About fifty journalists from across the West African sub-region have gathered in Accra, Ghana, in a two-day media workshop to build their capacities on issues affecting drug policy in West Africa.
The analysis of the situation of incarcerated women for drug-related crimes from a gender-based and human rights approach is part of the work carried out by various organisations including the Inter-American Commission of Women, WOLA, IDPC, DeJusticia and ACEID.
Communities, governments, and police officers themselves have called for reform and professionalisation through increased accountability, legitimacy and evidence-based policing in order to meet contemporary community needs.
The course aims at developing the competencies of the participants to support their home governments in adopting drug policies which are underpinned by public health and citizen security, anchored in evidence-based harm reduction approaches and backed by laws or practices that are human rights-compliant.
Amid criticisms from NGOs and the UN, the senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs has told the Department of Health to suspend the distribution of syringes to drug users.
Most drug offences for which the death penalty is applied in national courts cannot be ‘most serious crimes’ under international human rights law as they are not even ‘particularly serious’ crime under international drug control law.
According to Mr. Ivanov, 200,000 drug users are charged with administrative and criminal charges each year, and redirecting these individuals into treatment will help the overall situation with drug use in the country.