UNODC Officer Zhannat Kosmukhamedova, Regional Adviser for Eastern Europe&Central Asia on Drugs/HIV, Law Enforcement and HIV FP, retired today after many years of dedicated work!
DPNSEE extends our most sincere appreciation for cooperation and support we got from Zhannat. Thank you and wishing you a retirement filled with happiness.
The EU-Western Balkans Expert Meeting on Drugs was held on 25 May 2023 in Brussels, within the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU. The aim of the meeting was to exchange information on the state of drug policies in the Western Balkans, discuss current trends and contemporary challenges in this area, as well as areas that need and can be improved when it comes to cooperation between EU and Western Balkan institutions in this field.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the state authorities responsible for the creation, monitoring and implementation of drug policies in the Western Balkans, as well as representatives of EU member states, and representatives of the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the EMCDDA and EUROPOL.
The representative of the delegation of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Jože Hren, in his presentation referred to the importance of civil society organizations and civil sector initiatives in the area of drug policy creation in the Western Balkans region. In his presentation, Mr. Hren highlighted the work of DPNSEE with special reference to the Regional round table: Community-led consultati ve process on the importance of human rights and evidence-based national drug strategies in HIV response.
The Civil Society Forum on Drugs of the European Union (CSFD), an expert group at the European Commission consisting of 45 civil society organizations from all over Europe, representing a variety of fields of drug policy, and a variety of stances within those fields, prepared the document with information, views and recommendations of civil society. Several civil society organizations from the region participated in its preparation. DPNSEE, as a CSFD member organization, coordinated the collection of their contributions.
The Coalition prEUgovor, consisting of seven civil society organizations from Serbia with expertise in various policies under chapters 23 and 24 of the European Union accession negotiations, held a conference on 22 May 2023 to celebrate 10 years of their work. Mission of the prEUgovor is to oversee the implementation of policies in the field of judiciary and fundamental rights (Chapter 23) and Justice, freedom and security (Chapter 24) and propose measures to improve the reforms, using the process of EU integration to achieve substantial progress in the further democratization of Serbia.
PrEUgovor published their jubilee 20th Alarm Report. For the first time, it includes section on drugs. This chapter was prepared by DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević.
To Alarm Report is available in English following this link>>> and in Serbian following this link>>>.
Two additional workshops for service providers and shelter staff on gender-responsive HIV/harm reduction services, healthcare and social needs of women who use drugs, stigma, discrimination and prevention of gender-based violence were held in Novi Sad (on 19 May, at OPENS) and Niš (21 May, EU info point Nis). The workshops were organised in scope of the “Emergency support for the provision of HIV and Harm Reduction services among key populations in Ukraine and refugees in selected neighbouring countries” project.
The content of the workshops was designed on the basis of the training accredited by the Chamber of Social Work, as well as many years of experience of the NGO Re Generacija in research and in the field, in Serbia and internationally.
The training placed a special focus on prevention of stigma and discrimination, prevention and response to gender-based violence, as well as co-dependency and trauma, to ensure greater awareness and understanding of comprehensive gender-sensitive services for women who use drugs, living with HIV, and/or are at risk of gender-based violence.
The Dialogue between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans on drugs will be held on 25 May 2023 in Brussels. The European side is coordinated by the Swedish Presidency of the European Union. Representatives of the national drug agencies of the EU countries who cooperate within the Horizontal Drug Group (HDG), the body of the Council of the European Union responsible for leading and managing the work of the Council and the European Union on policy, will participate. The embassies of the countries of the Western Balkans to the European Union are invited to the Dialogue.
The Civil Society Forum on Drugs of the European Union (CSFD), an expert group at the European Commission consisting of 45 civil society organizations from all over Europe, representing a variety of fields of drug policy, and a variety of stances within those fields, prepared the document with information, views and recommendations of civil society. Several civil society organizations from the region participated in its preparation. DPNSEE, as a CSFD member organization, coordinated the collection of their contributions. The document has been sent to the Swedish EU Presidency and will be distributed to HDG members and embassies.
The CSFD document is available following this link>>>.
We hope that it will have an impact and contribute to better and coordinated partnerships and support to the region.
The information of relevance about health services and drugs for the refugees from Ukraine and displaced persons from Russia which DPNSEE prepred have been printed and are now ready for dissemination.
All important stakeholders participated in commenting on the draft and provided information from their field of work: ministries of health and interior, commissariat for refugees, institute for public health, office for combating drugs, UNHCR and a civil society organisations working with refugees. This was very important because it would have ensured that the information was accepted and later distributed by all.
Two clear, reliable, and trustworthy information documents are prepared:
The documents are published in four languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Serbian and English.
In addition to the information, published already on the DPNSEE website at the following address http://dpnsee.org/informacije/, we prepared a small posted with the QR code that easily leads those interested to this web page.
The Ministry of Interior took responsibility for sharing them with border police stations and their offices dealing with asylum-seeking and registration of foreigners. The Commissariat for Refugees distributes the documents to their officers and refugee centres throughout the country. The Office for Combating Drugs will distribute the information to four cilnics for addictions and their network of multi-sectorial teams in local communities, and they also shared the documents at events where they had information stands. With the support of the Institute for Public Health, DPNSEE sent the documents to their 25 local branches around the country. Our colleagues from the four organisations providing services took the document to share among those who requested support. Documents were also shared with other civil society organisations that work with refugees.
A workshop for service providers and shelter staff on gender-responsive HIV/harm reduction services, healthcare and social needs of women who use drugs, stigma, discrimination and prevention of gender-based violence was held in Belgrade. This was the first out of three workshop organised in scope of the “Emergency support for the provision of HIV and Harm Reduction services among key populations in Ukraine and refugees in selected neighbouring countries” project.
Thanks to support of the Office for Combating Drugs, the workshop was held in the Palace of Serbia. 16 representatives came from governmental institutions and civil society organisations. Trainers were Irena Molnar and Stefan Pejić from ReGeneration.
The workshop highlighted the unique reasons, risks, and effects of drug use among women, emphasizing the need for tailored approaches and non-punitive measures. The topics that were discussed at the workshop included:
The Summit of the Rome Consensus 2.0 was held on 2 – 5 May 2023 in Villa Maraini, in Rome. It was a strategic meeting between different realities that deal with drug issues along with the large humanitarian family of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, giving a proof that we can work together on the same side for the good of the most vulnerables
The Summit brought together a task force of humanitarian practitioners, activists and experts leading on drug policy, treatment, diversion and deflection from 29 countries. More than 100 experts from all around the world enriched the debate and filled the formal and informal discussion with new ideas and common goals.
The event started with the presentation of the leading role of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent in responding to humanitarian emergencies and disasters with its wide network of millions of volunteers in 191 countries. The Partnership Anniversary has been a valuable opportunity to meet among 15 Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies who have interest in tackling drug problems and collaborated in the last 10 years with the Partnership, and discuss internally and with CSOs how to build connection, exchange of know and how and increase the effectiveness of the RC2.0 statement as a common tool and ground to promote and disseminate humanitarian drug policy side by side, taking in consideration the power of the emblem as an asset to reach the most vulnerable of the society.
The Interior Minister of Italy, Matteo Piantedosi, and the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Giorgio Silli, joined the event and gave supporting words on humanitarian drug policy, awareness and harm reduction as powerful tools to create the opportunity for change from a repressive approach to a health-centered one.
A final declaration was prepared to summarize what has been discussed and committed during the event. It will serve as a common ground to relaunch the initiative in the upcoming months.
Participants were able to experience field visits along with the Villa Maraini Foundation, the historical Italian Red Cross Rehabilitation center founded in 1976 by Massimo Barra, among the first in the world to put in practice humanitarian and evidence-based solutions to drug problems. Participants had the chance to personally experience the therapeutic environment where everyday Villa Maraini offers a comprehensive path of services to more than 600 clients from the street to the community, in a continuum of care, in order to adapt the therapy to the person, according to the motivation, needs and adherence. Participants personally met clients and heard witness from them and the social workers (all former drug users – the core of the VM staff), and were able to deepen the whole access to treatment strategy of Villa Martaini, from the very low-threshold to the high threshold.
DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević actively participated at the Summit and was honoured to speak at the opening session.
As part of the UNODC-led project “Emergency support for the provision of HIV and Harm Reduction services among key populations in Ukraine and refugees in selected neighbouring countries“, DPNSEE collected information of relevance about health services and drugs for the refugees from Ukraine and displaced persons from Russia.
All important stakeholders participated in commenting on the draft and provided information from their field of work: ministries of health and interior, commissariat for refugees, institute for public health, office for combating drugs, UNHCR and a civil society organisations working with refugees. This was very important because it would have ensured that the information was accepted and later distributed by all.
Two clear, reliable, and trustworthy information documents are prepared:
The documents were translated into four languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Serbian and English. With a specific layout, they were published on the DPNSEE website at the following address: http://dpnsee.org/informacije/.
The Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) presents a brief guide with recommendations how to launch a new – or improve an existing – online harm reduction service for people who use drugs. The guide “Recommendations for setting up online harm reduction services” entails all the information needed to start-up an online outreach programme. The information is presented in the form of concise, evidence-based, easily implementable recommendations.
It provides step-by-step, practical advice organized into thematic units, including sections on how to launch programs, policy development, staffing, safety and security, referral procedures, and a section on monitoring and evaluation.
The text is 100% reader-friendly, meaning that you literary do not need to know anything about ‘saturation’ or ‘validity’ or any other research related terminology. The recommendations included in this guide can be adapted in line with the needs and resources of individual organisations, local contexts, and characteristics of the target population. They can also be adapted for web outreach with other key populations, such as people living with HIV, sex workers, or men who have sex with men.
To access the Guide, follow this link>>>.
