The International Drug Policy Consortium, Harm Reduction International, the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, and Instituto RIA welcome the opportunity to provide input to the High Commissioner for Human Rights ahead of her report on societal enablers and HIV/AIDS, which will be presented to the Human Rights Council in its 50th session.

The aim of this submission is to gather evidence on how the criminalisation of people who use drugs acts as a major impediment to the realisation of the right to health – with particular attention to HIV/AIDS – and drives a broad range of human rights violations for people living with or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

This submission urges the High Commissioner to recommend that States adopt the gold standard for the decriminalisation of people who use drugs (that is, the removal of all penalties for drug use and ancillary activities), as a critical societal enabler to end HIV/AIDS. Decriminalisation should be coupled with increased investment in and provision of harm reduction services; a separate submission, led by Harm Reduction International and joined by many of the organisations behind this submission, will seek to provide input on that aspect.