New York – CWS has added its voice to those calling on the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem to consider the rights of children in its discussions.
As of 2015, there were roughly 1.5 million incarcerated people in Latin America and the Caribbean and more than two million children with incarcerated parents in the region. As noted in a recent report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, these children have committed no crime. They are innocent. Yet, they face trauma, stigma and shame from having a parent in prison. Last year CWS and partners lead the first ever hearing< presented at the Commission about this issue.
Plataforma NNAPES, which stands for Plataforma Regional por la Defensa de los Derechos de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes con Referentes Adultos Privados de Libertad and of which CWS is a leading member, is made of nine organizations working in eight nations across Latin America and the Caribbean to advocate on behalf of children with incarcerated parents.
Plataforma NNAPES joined Child Rights International Network, Defence for Children International, Consortium for Street Children, the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy and the International Juvenile Justice Observatory in calling on the General Assembly Special Session to particularly consider the effects of drug policies on children and adolescents. Recommendations include conducting further research on the impact of drug policies on children and adolescents and giving children and youth a voice in the development of a new action plan in coming years.
The statement will be the key means of advocacy on children’s rights around UNGASS as well as in bilateral meetings with member states and UN child rights agencies to ensure they tackle the drug problem holistically, particularly with regard children and youth. It will also be used in side-events that will be held along the assembly led by organizations such as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children and UNICEF.
CWS is an international humanitarian organization committed to eradicating hunger and poverty and promoting peace and justice.
Media Contact
Laura Curkendall, 202-780-9943, lcurkendall@cwsglobal.org