Amnesty International welcomes the opportunity to provide preliminary observations to the annotated outline circulated in the context of the upcoming General Comment on the impacts of drug policies on economic, social and cultural rights to be developed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the Committee) and expresses its strong support for this initiative. It highlights different areas that the organization believes should be addressed in the General Comment and sees this as a key opportunity for the Committee to address important concerns regarding the implementation of drug laws and policies and to provide authoritative guidance to states on how to fulfil their obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in this context. The submission is largely based on research and policy analysis conducted by Amnesty International, although it should not be considered as an exhaustive list of all concerns the organization has regarding human rights and drug policies.
