The International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement has warned that punitive drug laws and policies continue to drive systemic racism against Africans and people of African descent around the world.
In its latest report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Expert Mechanism found that racial discrimination is deeply embedded in drug control systems and is undermining the enjoyment of human rights among racialised communities, particularly Africans and people of African descent.
The findings place the global enforcement of drug laws within a wider historical and institutional context, arguing that discriminatory outcomes cannot be understood solely as the result of individual policing decisions.
According to the Mechanism, racial discrimination can occur at several stages of the criminal justice process, beginning with questioning and police encounters and extending through arrests, prosecution, sentencing, detention and post-conviction consequences.
The report identified racial profiling, over-policing of communities of African descent and excessive use of force among practices contributing to disproportionate criminalisation and punishment.
According to Tracie Keesee, Acting Chair of the Expert Mechanism, the enforcement of drug laws does not operate independently from broader patterns of discrimination.
“The evidence gathered by the Mechanism demonstrated that the enforcement of drug laws and policies does not operate in a vacuum. Rather, it often mirrors and reinforces long-standing patterns of racial discrimination.”
Tracie Keesee
She linked these patterns to the historical legacies of colonialism and enslavement, the racialisation of drugs, punitive approaches to drug control and the continuing influence of the so-called “war on drugs.”
According to the Expert Mechanism’s conclusions, these strategies may reinforce or exacerbate racial inequality in cultures where it already exists.
The repercussions for Africans and individuals of African heritage may go beyond being detained or charged. For people and communities already facing socioeconomic marginalisation, criminal justice initiatives may have long-term negative effects on employment prospects, social engagement, and other facets of life following conviction.
The report also emphasises how many types of discrimination can overlap, raising the danger of human rights violations.
Gender, age, immigrant status, and socioeconomic hardship can all have an impact on how people interact with the police and criminal justice system. These interlocking vulnerabilities can exacerbate the consequences of punitive drug policy for specific communities.
Children and young men of African origin were identified as being the most negatively impacted by punitive drug laws and their enforcement.
Expert Mechanism Calls For Human Rights-Based Drug Policy Reform
The report’s assessment of systemic discrimination is accompanied by a series of recommendations aimed at changing how governments approach drug use and drug-related activities.
Among the measures identified are reforming drug laws and policies that produce discriminatory outcomes, strengthening accountability for abuses by law enforcement officials, improving data collection and oversight, and ensuring that affected communities have a meaningful role in shaping policies that directly affect them.
The Expert Mechanism also highlighted decriminalisation, alternatives to detention and greater community engagement as promising approaches for addressing discriminatory outcomes.
Another key component of the suggested changes is accountability. The Mechanism’s larger worry that discriminatory policing can continue when institutions lack efficient methods for investigation, monitoring, and restitution is reflected in its proposal for more robust measures to address abuses by law enforcement officers.
Víctor Rodríguez Rescia, a member of the Expert Mechanism, added that addressing racial injustice would require governments to look beyond isolated reforms.
“The pursuit of racial justice requires confronting the systemic inequities that continue to shape drug policy and law enforcement responses. Moving beyond isolated reforms, we need a fundamental rethinking of current approaches, placing human rights, racial justice, equality, public health, and meaningful community participation at the centre of policy and practice.”
Víctor Rodríguez Rescia
The need for a public health-focused strategy is part of a larger movement away from seeing drug-related behaviour mainly through the prism of criminal punishment.
Instead of evaluating drug-control systems only based on the number of arrests, prosecutions, or convictions they produce, governments would be expected to take into account whether current drug laws safeguard human rights and result in equitable outcomes under the Mechanism’s methodology.
This recommendation reflects the Mechanism’s view that reforms imposed without meaningful participation from affected populations may fail to address the structural conditions producing discriminatory outcomes.
The recommendations put forward by the Expert Mechanism point towards a system in which human rights protections, racial equality and public health are considered central components of drug policy.
That would require governments to reassess laws that disproportionately criminalise particular communities, strengthen institutional oversight and create mechanisms through which affected populations can participate in policymaking.
Ultimately, the report argues that racial justice cannot be achieved through isolated adjustments to an otherwise punitive system.
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