Skip to content
Home » Community Blog » The Right to Rights: How do we get there for People who Use Drugs

The Right to Rights: How do we get there for People who Use Drugs

8 June, 2021

The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health of people who use drugs is interdependent and indivisible from a range of rights, including the right to non-discrimination and self-determination, the right to be free from arbitrary detention, violence and bodily integrity and autonomy, amongst others.

This side event, conducted during the 2021 United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (HLM), raised awareness around the human rights barriers faced by people who use drugs and to support policy initiatives aimed at reforming the legal and policy frameworks currently criminalizing drug use and possession, along with rethinking the function of punishment and intervention in the lives of people who use drugs.

This event was organised by INPUD in partnership with UNODC, International AIDS Society, World Health Organization (WHO), UNDP, OHCHR, and UNAIDS.

Judy Chang, Executive Director, INPUD (Opening Remarks)
Fariba Soltani, Chief, UNODC HIV/AIDS Section
Annie Madden, PhD candidate, University of New South Wales
Prof. Michel Kazathckine, Special Advisor, UNAIDS
Richard Elliott, Executive Director, HIV Legal Network
Ludo Bok, Manager SDGs and UNAIDS, HIV, Health & Development Group, UNDP
Morgana Daniele, Member of Parliament, Lithuania
Ernesto Cortes, Secretario, Latin American Network of People who Use Drugs
Zaved Mahmood, Human Rights and Policy Advisor, OHCHR

Moderated by: Jake Agliata, Policy & Communications Officer, INPUD