This report investigates the experiences of women who use drugs with access to harm
reduction and health services in Durban, South Africa. In order to compile these
experiences, a series of focus groups with women who use drugs in the city were
convened by researchers from the South African Network of People who Use Drugs and
Harm Reduction International. The participants were invited to share their experiences of
harm reduction services and those factors that can prevent them from accessing them.
Those conversations highlighted a population who are routinely oppressed, criminalised
and dehumanised. Despite a clear desire to achieve good health and practice harm
reduction, these women were continually blocked from doing so by a law enforcement
ecosystem that sees them as undeserving of even basic respect and dignity. We heard
how law enforcement officers would prevent women from accessing justice and harm
reduction services, and how they would enact harm on them directly through physical,
sexual and psychological abuse.
One focus group participant found this behaviour comes from being viewed as ‘animals’
by law enforcement officers. The actions of law enforcement, emboldened by
criminalisation and stigmatisation, demonstrate this dehumanisation of women who use
drugs. Through the stories they shared, the women built a picture of a law enforcement
system that does not value the lives or experiences of women who use drugs. It is one
that is happy to ignore and delegitimize their voices, and to dismiss and even commit
violations of their human rights.
However, there were also positive stories. A few individual police officers were
recognised as approaching women who use drugs with kindness, compassion and
decency. Significantly, the women made it clear to us that the staff in harm reduction
centres welcomed them with warmth and humanity.
