The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy Comment

This policy comment seeks to address three key questions relating to the participation of civil society in international drug policymaking. Firstly, who are the relevant ‘stakeholders’ and what options do they have to participate in drug policy discussions at the United Nations level? Secondly, have...

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Main Author: Ann Fordham
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Développement 2020-09-01
Series:Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/3861
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author Ann Fordham
author_facet Ann Fordham
author_sort Ann Fordham
collection DOAJ
description This policy comment seeks to address three key questions relating to the participation of civil society in international drug policymaking. Firstly, who are the relevant ‘stakeholders’ and what options do they have to participate in drug policy discussions at the United Nations level? Secondly, have certain ‘stakeholders’ been able to positively influence the direction of global drug policies? And thirdly, who are the ‘most affected’ communities and what could be done to improve their meaningful engagement in the definition of drug policies that directly impact their lives? Unpacking the terminology around civil society, stakeholders, and most affected communities, the chapter argues for a clearer distinction between ‘rights-holders’ and ‘duty-bearers’. Masking the inherent power imbalances between the different stakeholders risks underplaying the rights of affected communities and legitimising a place at the table for corporations as ‘equal actors’ in spite of fundamentally different interests. The commentary concludes that the increased involvement over the past decade of civil society as well as other United Nations entities around the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS) has markedly influenced the global drug policy debate by shifting more attention towards health, human rights and development concerns.
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spelling doaj-art-57e88fdba99f40c8896ab2acbce2c3d42025-08-20T02:34:15ZengInstitut de Hautes Études Internationales et du DéveloppementRevue Internationale de Politique de Développement1663-93751663-93912020-09-011210.4000/poldev.3861The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy CommentAnn FordhamThis policy comment seeks to address three key questions relating to the participation of civil society in international drug policymaking. Firstly, who are the relevant ‘stakeholders’ and what options do they have to participate in drug policy discussions at the United Nations level? Secondly, have certain ‘stakeholders’ been able to positively influence the direction of global drug policies? And thirdly, who are the ‘most affected’ communities and what could be done to improve their meaningful engagement in the definition of drug policies that directly impact their lives? Unpacking the terminology around civil society, stakeholders, and most affected communities, the chapter argues for a clearer distinction between ‘rights-holders’ and ‘duty-bearers’. Masking the inherent power imbalances between the different stakeholders risks underplaying the rights of affected communities and legitimising a place at the table for corporations as ‘equal actors’ in spite of fundamentally different interests. The commentary concludes that the increased involvement over the past decade of civil society as well as other United Nations entities around the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS) has markedly influenced the global drug policy debate by shifting more attention towards health, human rights and development concerns.https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/3861civil societygovernanceUnited Nations (UN)human rightsparticipationdrug policies
spellingShingle Ann Fordham
The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy Comment
Revue Internationale de Politique de Développement
civil society
governance
United Nations (UN)
human rights
participation
drug policies
title The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy Comment
title_full The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy Comment
title_fullStr The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy Comment
title_full_unstemmed The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy Comment
title_short The Meaningful Participation of ‘Stakeholders’ in Global Drug Policy Debates—A Policy Comment
title_sort meaningful participation of stakeholders in global drug policy debates a policy comment
topic civil society
governance
United Nations (UN)
human rights
participation
drug policies
url https://journals.openedition.org/poldev/3861
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