HRC63
Item 3 - General Debate
Joint statement on the Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on human rights challenges in addressing and countering all aspects of the world drug problem, in particular on the impact of drug policies on the rights of women and girls (A/HRC/63/56)
17 September 2026
Mr. President,
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of XX. [list of countries]
We would like to express our gratitude to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for its report to this session entitled human rights challenges in addressing and countering all aspects of the world drug problem, in particular on the impact of drug policies on the rights of women and girls [A/HRC/63/56)].[1]
The report was mandated by resolution 60/26 on the human rights implications of drug policy adopted on 8 October 2025 by consensus. We were very pleased to see that a large number of stakeholders provided inputs to this report, including 26 countries from all regions.[2]
The report shows that drug policies can have important implications for the full enjoyment of human rights. This is particularly true for women and girls, as they are often particularly vulnerable and are subject to discrimination.
- Criminal justice responses often neglect the particular circumstances of women and girls such as caregiving responsibilities and risks of gender-based violence.
- The conditions of detention often show a blatant disregard of the specific needs of female drug offenders such as inadequate access to gender-responsive healthcare.
- Women and girls fear criminalization, stigma, discrimination and loss of child custody and therefore continue to face important obstacles in accessing drug addiction treatment, harm reduction services or sexual and reproductive healthcare.
- Rural and indigenous women and girls are particularly affected by forced crop eradication and aerial spraying campaigns.
We call on all countries to consider the recommendations of the report and to discuss them during the intersessional panel discussion the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will organize in early 2027.
The International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement will present its own report entitled Systemic racism against Africans and people of African descent in the enforcement of drug laws and policies [A/HRC/63/72] later in this session. We thank the Expert Mechanism for its report and encourage all delegations to engage in the respective interactive dialogue on 29 September 2026.
Thank you.
[1] https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/regular-sessions/session63/list-reports.
[2] https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2026/call-inputs-ohchr-report-human-rights-implication-drug-policy.