees should benefit from health care equivalent to those not in detention. She underscores that the organization of health care provided to detainees would benefit from clear written agreements, rather than conventions to be negotiated between the Ministry of Justice and the service providers, as indicated in article 26 (3) of the law.

  88. Pregnant women in detention are taken to hospital to deliver their babies and the police (not the prison authorities) are responsible for transfer to and from hospital. The situation of women with children varies if they are in pretrial detention: the sentencing judge can decide to place such women in a semi-closed facility or in larger cells that are separated from other detainees. The Special Rapporteur was informed that, although the number of prisoners being sent to prison was slowing down, the number of prison spaces was insufficient.
• current issues and good practices in prison management

  special rapporteur on torture - 2024
  special rapporteur on torture

  current issues and good practices in prison management

  Document Number

  a/hrc/55/52

  Year

  2024

  Country

  global

  Document Type

  thematic report

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, minorities

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  9. Prison populations continue to be largely composed of members of economically disadvantaged and otherwise marginalized communities, including large numbers of low-level drug or drug-adjacent offenders. The link between poverty and prisons is a clarion call for States to comprehensively review their criminal legal systems and should be part of States’ plans for delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals. 27. Prisons are hotspots for infectious disease contamination and therefore must be included in national pandemic preparedness planning. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that pandemics will emerge more rapidly in the future and lead to greater global morbidity and mortality 64. Despite making up only 6.9 per cent of the global prison population, women and girls are being imprisoned at a faster rate than men; and because of the relatively small number of women and girls in prisons, the conditions in which they are held, and opportunities for rehabilitation, may be more limited. Most women and girls are in prison for non-violent minor offences, such as property and drug offences. In many jurisdictions, it is always, or nearly always, women and girls who are incarcerated for “moral crimes”, such as adultery and extramarital relationships, and witchcraft and sorcery, as well as the criminalization of abortion. Women and girls may also receive heavier penalties than men and boys for the same crimes.
• concluding observations on the third periodic report of montenegro

  committee on the elimination of violence against women (cedaw) - 2024
  committee on the elimination of violence against women (cedaw)

  concluding observations on the third periodic report of montenegro

  Document Number

  cedaw/c/mne/co/3

  Year

  2024

  Country

  montenegro

  Document Type

  concluding observations

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, women, harm reduction

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  45. The Committee is concerned at the reports of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment and assault against female prisoners, and that they have limited access to literacy and educational programmes, drug dependence treatment and reinsertion programmes.
• concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of the islamic republic of iran

  human rights committee (ccpr) - 2023
  human rights committee (ccpr)

  concluding observations on the fourth periodic report of the islamic republic of iran

  Document Number

  ccpr/c/irn/co/4

  Year

  2023

  Country

  iran

  Document Type

  concluding observations

  Keywords

  people deprieved of liberty, drugs, drug use, and people who use drugs, right to be free from torture, cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment or punishment

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  27. While the Committee takes note of the State party’s legislative framework prohibiting torture, it reiterates its concern about the continuing credible reports of widespread and systemic practice of torture and ill-treatment of persons deprived of liberty by law enforcement officials and members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in formal and informal detention centres. The Committee is concerned by reports of torture and ill‑treatment carried out to extract confessions during investigations, and that that those confessions are later presented as evidence in court, including in cases involving the death penalty. The Committee is also concerned by reports indicating that torture and ill-treatment is practiced in particular on human rights defenders, journalists, dissidents and persons charged with drug-related offences, and that some victims are denied medical treatment. The Committee regrets the lack of information regarding any independent and impartial investigation – including any forensic investigation – that may have been conducted into deaths in custody as a result of torture or ill-treatment, on the outcome of any such investigation, on remedies provided to the victims and on perpetrators who may have been brought to justice (art. 7).
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