Menjelang pertemuan penting dengan ASEAN pada 14 September 2021, LBHM bersama dengan 24 organisasi masyarakat sipil lainnya di Asia Tenggara bergabung untuk mengangkat isu terkait buruknya penerapan kebijakan narkotika di wilayah Asia Tenggara yang sudah bertahun-tahun terjadi. Selain itu LBHM dan 24 CSO lainnya juga mengirimkan surat terbuka kepada Kepala BNN terkait penanganan narkotika di Indonesia. Ada beberapa isu yang menjadi konsern dari kelompok masyarakat sipil:
Dampak buruk dari Overkriminalisasi, Pemaksaan Rehabilitasi, hingga Hukuman Mati;
Mempromosikan alternatif penghukuman dan peradilan yang adil (fair trial) terhadap kasus narkotika (minor);
Mendorong ASEAN untuk menyesuaikan rekomendasi kebijakan dari badan UN terkait posisi narkotika dan pemenjaraan, termasuk pengurangan dampak buruk;
Mendorong adanya pelibatan aktif dari kelompok masyarakat sipil dalam pembuatan kebijakan terkait narkotika.
For centuries, criminal laws, justice systems, and prisons have been designed for, and by, men. The 2010 United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders, also known as the ‘Bangkok Rules’, break away from this history by establishing the first set of international human rights standards that focus on the specific needs and experiences of women deprived of liberty.
Ten years after the adoption of the Bangkok Rules by the 193 countries represented at the UN General Assembly, states across the world have largely failed to implement them, while the number of women in prison has continued to raise dramatically. By 2020, an estimated 741,000 women were incarcerated worldwide, compared to 636,000 in 2010. The global female prison population is estimated to have increased by about 59% from 2000 to 2020.
This worrying trend has been fuelled by the harshly punitive drug laws adopted at the end of the 20th century. In many countries in Asia and Latin America, drug offences are the main cause for the incarceration of women. In most cases, women are detained for carrying out low-level drug activities, such as transporting drugs, that are characterised by high risk, a high degree of replaceability within illegal drug organisations, and very little financial reward.
Although theoretically ‘gender-blind’, punitive drug policies such as the disproportionate use of pretrial detention, mandatory minimum prison sentences, and the dearth of harm reduction and evidence-based treatment in prisons, have impacted women disproportionately. They have also ignored the causes for women’s involvement in illegal drug activities, which include the intersection of poverty and caretaking responsibilities, and coercion or influence at hands of a male relative or partner. In other words, they have undermined the application of the Bangkok Rules.
For advocates across the world, the 10-year anniversary of the Bangkok Rules is an opportunity to remind states that gender equality policies, criminal justice rights and drug laws are not isolated from each other. If states want to implement a genuine agenda for gender equality, they need to review the laws and policies that undermine it – including drug legislation.
This briefing paper provides analyses the concrete ways in which punitive drug legislation has impacted upon the achievement of the Bangkok Rules, and offers several recommendations on how to translate the commitments set in the Bangkok Rules into drug policy.
