Today, UNASUR’s report, “From War to Protection of People: Drug Policies in South America Post-UNGASS” was presented in La Paz. AIN’s Kathryn Ledebur attended the presentation.

The report outlines UNASUR’s commitment to human rights and public health-based drug policies on the continent. In numerous instances it draws on Bolivia’s experience with community coca control as an example of an innovative, collaborative strategy that has both reduced coca and upheld human rights.

It states: “It is important to consider good existing practices, such as community control of coca crops executed by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, which, in demilitarizing control strategies, has achieved a significant reduction in the violence associated with the planting, production, and distribution of coca leaf and its derivatives.”

Read the full report in Spanish, here.