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Focus on illicit drugs' impact on children, says UNICEF

Addressing a panel discussion on children and drug abuse that included Her Majesty Queen Sylvia of Sweden and Mexico's Minister of Health, Dr. Juan de la Fuente, as well as presentations by children and young people, Ms. Bellamy called drug abuse "a profound violation of human rights -- including the fundamental rights of children."

She said that while the statistics presented by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) are shocking, "they do not illustrate the extent to which drug trafficking and abuse threaten children -- along with their families, their communities and ultimately the countries in which they live."

In addition, the real impact of drugs on child rights is far more insidious and widespread than the media’s images of drugged child soldiers, glue-sniffing street children and babies born with an addiction to crack cocaine, Ms. Bellamy argued. “It includes the myriad consequences of drug use -- the accidents, depression, unwanted pregnancies, arrests and incarceration and the burden of diseases like hepatitis and HIV/AIDS.”

Also there are long-term effects that begin in adolescence and last a lifetime and from generation to generation.

But, for Ms. Bellamy, the main violator of children’s rights are the easily-obtained, legal substances tobacco and alcohol, particularly when there is no check on their promotion through advertising aimed at children and young people around the world..

In the case of tobacco, its main victims will soon be in the developing world. “By the year 2030,” she told the panel, “if the World Health Organization’s projections are correct, there will be 10 million deaths -- seven million of which will occur in the developing world, where the global tobacco market is targeting children and women as never before.”

“In fact, 300 million of today’s children and teenagers will die of tobacco-related illness by the time they are adults. This is an emerging health catastrophe akin to the HIV/AIDS pandemic -- and, indeed, HIV and tobacco are the only major causes of premature death that are increasing significantly worldwide.”

Ms. Bellamy applauded efforts to reduce demand for drugs as a major element in any global strategy, adding, “We believe that the success of demand-reduction activities will hinge on how effectively they are integrated within the context of all other programmes that address child rights to health and development.”

She added that demand-reduction efforts must address the reality of young peoples’ lives, recognizing the interrelatedness of the problems that confront them -- problems like poverty, underdevelopment, illiteracy, gender discrimination and poor access to basic services.

Currently, UNICEF is working – in collaboration with the UN Drug Control Programme, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and a range of other partners -- to strengthen its programming approaches to drugs within a broader, rights-based strategy. These approaches include national youth health programming and policies; school-based interventions; youth-friendly health services; heath promotion and outreach through youth NGOs and other community organizations; and UNICEF’s ongoing communication work with the news and entertainment media worldwide.

“In these activities as in all others, listening to young people is essential,” Ms. Bellamy said. “The solution to the world drug problem lies in the development of partnerships between young people and adults. This is already being demonstrated in places like Colombia, where a growing alliance between children and adults is helping that society to confront drug-related violence.”

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