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Empower illegal drug users while on rehab: CHR

By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

September 27, 2022, 7:35 pm

MANILA – A person-centered approach towards rehabilitation should seek to empower people who use drugs, instead of stigmatizing and using language that diminish human dignity, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said Tuesday.

Jacqueline Ann de Guia, CHR Executive Director, said in a statement that rehab centers must enhance the physical, psychological, and social capability of persons who are trying to reform and provide social reintegration services.

She is hopeful that Senate Bill No. 48, which seeks to establish a Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in every province, will achieve such goals.

The bill, filed by Senator Christopher Go, underscores that “the national government has not lost sight of its duty to aid in the recovery of those whose lives have been destroyed by illegal drugs even though it has consistently centered its campaign against drugs on crime prevention and eradication.”

To improve the bill, the CHR presented recommendations from a human-rights based approach to drug treatment and recovery.

It reminded the government of the 2015 consensus in the East and Southeast Asia region, alongside the joint statements from the United Nations in March 2012 and June 2020, that countries must invest in voluntary community-based approaches, instead of compulsory centers for drug users.

Compulsory centers are facilities where known or accused drug users are involuntary admitted for treatment.

“People are often confronted with the choice to be imprisoned or bargain for lesser penalty that usually comes with a commitment for compulsory rehabilitation,” de Guia said.

She said drug dependence must be approached as a health condition through evidence-informed and rights-based approaches.

“The CHR is ready and willing to work with the office of Senator Go in ensuring that the proposed bill is consistent with international human rights standards,” she added. (PNA)

 

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