Indigenous People’s policy position on alcohol harm

Working together with the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) Indigenous Working Group, GAPA has contributed to the first ever International Indigenous policy position on alcohol harm. The policy document was launched at a side event to the 78^th World Health Assembly in Geneva on 24^th May.

Indigenous policy hand over — Handing over the policy position on Indigenous people and alcohol harm from Kristen Maynard to the leadership of WFPHA, President Emma Rawson-Te Patu, Director Bettina Borsch, and head of the Indigenous working group, Adrian Te Patu.

Emma Rawson-Te Patu, from the Public Health Association of Aotearoa New Zealand and belonging to the Māori tribal groups of Ngāti Ranginui, Ngai te Rangi, Raukawa and Ngāti Hauā, is the current and first Indigenous president of the WFPHA. Ms Rawson-Te Patu has a keen interest in Indigenous health, decolonising public health and alcohol-related issues. Kristen Maynard (Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ruapani), also from Aotearoa New Zealand, has worked as a consultant for GAPA on Indigenous health, developing GAPA’s brief on Indigenous-led aspirations for effective alcohol policy, that was a follow up after the Global Alcohol Policy Conference in Cape Town in 2023. Based on this, Ms Maynard developed the policy position in collaboration with the WFPHA’s Indigenous working group, and in consultation with the International Indigenous Drug Policy Alliance.

The policy document outlines how alcohol is an introduced colonial substance that has had devastating and intergenerational effects on the lives of many Indigenous families and communities. Persisting till today Indigenous Peoples in many places in the world experience a disproportionate amount of alcohol-related harm. Yet, alcohol policies continue to be developed in isolation to the social determinants of health and systemic causes, and often privilege commercial interests.

The policy statement asserts that the alcohol industry capitalises on, and profits from the colonial legacy, exacerbating harmful drinking within Indigenous communities. It then points out that this situation is at odds with the protections guaranteed under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, especially the right to self-determination and right to good health.

Kristen Mayard with GAPA Chair Sally Casswell — Kristen Maynard and GAPA Chair Sally Casswell at the launch event.

At the launch event Ms Maynard said that we all must challenge the privileging of commercial interests over the wellbeing of people, especially Indigenous Peoples who carry the burden of this harm. Furthermore, Indigenous-led solutions based on Indigenous cultural values and practices have the greatest potential for breaking the intergenerational cycle of alcohol-related harm among Indigenous Peoples.

The policy states that:

Efforts to address alcohol-related harm must take account of Indigenous rights and aspirations, culture, socio-historical contexts, and contemporary realities, and support Indigenous-led solutions.
Efforts must also take account of, and address, the wider social and systemic factors that perpetuate alcohol-related harm, while simultaneously seeking to effectively heal the deep intergenerational trauma and cycle of alcohol-related violence associated with colonialism.
Effective global action is required to address the significant and intergenerational burden of alcohol-related harm and inequity borne by Indigenous Peoples.

The policy document is available from the WFPHA website here.

Art resulting from Generative Scribing of the event — Drawing that was the result of generative scribing of the launch event by artist Déline Petrone.