“Anything goes in the ‘war on drugs,’ or so it seems” – chastened Manfred Nowak and Anand Grover, the two UN Special Rapporteurs on Torture and Health respectively, in the beginning of their op-ed published by New York Times, 25 June 2009. Recently Mr. Grover, one of the two “individuals of high standing and deep knowledge of human rights” proved us that everything but kitchen sink goes in the war against “war on drugs”.

It would seem to be common logic if the rates of HIV/AIDS decrease anyplace in the World we should consider it as positive news. However, it seems these sentiments are not shared by for some of the main players in the field of Human Rights, such as the UN Health Rapporteur Anand Grover, Daniel Wolfe of Open Society Institute and Joseph Amon of Human Rights Watch, to name but a few who lament over the decline of HIV and its subsequent diminishing role as an instrument for decriminalization of drugs.

One should be aware that Special Rapporteurs are experts appointed by the UN Human Right Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. One should also be aware that on 25th October 2010, the Health Rapporteur Anand Grover presented his latest report (UN Doc No A/65/255) to U.N. General Assembly. Startlingly, Mr. Grover’s report exhorts countries to decriminalize drug possession and use. Ultimately, the purport of his report is legalisation of drugs. Quite literally Mr. Grover is suggesting a cataclysmic shift in international and national drug regulation, effectively burying the existing Drug Conventions from 1961, ’71, and ’88.

Grover’s report is public and considered the clearest statement to date within UN system on the need to reframe the drug policy and drug control measures. The INCB and UNODC on 9th November issued a public rebuttal of Grover’s report.

What is less known is the meeting Grover attended the day after his presentation at UN: on 26th October, at George Soros’ Open Society Institute in New York. Grover was part of a moderated discussion concerning the “edgier implications” of his UN report. The other two key speakers were Joseph Amon of Human Rights Watch and Daniel Wolfe of the Open Society Foundations. The recording can be found at:

http://www.soros.org/initiatives/health/focus/ihrd/events/grover-20101026(Time 49:22-52:09).

In the hour-long discussion, Mr. Grover made it clear that he favours the legalisation of drugs on ideological grounds, apparently without regard for the public health or public safety implications of such an action. This was later put into context when Grover elaborated how he sees HIV/AIDS as a wedge to push for the legalisation of drugs:

Asked by Daniel Raymond from Harm Reduction Coalition if there now is political space to have a discussion about drugs decriminalization, Mr. Grover’s answer was as follows: “I am sorry to say that the political space is dwindling, because HIV was a big space and HIV is actually, you know, the incidence of HIV is coming down in Asia, we are losing that space and that is the problem… There is space within HIV. HIV, according to me, is space, so therefore you can talk about harm reduction, and we use it very effectively. HIV was the biggest space for so many issues. Nobody wanted to talk about harm reduction; they don’t want to talk about men having sex with men and drug users, nothing. That is a space still open. How long it will be open? We don’t know.”

To put it bluntly, Grover officially, in his report, writes that the world must change drug laws to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. But in a more informal setting, and among intimates, the order of human rights priorities is fundamentally reversed.

Earlier in the discussion Mr. Grover explained that he “has to be diplomatic because the conversation is recorded”. This begs the question- what more would he have said if he was not being careful?

While Mr. Grover expressed his worries that HIV is receding in Asia, at the same meeting, someone, perhaps Mr. Daniel Wolfe, the Director of OSI’s International Harm Reduction Development Program and core member of the Reference Group to the UN on HIV and Injecting Drug Use, stated: “I hate it when that happens!” This remark was seemingly enjoyed by the like-minded gathering from the chortles, the Special Rapporteur also seemed to be amused and quipped back by telling those present how much they remind him of some Christian groups who opposed the treatment of leprosy on religious grounds.

Mr. Joseph Amon, Director of Health and Human Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, published on 21th November 2010 an article in San Francisco Chronicle commending Mr. Grover’s official report and stance. Yet despite being considered a leading human rights defender, Mr. Amon decided not to narrate on the Open Society Foundations episode of which he was a part.

It is obvious from his statements that Mr. Grover is unconcerned about the 30 million people living with HIV worldwide, seen by him just as a manoeuvre mass for different agendas. UN Health Rapporteur’s last report also clearly indicates a flagrant disinterest in everyone‘s enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, for children’s welfare and nonetheless in paying special attention to the needs of children in the realization of the right to health as per his mandate.

Given the UN Health Rapporteur’s baggage and the failure of his report to comply with the most central human rights standards (i.e. His report does not mention, even once, children, their interests, and their explicit right to protection from the use of drugs as a core international human right as per Convention on the Rights of the Child article 33), it is long past time for the UN Council of Human Rights to conduct an oversight on how the Special Rapporteurs are appointed.

Meanwhile, let us hope that in his next report the UN Health Rapporteur is not going to recommend children ingest his father’s “bhang lassi” recipe- a marijuana milk shake- which helps with digestion and enables them to have as many sweets as they fancy. Incredibly, Mr. Grover attempted to promote this drink last October at the UN General Assembly, claiming that the beverage is great.

Henceforth anything goes…

Robert DuPont, M.D.

Roxana Claudia Stere, PhD Student

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