Drug Use is a Health Issue – We Need to Decriminalize

Vulnerable people need support, not stricter laws

APIA, Samoa, Feb 25 2021 (IPS) – Earlier this month, and in December 2020 the Government of Samoa conducted operations that resulted in the confiscation of a total of 1,400 grams of methamphetamine at the border, smuggled from the US.

The law enforcement officials (from the Ministry of Customs and Revenue and the Ministry of Police and Prisons) that intercepted these drugs deserve congratulations for their professionalism and skill. Meth is destructive and harmful and it is good to see this potential threat removed from the community.
Decriminalization of drugs - Vulnerable people need support, not stricter laws

Why Covid-19 Choices Are Critical for Children

Jo Becker is the children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch

Children eating lunch in the João Baptista Cáffaro School cafetería. Itaboraí, Brazil, 45 km from Rio de Janeiro. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

NEW YORK, Apr 24 2020 (IPS) – Children may escape the worst symptoms of Covid-19 and suffer lower mortality rates, but for millions, the pandemic will have devastating effects.

The choices that governments make now are crucial for children. Governments can both lessen the worst effects of the crisis on children in the months to come, and also put policies in place that will improve children’s lives long after the pandemic is over.

School shutdown…

Child Labour: No Quick End to Children Trapped in Tobacco Production

Children working on tobacco farms in Chipangali District in Eastern Province of Zambia. Credit: Brenda Chitindi

 
 “Most major tobacco producing countries use child labour in tobacco growing. Almost no cigarette can be
 guaranteed to be free from child labour.”
 , 2015.

HONG KONG / LOME, May 17 2022 (IPS) – Despite World Day Against Child Labour launched in 2002 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), little has changed over the past two decades for the millions of children who remain .

To rescue children and achieve sustainable human and health rights improvements, laws that make corporations accoun…