Presentation of the report "Childhood that matters"

The “war on drugs” is, in reality, a war on people that targets drug users, women, minorities, growers and other people on the margins of society.

Drug policies that rely on law enforcement have led to growing incarceration rates worldwide. We cannot fully address the impact of incarceration without considering some of its less visible victims: the families and, in particular, the children of men and women in prison.

Published and presented on the year of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the regional report "Childhood that matters" (or “Niñez que cuenta”) sits at a rarely-examined crossroads between incarceration, drug policy and children’s rights. The report analyses the impact of parental incarceration and presents a series of recommendations primarily based on 70 interviews carried out with children who have relatives in prison for non-violent drug offenses in Latin America and the Caribbean.

It examines exposure to violence, feelings of loss, stigma, increasing poverty levels and the difficulty of maintaining a relationship with an incarcerated parent.

The regional report is a compilation of findings from eight national studies conducted in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Uruguay and Panama.

The presentation will include experts and personally impacted individuals from Latin America and the Caribbean who were part of the production process of the report.