The Pompidou Group (Council of Europe International Cooperation Group on Drugs and Addictions) is the Council of Europe’s drug policy cooperation platform. In March 2025 it published a new report titled Bringing human rights to the heart of drug and addiction policies: Guidance for aligning drug and addiction policies with human rights.1 The report provides a succinct but comprehensive overview of the issues related to human rights to be considered by all stakeholders involved in the drug policy-making process.

Background

The Pompidou Group has 41 member states which include those from outside Europe. Upholding the core values of the Council of Europe – human rights, democracy, and the rule of law – is central to the Group’s mission. It seeks to ‘balance the interests of the community at large with protection of the individual’s fundamental rights in responding to drug use and illicit trafficking in drugs’.2 Since the United Nations’ General Assembly Special Session in 2016, there has been an increased focus internationally on human rights and how they relate to drug policies. The Pompidou Group has been proactive in this area by focusing on promoting compliance of drug policy with human rights; for example, through its publication of a human rights in drug policy self-assessment tool in 20223,4 and the publication of the new guidance document that is the subject of this article.1 

Human rights

The human rights referred to in the report are those ‘enshrined in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ETS No. 5, the Convention) and other international legal instruments’ (p. 7).1 In the second section of the report, the authors identify a set of nine key human rights that need to be safeguarded when developing policies to address all aspects of the drugs issue. Those human rights selected are the right to life; the right to healthcare; the prohibition of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to respect for private and family life; the right to a fair trial; the right to freedom from discrimination and stigmatisation; the right to freedom of expression and assembly; the right to prevention, as well as to treatment and harm reduction; and the prohibition of slavery and forced labour.

Human rights policy objectives

The third section of the report discusses policy objectives, with an emphasis on how these should be aligned with human rights – ‘all stakeholders should take full account of human and social rights when developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating drug and addictions policies’ (p. 11).1 The authors identify a set of 16 policy objectives to be pursued. It is beyond the scope of this article to provide a full list, but some of those that are pertinent to the Irish context include:

• Ensuring the availability of evidence-based early universal, selective, indicated, and environmental prevention programmes at all levels and accessible to relevant target groups
• Ensuring recovery paths and providing social and professional reintegration programmes
• Creating opportunities to ensure human dignity and overcome stigma and discrimination of people who use drugs and those with substance use disorder or addictive behaviours
• Heeding the notion of human dignity by applying a person-first approach to ensure equal opportunities for all those concerned based on their individual needs with the aim of leaving no one behind
• Avoiding coercive sanctioning and promoting alternatives to criminal justice sanctions encouraging proportionate sentencing in court and other legal processes involving people who use drugs and those with substance use disorder or addictive behaviours
• Raising awareness of human rights and relevant standards
• Providing adequate funding for prevention, treatment and care, risk and harm reduction, and recovery
• Making the best possible use, in accordance with human rights law, of e-medicine and online counselling, and supporting other emerging online technologies, including artificial intelligence, to increase access and coverage of services, particularly for those who are difficult to reach.1

Assessment and evaluation

The Pompidou Group advocates for member states to have processes in place for the ongoing assessment and evaluation of drug policies to ensure that human rights remain safeguarded. This supports a process through which the learning from these assessments can feed back into the policy-making process. Member states are directed to the Pompidou Group’s self-assessment tool for drug policy compliance with human rights standards for guidance in this matter.3,4 Central to this process is the importance of maintaining good working relationships between all those involved in the policy-making process, with a special emphasis on the government sector and civil society stakeholders.

Democratic governance

The final section of the report looks briefly at the issue of democratic governance. The Group emphasises the importance of the democratic governance principles of ‘relying on science and evidence, inclusive dialogue and participation, transparency and accountability’ (p. 19)1 and how they should be incorporated into all stages of the policy-making cycle (development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation). All stakeholders are seen as having a role in the governance process, and those listed by the Group are ‘government, non-governmental organisations, scientific, professional and academic communities, international or regional organisations or agencies, as well as organisations representing people who use drugs and those with substance use disorder or addictive behaviours, their families and other service users’ (p. 19).1

1    Pompidou Group (Council of Europe International Cooperation Group on Drugs and Addictions) (2025) Bringing human rights to the heart of drug and addiction policies: Guidance for aligning drug and addiction policies with human rights. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/42239/

2    More information on the activities of the Pompidou Group is available from: https://www.coe.int/en/web/pompidou/about

3    Pompidou Group (2022) Human rights in drug policy: a self-assessment tool. Strasbourg: Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/36575/

4    Dillon L (2022) Assessment tool for human rights. Drugnet Ireland, 83 (Winter): 7. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/37382/