politics for the 99%

Published on tni.org.uk, Jan 25, 2016.

Final declaration of the Global Forum of Producers of Prohibited Plants.

In a global meeting small scale farmers of cannabis, coca and opium from 14 countries discussed their contribution to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). The UNGASS will discuss all aspects of global drug control policies, including the worldwide ban on the cultivation of coca, poppy and cannabis, an issue the Global Farmers Forum demands that their voices be heard and taken into account … //

… Considering: … //

… Conclusions:

1. Forced eradication – chemical, biological, manual or any other form – of crops produced by small farmers is contrary to human rights, causes diverse forms of conflict, expands countries’ agricultural frontier, leads to environmental degradation, causes food insecurity and destroys rural economic survival strategies. It aggravates social problems – as well as problems related to health and internal security -­–­- increases poverty, leads to displacement of affected populations, delegitimizes state institutions, militarizes local communities and is a form of undemocratic intervention, forcing those impacted to seek survival strategies in other informal or illicit economic activities and in some cases pushes people to take more radical positions. Finally, forced eradication is counterproductive with regards to sustainable development … //

… 4. The prohibition of coca, cannabis and opium poppy generates conflicts, as the people that grow them are criminalized, their human and cultural rights are violated, they are discriminated against and legally prosecuted. The different levels of conflict that exist have their origins in both drug control policies and the drugs market itself. Conflicts and violence are caused by the interventions of state authorities (police and armed forces), through eradication acts or other interventions; the presence of armed groups and internal wars; ethnical divisions and territorial and border disputes; access to and control of land; access to water and other natural resources/common goods; corruption; migration and displacement; the overload of the judicial system; the illegal trade in arms and precursors and illicit logging; unemployment, amongst others.

Recommendations: … //

(full text).

(my comment: any resolution has to include obligatory a good answer for the drug producting peasantry AND an definitive answer to the global mafia of the predator capitalism – Heidi).

Related Links:

more about the The Heemskerk Declaration:

• on UNDPI.org, Jan 21, 2016: today in a meeting in The Netherlands, small scale farmers of cannabis, coca and opium from 14 countries* discussed their contribution to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), to be held in New York from 19 to 21 April 2016; FULL article on Indepaz.org;
• on en.wikipedia;

UNGASS 2016 on some websites:

• Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch – #UNGASS2016, 27.46 min, uploaded by Paul DeRienzo, Jan 26, 2016 … Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch director of the Open Society Global Drug Policy program on the upcoming United Nations General Assembly Special Session Rally at United Nations on April 20;
• IDPC Webinar – UNGASS 2016, uploaded by ID PC: – Europe, 60.35 min, Jan 19, 2016; - Asia, 72.34 min, Jan 13, 2016; - Africa and the Middle East, 64.32 min, Dec 16, 2015;
• on News Ghana; 2016 UNGASS, Drug policies must be action based – WACSI, Jan 20, 2016;
• on FuoriLuogo.it: Concretizzare i diritti. Diritti umani e politiche sulle droghe: ecco gli indicatori, Gen 22, 2016: presentato ieri dall’International Harm Reduction Association in un evento verso UNGASS 2016 un briefing paper per la definizione di indicatori del rispetto dei diritti umani nelle politiche sulle droghe;;
• Improving Global Drug Policy – Comparative Perspectives and UNGASS 2016, 124.44 min, uploaded by The International Institute for Strategic Studies, June 22, 2015 … as the world prepares for the 2016 United Nations Special Session of the General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016), the global counter-narcotics regime faces profound challenges. Many countries now find the regime’s emphasis on punitive approaches to illicit drugs to be problematic and are asking for reform. The United States, creator of the current prohibition regime in the 1950s, has grown less interested in playing the role of the world’s toughest drug enforcer. However, other crucial players such as Russia and China remain committed to the preservation of the existing approaches …;
• also on: on Open Society Foundations; on twitter; on UN Drug Control.info; on Talking Drugs; on PMC – US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health; on Every Woman, every child; on The Huffington Post Australia; more on Google News-search;
• UN General Assembly on Drugs (UNGASS): An Opportunity to Change the World? 15.49 min, uploaded by Harm Reduction Coalition, Oct 28, 2014 … Plenary from the 10th National Harm Reduction Conference, Baltimore, MD. Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, Director of the Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Foundations poses the question “Is the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs an Opportunity to Change the World?”;

Websites:

• tni.org: UN’s Drug Conrol/Items tagged with 2016 UNGASS;
• UNGASS 2016: Special Session of the United Nations Geneal Assembly on the World Drug Problem;
• GFPPP.org: Global Forum of Producers of Prohibited Plants (on en.wikipedia);
• GFPPP.org
• idpc.net: Internatiobnal Drug Policy Consortium.