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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
OAS Photo
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The
Organization of American States (OAS) today held its policy 60th
Roundtable entitled "Multisectoral Perspectives on the Drug Problem in
the Americas: The Challenges of Reducing Incarceration" on the eve of
the celebration of the Special General Assembly that will be held in
Guatemala on
September 19, and whose central theme is "For a Hemispheric Drug Policy in the Twenty-first Century".
This debate on drug policy in the region started with the report
prepared by the OAS on the Drugs Problem in the Americas, led by the
Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, and presented 18
months ago to the Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos. The report
responded to a mandate from the VI Summit of the Americas that took
place in Cartagena, Colombia, in April 2012.
At the opening the Roundtable, Secretary General Insulza said that
after a year and a half of discussions on the topic, "one of the great
consensus reached in the region regards the need to implement judicial
reforms aimed at providing alternatives to incarceration". In this
respect, he stated that around 3.5 million people are incarcerated in
the Hemisphere, of which "at least 1.5 million are in prison for drugs,
many of them for possession or consumption."
"As we noted it in the report, the application of strict drug laws
has resulted in the increase of the incarceration rate in many of our
countries, contributing to serious overcrowding in prisons," he said. He
added that incarceration does not solve the situation but aggravates it
as consumption continues in prisons, and he pointed out that the result
of this approach is that "the root of the problem is not addressed—nor
is it treated when there is drug dependence—at any stage of the judicial
and/or criminal proceedings”.
The head of the OAS said that currently several countries in the
region have decided to consider the need to take measures to reverse
this situation, so that human rights and fundamental judicial guarantees
are respected while maintaining and ensuring public safety. These
positions will be presented at the forthcoming Special General Meeting
in Guatemala”.
Insulza recalled that the Declaration adopted by the OAS General
Assembly in 2013 in La Antigua Guatemala "reflects the concerns of
member states" on this matter. In particular, the OAS leader referred to
the issue of proportionality of punishment, which was already discussed
at the Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Public Security in the
Americas (MISPA)
in late 2013. To that end, as Chair of the Inter-American Commission on
Drug Abuse Control (CICAD), Colombia proposed toward the end of 2013
the creation of a working group aimed at analyzing and creating
alternative proposals to the penal sentencing for all stages of the
chain of drugs, with a gender perspective and including small-quantity
drug producers, dealers and consumers. The Drug Treatment Courts
added Secretary General Insulza, an initiative that the OAS supports
and promotes and which is expanding, are other examples of alternative
sentences to incarceration. "Over the last four years, we have gone in
the region from 4 to 17 countries that are exploring, implementing and
strengthening the use of this type of courts," he noted.
During the Roundtable, the Director of the Office of Policy and
Legislation of the US Department of Justice, Jonathan Wroblewski, said
that the reasons for reducing incarceration, which affects 2.2 million
people in his country, are budgetary coss, public safety, and human
rights. Wroblewski noted that the increase in prison population occurred
in the 60s and 70s when there was a dramatic increase in the use of
drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and opiates, and laws were tightened.
The official said that the initiative “Smart on Crime” was implemented
by the current US Administration to reduce incarceration, which is very
costly both at the budgetary and human levels, as well as to help people
convicted of misdemeanors to reinsert into society and to focus
resources on the most dangerous criminals.
The Resident Magistrate of the Kingston Drug Treatment Court of
Jamaica, Stephane Jackson-Haisley, said that all judges are aware of the
need to seek other alternatives to incarceration. In the case of the
Caribbean, Judge Jackson-Haisley indicated that judges have more
discretion when rendering judgment than in other jurisdictions because
they have more freedom in adopting alternative sentences such as house
arrests, fines and other penalties. The Jamaican judge noted that
alternative sentences are very important and emphasized their importance
for women, arguing that the impact of the imprisonment of a woman is
very strong within her family.
Meanwhile, the President of Intercambios Asociación Civil,
Graciela Touzé, said that the “dramatic” situation of prison
overcrowding in the region is largely due to drug policies implemented
over the last decades. Touzé asserted that “there are actors who are
particularly punished in the region, such as small users, dealers,
transporters, and women.” “There is a consensus regarding the fact that
the consumer must not be considered as a criminal,” she added, drawing
attention to the paradox that exists in many countries of the Hemisphere
where although drug use is not classified as a crime, in many instances
people who are found with drugs are sentenced to prison for possession.
For his part, the Senior Associate for Drug Policy and the Andes
at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), John Walsh, said that
it is important to rethink the drug policy that has not been changed in
several decades. He added that the issue of incarceration is substantial
and asserted that prison should be the last resort though in many
countries it is the first. He criticized the fact that in reality, the
law is applied disproportionately because the most powerful traffickers
are not in jail while the most vulnerable ones end up in prison. He
indicated that it is necessary to start from the premise that the final
objective is to fight criminal organizations.
The Permanent Representative of Guatemala, Ambassador José María
Argueta, who closed the Roundtable, said that none of the elements of
the drugs problem “should be analyzed separately, but rather should be
seen from a comprehensive standpoint.” “The countries of the Hemisphere,
we are engaged in a process to make contributions with regard to the
global problem of drugs, putting people at the center of it,” he added.
Ambassador Argueta indicated that his country, which will host the
Special General Assembly on drugs, does not wish to present its view on
the subject, but is rather focused on the effort to harmonize the
region’s vision on the issue.
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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