Table Of ContentArticle 33
Protection from Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/cunc
A Commentary on the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child
Editors
André Alen, Johan Vande Lanotte, Eugeen Verhellen,
Fiona Ang, Eva Berghmans, Mieke Verheyde, and Bruce Abramson
Article 33
Protection from Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances
By
Damon Barrett and Philip E. Veerman
With a foreword by Dr. Dainius Puras
Leiden • boston
2012
Cover illustration: Naida, 1½ years old.
this book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Barrett, Damon.
Article 33 : protection from narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances / by damon
Barrett and Philip E. Veerman ; with a foreword by Dainius Puras.
p. cm. – (A commentary on the United nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,
issn 1574-8626)
isbn 978-90-04-14732-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Children—drug use. 2. Children—substance
use. 3. Children (international law) 4. Children—Legal status, laws, etc. 5. Convention on the
Rights of the Child (1989). Article 33. 6. substance abuse. i. Veerman, Philip e. ii. title.
K639.b37 2012
344.03’2290261--dc23
2012000217
issn 1574-8626
isbn 978 90 04 14732 4 (paperback)
isbn 978 90 04 21693 8 (e-book)
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Contents
List of Abbreviations .................................................................................... vii
Author biographies ....................................................................................... ix
text of Article 33 ........................................................................................... xi
Foreword by dr. dainius Puras ................................................................... xiii
1. introduction ............................................................................................ 1
1. drugs and the CRC: A neglected issue ............................................ 1
2. Children As Justification in drug Control ...................................... 5
3. Article 33 in Academic Literature and drug Policy discourse ... 8
2. Comparison with Related Human Rights Provisions ........................ 13
1. Relationship to other international instruments ........................ 13
2. Relationship to other Articles of the CRC ..................................... 19
3. scope of Article 33 .................................................................................. 29
1. How the CRC Committee Has dealt with Article 33 ..................... 29
2. Unpacking the text ........................................................................... 36
2.1. ‘shall take All Appropriate Measures’ .................................. 36
2.2. ‘Including Legislative, Administrative, Social and
educational Measures’ .............................................................. 39
2.3. ‘Protect Children from the illicit Use’ ................................... 42
2.4. ‘narcotic drugs and Psychotropic substances As defined
in the Relevant international treaties’ ................................. 44
2.5. ‘Prevent the Use of Children in the Illicit Production and
trafficking of such substances’ .............................................. 47
3. Commentary on the text ................................................................. 48
3.1. First Substantive Protection: Four Levels of Protection of
Children from the Illicit Use of Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic substances ......................................................... 48
3.1.a Appropriate Measures to Reduce the initiation of
drug Use by Children .................................................... 48
3.1.b Appropriate Measures to Protect Children
Currently Using drugs .................................................. 53
3.1.c Appropriate Measures to Protect Children from
drug Use in the Family ................................................. 58
vi contents
3.1.d Appropriate Measures to Protect Children from
drug Use in the Community ........................................ 63
3.2. Second Substantive Protection: Appropriate Measures to
Prevent the Use of Children in the Illicit Production and
trafficking of such substances ............................................... 66
3.2.a Appropriate Measures to Prevent the Use of
Children in illicit Production and trafficking .......... 67
3.2.b Appropriate Measures Relating to Children
Suspected of or in Fact Involved in Illicit
Production and trafficking .......................................... 69
3.2.c Involvement in the Illicit Production and
trafficking of drugs As a Worst Form of Child
Labour .............................................................................. 71
3.3. What Are the ‘Relevant international treaties’ and Which
drugs Are Captured by Article 33? ......................................... 73
3.3.a international drug Conventions ................................. 73
3.3.b WHo Framework Convention on tobacco Control ... 74
3.3.c Alcohol ............................................................................ 75
3.3.d solvents ........................................................................... 76
3.3.e the CRC and the Policy Paradigm for drug
Control ............................................................................. 76
3.4. Interpreting the UN Drug Conventions Alongside
the CRC ........................................................................................ 78
3.4.a Crop eradication ............................................................ 80
3.4.b drug dependence treatment ...................................... 84
3.4.c Harm Reduction ............................................................. 85
3.4.d Access to essential Controlled Medicines .................. 87
Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 91
List oF AbbReViAtions
AdHd Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder
APHA American Public Health Association
CESCR Committee UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
CND UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child
CRC Committee UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
dsM-iV diagnostic and statistical Manual of Mental disorders
4th edition
FCtC WHo Framework Convention on tobacco Control
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural
Rights
IDP Internally Displaced Person
iLo international Labour organization
INCB International Narcotics Control Board
IPEC International Programme on the Elimination of Child
Labour
oPAC optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the
Child on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict
ost opioid substitution therapy
UnAids Joint United nations Program on HiV/Aids
UnodC United nations office on drugs and Crime
UniCeF United nations Children’s Fund
WHo World Health organization
AUtHoR bioGRAPHies
Damon Barrett is senior Human Rights Analyst with London-based Harm
Reduction International and cofounder of the International Centre on
Human Rights and drug Policy. He is an editor-in-chief of the International
Journal on Human Rights and Drug Policy, and editor of Children of the Drug War:
Perspectives on the Impact of Drug Policies on Young People (ideA, idebate Press,
new York and Amsterdam, 2011).
E mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
Philip E. Veerman is a psychologist at Bouman mental health services in
Rotterdam, where he is responsible for the professional training programme
for health psychologists. He is an independent expert of the courts in the
Netherlands.
E mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
