Our submission to OHCHR focused on the human rights standards of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health under International Law in the context of the establishment and regulation of health services for the treatment of drug dependence. 

When private actors provide health-related services, they should be subject to strict regulations that impose on them so-called ‘public services obligations’. 

Private healthcare providers should be prohibited from denying access to affordable and adequate services, treatments or information. This means that existing standards on the right to health should be applied in the context of private actors’ involvement in the right to health.  

Our view is that OHCHR’s report should recommend that, in the context of drug-related health policies, specifically those related to the treatment of drug dependence, States are obliged to:

•       Ensure that all health services should be accessible, culturally appropriate, of quality, adequately funded, accountable, and transparent;
•       Count with well-developed legal frameworks and regulations on private actors to ensure that public service obligations are fulfilled and the human rights of drug users are respected;
•       Strictly monitor all healthcare providers under their jurisdiction, including private, to verify that they comply with regulatory requirements established in the national and international legal frameworks, including the human rights of drug users.

Read the complete submission here.