human rights

Saint Prisoner Reforming Delinquents

Submitted by Simha Bode on Sat, 27/03/2010 - 10:55

This is a translation of a very touching letter Laura wrote. Laura moved to Mexico to care for Lalo when he was in the jail in Coatzacoalcos. Now that Lalo has been transferred to the Islas Marias Prison (an Island prison colony on the pacific coast of Mexico). Laura continues her work in Coatzacoalcos prison, keeping close contact with Lalo, sending him what he needs, relaying messages etc.

UN criticised over new Cambodian drug law

“The police asked if I stole anything. I said, ‘No, I’m just a drug user.’ They said ‘You used drugs, where did you get the money?’... They slapped me with their hands and kicked me in the stomach and my shin with their boots. My skin was bleeding and the skin was torn off. They kicked me in the stomach.  They beat me to make me confess that I stole something from the market. Two policemen did this in the police station, in the interrogation room... I did not confess but the police still wrote down [a confession]...

    UNICEF faces broad scrutiny

    LOCAL rights group says it has proof that UNICEF resources have been used to transport illegally detained children to a controversial drug rehabilitation centre accused of human rights abuses. The news has sparked renewed demands for the UN agency to review its funding, and a representative of the European Union is calling for an investigation into whether EU-funded assets were used in carrying out possible “human rights violations”.

      Where darkness knows no limits

      This month Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report detailing the experiences of former detainees in the drug detoxification centers in China's Yunnan province.

        Sign the petition to change Indonesia's Narcotics Law

        The Indonesian United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) has responded to the new Narcotics Law passed on the 15th of September by launching a petition to change the law. The petition states that the new Narcotics Law is a violation of basic human rights and constrains harm reduction efforts in the region.

         

          Indonesia’s life or death Drug Laws

          Submitted by annabloch on Wed, 16/09/2009 - 14:07

          On Monday 15 September 2009, the Indonesian Parliament voted in stricter drugs laws as part of the Government's efforts to toughen up their national "War on Drugs".

          The law maintains the death penalty for some drug offences and has criminalised drug addiction. Now, Indonesian parents must also be aware that they have committed a crime if they fail to notify the authorities of their drug addicted children.

            Tuol Sambo

            At TalkingDrugs.org we have already posted a few stories describing the situation of heroin addicts in Cambodia.

            We have just get another worrying information from this country:

            In June this year, Cambodian authorities using force have resettled 20 HIV-affected families from Borei Keila (an area in Phnom Penh, biggest city and capital of Cambodia) to the Tuol Sambo- place located 25 kilometres from the Phnom Penh. Families are accomodated in metal sheds, without running water and basic sanitary facilities. They are baking hot in the daytime.

              Drugs as a tool for political repressions: Artem Loscutov`s case

              On May 15, the young contemporary artist Artem Loskutov was arrested in his native Novisibirsk and charged with possession of a narcotic substance (marijuana) by the local branch of the Interior Ministry’s notorious Center for Extremism Prevention (Center “E”). Loskutov and his supporters claim that the police planted the marijuana in his bag in order to incriminate him.

                The Difference Between Quitting and Not Quitting Drugs

                One night in April of 2006, I was bathing with a friend at the bathhouse on a major street in Beijing. As I was resting in the big hall, suddenly many policemen rushed in, running straight for us in a very bad temper. They dragged us to their office, and didn’t even let us dress ourselves before we had to go.

                Policeman: “Just finished shooting up, huh?”

                This time I said, emboldened: “I’ve quit for a long time!”

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