Ministers call for a human rights-centred approach to drug policies at Pompidou Group conference

Closing the 18th Ministerial Conference of the Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group, ministers and high-level participants from 41 Pompidou Group member states have called for a human rights centred approach to address drugs addictions and related disorders.

In their “Lisbon Declaration”, participants furthermore called for exploring strategies to address addictions related to the use of communication and information technologies, as part of a broad policy direction to be followed by the Pompidou Group over the near future.

Portugal, which has been presiding the Pompidou Group since 2019, hosted the two-day conference, which gathered some 150 participants, including ministers, representatives from 47 governments and six international organisations or agencies, as well as drug policy experts, law enforcement, health and justice officials, and civil society representatives.