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Public Talk “Decriminalization of Drugs: Utopia or Reality in Southeast Asia” by Palani Narayanan
25 October, 2018 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
In a roundup of state executions in 2017, Amnesty International expressed concern for the high level of mandatory death sentences and the use of the death penalty for drug-related offenses in Southeast Asia. Executions continue to be carried out in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore and extrajudicial killings are staggering in the Philippines. If in 2002, Thailand’s harsh crackdown on drugs led to 2,700 deaths, today the Philippines is being brought to the International Criminal Court for the ten-times higher figure of 27,000 people killed by vigilantes and police operations in the span of two years. No reproach has come from neighbors and some like Indonesia are actually encouraged to quietly follows the example with the deaths of 79 suspects in 2017 (a significant raise from the 14 drugs-related killing of the year before). In their aspiration for a “Drug-Free ASEAN” members subscribe to the same “tough on crime” approach, which also foresees the detention of more than 200,000 drug users in compulsory rehabilitation centers.
Yet narcotics abuse has not abated, and may actually be growing, raising questions on the actual purpose and effectivity of the region’s war on drugs. Especially, since Southeast Asian punitive approach is increasingly out of step with international trends favoring drug policy reforms like decriminalization and treating addiction as a public health issue.
On 25 October at 6PM at SEA Junction, Palani Narayanan, Senior Advisor for Drug Use and Community Responses at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), will give a public talk to make the case for a reverse of punitive drug policies in Southeast Asia. He will argue that the war on drugs has failed in every corner of the world and is also failing in the region at the cost of its people. Young people and women have been disproportionately affected and the war on drugs penalizes the poor and more vulnerable minorities, while failing to held the large drug traffickers accountable. He will further show evidence of the positive impacts of reversing prohibitive drug policies and advocate for a major cultural shift towards regulating drugs and decriminalizing users to be spearheaded and lead by civil society.eae
Brief Profile Speaker
Palani Narayanan is an international harm reduction expert with 26 years’ experience in drug use, harm reduction and drug policy. He is the co-founder of the first Malaysian Harm Reduction Program for sex workers and drug users, and the founding Chairperson of the Asian Harm Reduction Network. He has been responsible for the development of national harm reduction programs in Indonesia and Malaysia and provided technical support to over 25 countries. He was the Strategic Planning Advisor for Australian AID Agency’s regional harm reduction program in Asia between 2010-2013.In 2018, Palani joined the Global Fund as the Senior Technical Advisor on Drug Use and Community Responses providing leadership and support on harm reduction and drug policy issues around the world.
Photo by Raffy Lerma (2018): Families of victims of extra-judicial killings whose faces are covered to conceal their identities at the State of the Nation Address (SONA) protest, Quezon City
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Organizer:
SEA Junction, OUR Venue on Southeast Asia
SEA Junction aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions –from arts and lifestyles to economy and development. Conveniently located at Room 408 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium) SEA junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. For more information see www.seajunction.org and join the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1693055870976440/
