Lessons from the United Nations
Professor Andrea Boggio
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In April 2016, member states, UN agencies and civil society representatives gathered at the UN headquarters in New York in occasion of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS). I attended the Session as adviser to the Italian government (I am a dual citizen) because of my expertise in health law. It was my first visit to the UN headquarters and the first time participating directly to policymaking activities of the UN. The Special Session was convened because of member states’ dissatisfaction with the global regulatory regime of drugs (according to the Open Society Foundations, “the international war on drugs has led to public health crises, mass incarceration, corruption, and black market–fueled violence”).
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Since the adoption of the treaties that have pushed the “war on drugs,” the international debate has shifted from a law enforcement to a public health approach, which sees drug addiction as a health issue rather than a crime and calls for decriminalizing of drug use and treating drug users. The 2016 UNGASS was intended to push the international legislative agenda a little bit closer to reforming the treaties.
It was a very insightful experience. I came home with three lessons.
First, the experience made me realize how imperfect yet valuable the UN is. Although the Session did not deliver tangible policy improvements, seeing the international legal community and diplomacy at work is fascinating. Sitting at the table of a member state in the majestic UN General Assembly Hall, surrounded by heads of state, ministries and diplomats representatives from hundreds of other member states alerted me of the intensity to which nations work with each other to resolve issues and identify ways to share the planet peacefully. It does not always work well. But the fact that we have a venue for meeting and discussion is still an achievement that we should give for granted.
Second, we often fail to realize the significant impact of international law at the local level. The drug treaties mandate criminalization of drug use. The wave of legal reform that is sweeping across the United States, calling for the decriminalization of marijuana use (for medical and/or recreational purposes) and de-listing at the federal level, is significantly constrained by treaty obligations. As citizens, we should be more aware of how the different levels of governance impact our lives so that we can be better informed citizen, better voters, and more effective advocate of policies we care for.
Finally, I touched with my hands how slow the process of international legal reform is. Although there is a growing consensus that the public health approach is the best way to deal with drugs, changing the legal status quo does not happen overnight. The idea of a drug-free world by 2019 was launched at the 1998 meeting of the UN General Assembly and reiterated by the UN Commission on Drug Narcotics in its 2009 Political Statement. UNGASS 2016 was prepared in the last couple of years. The next high-level UN review of drug policy will happen in 2019. A generation-long effort (my generation) is trying to undue the policy “wrongs” of the previous generation to the benefit of the next generation. The unavoidable reality is that international law making is a painfully long and difficult process, and, as citizens of a member state, we are very much affected and embedded in it.
It was a very insightful experience. I came home with three lessons.
First, the experience made me realize how imperfect yet valuable the UN is. Although the Session did not deliver tangible policy improvements, seeing the international legal community and diplomacy at work is fascinating. Sitting at the table of a member state in the majestic UN General Assembly Hall, surrounded by heads of state, ministries and diplomats representatives from hundreds of other member states alerted me of the intensity to which nations work with each other to resolve issues and identify ways to share the planet peacefully. It does not always work well. But the fact that we have a venue for meeting and discussion is still an achievement that we should give for granted.
Second, we often fail to realize the significant impact of international law at the local level. The drug treaties mandate criminalization of drug use. The wave of legal reform that is sweeping across the United States, calling for the decriminalization of marijuana use (for medical and/or recreational purposes) and de-listing at the federal level, is significantly constrained by treaty obligations. As citizens, we should be more aware of how the different levels of governance impact our lives so that we can be better informed citizen, better voters, and more effective advocate of policies we care for.
Finally, I touched with my hands how slow the process of international legal reform is. Although there is a growing consensus that the public health approach is the best way to deal with drugs, changing the legal status quo does not happen overnight. The idea of a drug-free world by 2019 was launched at the 1998 meeting of the UN General Assembly and reiterated by the UN Commission on Drug Narcotics in its 2009 Political Statement. UNGASS 2016 was prepared in the last couple of years. The next high-level UN review of drug policy will happen in 2019. A generation-long effort (my generation) is trying to undue the policy “wrongs” of the previous generation to the benefit of the next generation. The unavoidable reality is that international law making is a painfully long and difficult process, and, as citizens of a member state, we are very much affected and embedded in it.