To raise awareness and trigger action to end the global scourge of violence against women and girls, the UN observed International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November.

At the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, UN Member States adopted the path-breaking Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, taking up the global call to end all forms of violence against women and girls by highlighting violence against women as one of 12 critical areas of concern. They recognized that violence is one of the main mechanisms denying women equality, and that it imposes high social, health and economic costs.

Since Beijing, an historic two-thirds of countries have put laws on the books to stop domestic violence. Advocacy campaigns around the world have heightened awareness and galvanized actions to stop violence. Yet gaps in laws, implementation of legal protection and essential services remain. Momentum has begun, but needs to rapidly accelerate.

This year, as we near the 20th anniversary of Beijing, we take a look at how violence is not only an area of concern in its own right, but one which cuts across and intersects with each of the critical areas of concern.

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence which follow (ending on 10 December, Human Rights Day) are a chance to mobilise and raise awareness.

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End violence against women

The Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) is considering reclassifying cannabidiol as a medicine. Anvisa acting President Ivo Bucaresky said that the studies conducted by the agency show that “there is no evidence in [scientific] literature that it leads to addiction or to people 'getting stoned'.” Cannabidiol is a substance found in leaves of marijuana (Cannabis sativa), used in the treatment of neurological diseases, cancer, Parkinson's disease, among others.

“Cannabidiol was included on List E, which is the list of plants that can produce narcotic and psychotropic substances, and on List F, with substances outlawed in Brazil. In case it is reclassified, it goes to List C1, with controlled medicines,” Bucaresky said. Reclassification will make it easier for the substance to be imported by legal persons and used in research.

Since April this year, Anvisa has received over 200 requests for imported cannabidiol, of which 184 were granted, while the rest is pending analysis. According to Bucaresky, rejections have been issued within a period of nine days. Brazilian law forbids the importation of cannabidiol, but after a family was granted the right to buy it from overseas by a court ruling, Anvisa started to allow its importation after an individual case analysis.

Brazil considers reclassifying cannabidiol as medication

世界上有58个国家仍然保留死刑，其中过半数的死刑仍适用于大部分非暴力毒品犯罪。英语版本拥有更多信息，请阅读下文。

随时掌握与药物政策发展相关的最新信息。

Of the 58 countries in the world that still have the death penalty in place, over half have made it applicable to people who have committed, for the most part, non-violent drug crimes.

Last year, at least seven countries carried out executions for people convicted of drug-related offences, ranging from international drug trafficking and manufacturing, to growing and simple possession.

In its 2012 report, Harm Reduction International estimated that out of the 33 countries that still impose the death penalty for drug-related offences, actual executions took place in 12-14 countries over the previous five years. In the past 12 years a number of countries have begun to abolish the death penalty for drug crimes, including Tajikistan and Jordan. The Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan and the Philippines, meanwhile, have all made reforms and totally abolished the death penalty for all offences.

Many of the countries included in the map below have not carried out executions for drugs crimes in a number of years, with the penalty more of a symbolic one. However, even a small number of countries maintaining this practice is completely unacceptable, and wholly disproportionate.

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交互式地图：毒品犯罪与死刑

全球基金承诺不资助依托强制戒毒的任何项目。英语版本拥有更多信息，请阅读下文。

The Global Fund called for the closure of compulsory treatment programs to change sexual orientation, compulsory rehabilitation of sex workers and compulsory drug detention centers. The Global Fund committed not to finance programs in such facilities.

The Strategy, Investment and Impact Committee of the Global Fund Board reported to a meeting of the full Board on 20-21 November that under a new policy the Global Fund explicitly refuses to fund programs with compulsory treatment.

The Global Fund is committed to ensuring that programs it supports do not infringe upon human rights. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health and other UN experts have found that these programs frequently include torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as forced labor, among other abuses. Twelve UN agencies have called for the closure of compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation programs.

“The evidence is overwhelming that compulsory treatment facilities for sex workers and drug users, and programs that seek to change sexual orientation, are not scientifically valid and undermine the fight against HIV, TB and malaria,” said Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “Trust is essential in the relationship between health workers and patients. The fear of compulsory treatment drives people underground and makes it harder to reach them.”

全球基金呼吁结束强制戒毒

亚洲在世界范围内拥有一些最严厉的法律，但是一些地区的先锋正在描绘毒品政策的新图景。英语版本拥有更多信息，请阅读下文。

By Takayuki Harada, Global Drug Policy Program, Open Society Foundations

Asia boasts some of the harshest laws in the world, including the death penalty for drugs and caning of drug users. These laws steer people away from lifesaving health services and fill prisons with people in need of treatment.

However, there are regional pioneers that are charting new courses on drug policy. With the support of the Open Society Foundations, researchers from Mejiro University went on a fact-finding mission to learn about alternative approaches in the region and beyond.

In Taiwan, we encountered a burgeoning harm reduction movement that is successfully stemming a startling increase in HIV. For example, there were typically a few hundred new HIV infections per year, but in 2004, the number increased to 1,520. The following year, 3,380 new infections were detected, most from injecting drug users.

In response, the Centers for Disease Control in Taiwan introduced harm reduction services that prioritized prevention of HIV, including needle exchanges and methadone maintenance therapy. Currently, about 20,000 syringe and needle kits are distributed every month in Taiwan. Since used syringes and needles are exchanged with new ones, 90 percent of the distributed syringes and needles have been collected.

亚洲毒品政策的改变

随着大麻和刑事司法改革在一些州得到通过，毒品政策改革已经成为一个主流和迫切的需求。英语版本拥有更多信息，请阅读下文。

With marijuana legalisation measures passing in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., and with groundbreaking criminal justice reforms passing in California and New Jersey, there's no longer any denying that drug policy reform is a mainstream -- and quite urgent -- political demand.

These wins will boost efforts already underway in states such as California, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada and Arizona to end marijuana prohibition in 2016, as well as efforts in Congress and around the country to scale back the disastrous policies of mass incarceration.

And speaking of 2016, yesterday's results now mean that Presidential candidates and other prominent candidates for public office will have no choice but to take positions on these issues, which could prove to be another tipping point in national politics. While some major politicians have yet to evolve on marijuana legalization and drug policy reform, that’s likely to change in the coming months and years, as drug war proponents start to pay a heftier price at the polls for their cluelessness.

2014年选举：北美准备结束对毒品的战争

这个小组座谈会在纽约召开，一些联合国机构如UNDP和UNAIDS的代表, 联合国大学，国家官员和民间社会的代表参加了座谈。英语版本拥有更多信息，请阅读下文。

This panel discussion on "The road to the United Nations General Assembly’s special session on the World Drug Problem 2016 (UNGASS 2016)" was organised by the United Nations University (UNU).

通往2016年联合国大会关于世界毒品问题的特殊会议（UNGASS 2016）的途径

随着在其领土上的大麻监管运动，美国面临了一个困境，其区域所希望保护的与其总系统希望遵守的原条约相矛盾。英语版本拥有更多信息，请阅读下文。

A joint contribution by: Professor Dave Bewley-Taylor, Martin Jelsma and Damon Barrett

State-level cannabis reforms, which gathered steam this month, have exposed the inability of the United States to abide by the terms of the legal bedrock of the global drug control system; the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. This is something that should force a much-needed conversation about reform to long-standing international agreements. But while ostensibly 'welcoming' the international drug policy reform debate, it is a conversation the US federal government actually wishes to avoid. The result is a new official position on the UN drugs treaties that, despite its seductively progressive tone, serves only to sustain the status quo and may cause damage beyond drug policy.

The 1961 Single Convention has been massively influential. Almost every state in the world is bound to prohibit cultivation, trade and possession of cannabis and a range of other substances such as coca and opium for anything but medical and scientific purposes. Wherever you are, your drugs laws are probably modeled on this agreement.

The United States has been a staunch defender of this legal regime. The treaties are central to its foreign policy on drugs, including in Latin America. But at home the government has been clear that it will not trample on the will of voters with regard to cannabis, even though this places it in breach of the 1961 Convention. So the US faces a predicament; a treaty breach it does not wish to admit within a system it wishes to protect.

致命的吸引力：布朗菲尔德的灵活性学说和全球毒品政策改革

Of course we know that young people are getting stopped and searched loads, but we wanted to find out exactly how many. We sent out Freedom of Information Requests to police forces across England and Wales and calculated that 142,121 young people under the age of 18 were stopped and searched last year (April '13 to March '14) and less than 11% of them led to an arrest. The Metropolitan Police in London carried out almost 39% of these.

What's more, Y-Stop and our partners StopWatch now have data that shows very young children are also being routinely stopped and searched across the country. Only a few police forces were able to tell us the ages of those they searched and from these we calculate that at least 120 children under the age of 10 have been stopped and searched over this same year, 68 of those being in London. 10 years old is the minimum age of criminal responsibility, meaning that children under 10 cannot be charged for a criminal offence.

The practice of stopping and searching and arresting children, even toddlers, conflicts with this and raises several child welfare issues. Y-Stop sees first-hand thedevastating impact that these sorts of encounters with the police can have on children and aims to help them to manage these situations better. Why not check out our resources for advice and tips on handling stop and search?

StopWatch will be publishing the findings of our research and exploring these issues in more detail over the coming months.

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