The escalating HIV crisis in Eastern Europe and Central Asia highlights the urgent need for harm reduction interventions to mitigate the spread of infection and protect people pushed into vulnerability.
Two of the 15 countries that objected to Bolivia's 2013 manoeuvre to legalise traditional coca use in relation to international standards have now retracted their objections.
Experts welcomed the abolition of the mandatory death penalty and the government's willingness to consider decriminalisation, whilst underscoring criminalisation should not be replaced with mandatory treatment.
The Antipolo Declaration, under the aegis of the government and the UN, commits to align drug control and drug treatment strategies with international norms, in collaboration with civil society.
The government says it withdrew from the Rome Statute before proceedings began, but the ICC prosecutor argues against that interpretation as a preliminary examination was already ongoing.
A report surveying a panel of young people in Ireland has called for the decriminalisation of drugs and easier access to self-injecting facilities, in a bid to reduce harm and encourage treatment and support.
Harm reduction activists set up the site as an act of civil disobedience, highlighting deficiencies in the country's public health response to people who use drugs.
Amid the hope for decriminalisation, there remains a fear that compulsory treatment will replace criminalisation and continue to undermine the autonomy of people who use drugs.
