The post The ASEAN Secretariat releases The ASEAN Magazine Issue No. 49–50: ASEAN’s Roots and Reefs: Nature’s Strongholds appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

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As organizations working to advance policies grounded in public health and human rights principles, we strongly condemn the decision by the Government of Alberta to close the last remaining supervised consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge and urge its immediate reversal. If it proceeds, this policy decision will result in needless death of loved ones, as well as increased rates of preventable injury and transmission of HIV and hepatitis C, increased strain on overburdened emergency services, and increased rates of drug consumption and debris in public spaces.

The evidence on these issues has been well-established for decades. We note that the Alberta government is attempting to support its decision with its own flawed six-month study that contradicts the overwhelming evidence demonstrating the harmful impacts on communities when a site closes. We note that in Ontario, supervised consumption site closures have been associated with several harms over the past year, including a sharp increase in EMS-treated opioid toxicities (+ 69.5%) and emergency department visits for opioid toxicities (+ 67%), as well as an increase of deaths in private residences and outdoor settings.

As experts in drug policy, we emphasize that the rate of toxic drug deaths is directly impacted by the composition and volatility of the unregulated drug supply, which is currently outside of the oversight and control of any regulatory body. Shockingly, the Government of Alberta says now is the time to close these sites because overdose deaths have dropped “about 39 per cent” since a peak in 2023. But 602 people lost their lives in only six months in 2025. We are still in the midst of a toxic drug crisis, and we need supervised consumption sites are crucial to reducing overdose deaths. Eliminating a critical, evidence-based overdose prevention tool defies all logic.  

The supervised consumption site in Calgary alone responded to 475 events in the first three quarters of 2025. To be clear, these numbers represent lives that would have been lost without the availability of supervised consumption services.  

People who use drugs in Calgary and Lethbridge will lose a lifeline when these sites close in June 2026. Increased investments in abstinence-based treatment services do not replace the unique and life-saving service provided by supervised consumption. It is well established that working towards abstinence, for those that choose to do so, is not a linear process. Harm reduction and access to voluntary treatment services go hand in hand.

We stand in solidarity with people who use drugs and their families, as well as frontline workers who will bear the brunt of harm from this policy decision. We are committed to working with allies in Alberta to advance public health policy that is grounded in evidence and creates safer, healthier communities for every member of our society, regardless of their relationship to substance use.

The post Alberta’s Decision to Close Supervised Consumption Sites Will Result in Needless Death appeared first on Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Ottawa, Canada | March 24, 2026—Yesterday, the United Nations Human Rights Committee released a report rebuking Canada’s narrow interpretation of the “right to life” and called for action to save and protect lives.

Human rights groups, including the National Right to Housing Network (NRHN), the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC), the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA), and HIV Legal Network welcomed the report, which follows the Committee’s review of Canada’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) earlier this month.

“This is a significant and necessary correction,” says Michèle Biss, Executive Director of the National Right to Housing Network. “Canada has treated international human rights obligations as largely symbolic. The Committee has now made it clear: as a party to international human rights treaties like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Canada has made binding commitments that require real action—especially in the face of preventable deaths.” 

The UN Committee expressed surprise during the review when Canada’s delegation stated that Canada does not accept the Committee’s authoritative findings that the right to life imposes “positive obligations” on governments to ensure access to essential health care, address homelessness, the drug toxicity crisis, or climate change. 

Canada has not changed its position despite the Committee consistently affirming that protecting the right to life requires states to adopt “positive measures” and to address “general conditions in society” that threaten life. “Positive measures” require states to take proactive steps to guarantee rights, rather than merely refrain from violating them. This means tackling the root causes of preventable deaths, including homelessness, poverty, and the drug toxicity crisis. Notably, Canada had previously earned an “E” grade for rejecting a Committee decision affirming these principles in Toussaint v Canada. 

In their report, the United Nations Human Rights Committee highlighted: 

• Rising drug toxicity deaths: The Committee expressed particular concern about “the very high number of deaths related to drug toxicity,” which “affects persons experiencing homelessness and poverty and disproportionately affect Indigenous persons.” Drug policies must be primarily based on “public health, harm reduction and human rights considerations.” This acknowledgment reinforces the need for a coordinated, rights-based response to overlapping crises and effective access to services, including harm reduction services. This is of particular importance at a time where both Ontario and Alberta have just announced the closure of many supervised consumption services by mid-June. 
• Lack of implementation mechanisms: Critically, Canada currently has no effective domestic mechanism to receive, coordinate, and implement recommendations from international human rights bodies. Without such a mechanism, Canada is failing to meaningfully act on guidance from the international community—including recommendations that could help address homelessness and unregulated drug toxicity to prevent further loss of life. 
• Gaps in the legal system: Canada is not doing enough to ensure that its international human rights obligations are understood and applied within its own legal system. The Committee called on Canada to strengthen awareness of the ICCPR among judges, prosecutors, and lawyers so that these obligations are meaningfully considered in domestic court decisions—an issue with profound implications for cases involving housing, homelessness, access to essential health and social services, and encampments. 
• Encampment evictions and rights violations: The Committee expressed concern about the use of extraordinary legal measures, including the notwithstanding clause, an issue that has tremendous impact on people marginalized by policy. For example, provincial governments threaten encampment residents with eviction despite positive court decisions without providing access to safe and adequate housing alternatives. 

“We strongly support the Committee’s call for Canada to take ‘all necessary steps’ to address these concerns through effective mechanisms across federal, provincial, and territorial governments, and to ensure access to remedies through domestic courts,” says Beeta Senedjani from the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, speaking on behalf of a coalition of human rights groups. “We also endorse the call for Canada to establish a national mechanism to monitor implementation and to ensure that individuals can seek enforcement of the Committee’s decisions.” 

These recommendations build on the Committee’s longstanding position that the right to life requires governments to take positive measures to provide access without delay to shelter, social housing programs, and health care—a principle reaffirmed in its General Comment No. 36 and reinforced in the current review.

“We call on the federal government to respond urgently and meaningfully to the Committee’s findings,” says Biss. “We specifically await a response from Canadian Heritage Minister Marc Miller, Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, and Health Minister Marjorie Michel outlining how Canada will fulfill its obligations to international human rights law and the right to life.” 

“The message from the Committee is clear,” says Senedjani. “Canada cannot continue to deny its responsibilities while people are dying preventable deaths. The right to life must include the right to live with dignity—and that starts with ensuring access to adequate housing and lifesaving health services.” 

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For further background: 

• UN Human Rights Committee – Concluding observations on the seventh periodic report of Canada (March 23, 2026)
• VIDEO – UN Human Rights Committee ICCPR Periodic Review of Canada
• Press Release March 4, 2026: Canada Challenged at United Nations Over Narrow Interpretation of Right to Life
• NGO Joint Statement Urging Review of Canada’s Position on Positive Obligations Under Article 6 (the Right to Life)

Media Contact: 

Jessica Tan 
Communications Lead 
National Right to Housing Network (NRHN) 

Email: Jessica@housingrights.ca 
Phone: 613-621-4575 

The post UN Committee Rejects Canada’s Position, Calls for Action on Preventable Deaths appeared first on Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.

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The post ACLA Submits Comments on CMS’ CRUSH RFI appeared first on American Clinical Laboratory Association.

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 EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) recommends that the product information for semaglutide medicines should include information that the rare eye condition NAION could be a very rare side effect. Treatment should be stopped if symptoms of NAION occur.

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The NMPA Center for Medical Device Evaluation (CMDE) issued the “Pre-Review of Clinical Trial Protocols for Innovative Medical Devices” on March 13, 2026. This initiative allows applicants for innovative devices to request a pre-review of their clinical trial protocols through the established communication channel for major technical issues. The feedback provided during this pre-review serves […]

The post NMPA Enables Early Regulatory Feedback on Innovative Medical Device Clinical Trial Protocols appeared first on China Med Device.

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1. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers convened a Special Meeting on 13 March 2026, via videoconference, to exchange views on the evolving situation in the Middle East and to address its implications for ASEAN.
2. The Meeting expressed serious concern over the escalation of conflict in the Middle East following the attacks initiated by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic of Iran on 28 February 2026, and Israeli attack on the Lebanese Republic, and the subsequent retaliatory attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against several countries in the region, including the Kingdom of Bahrain, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Iraq, State of Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, and the United Arab Emirates, which continue to heighten tensions in the Middle East, and pose a grave threat to the lives and safety of civilians, as well as to regional and global peace and stability. The Meeting called on all countries to respect international law, including the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter).

Download the full statement here.

The post ASEAN Chair’s Statement on the Outcomes of the Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on the Situation in the Middle East appeared first on ASEAN Main Portal.

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