Tag: CSFD

CSFD plenary meeting

Posted on by Milutin

The Plenary Annual Meeting of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) and the joint meeting between the CSFD and Members of the EU Horizontal Drugs Groups (HDG) was held on on 11 – 12 December 2024.

The new 3-years mandate of the CSFD kicked off in Brussels in December with the selection of 43 civil society organizations. The CSFD is an expert group of the European Commission aimed at supporting drug policy formulation and implementation.

DPNSEE was re-elected to the CSFD, following a very fruitfull mandate in which we chaired one of the working groups.

The DG HOME.D5 Organised Crime & Drugs UNit, European Commission Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs, which supports work of the CSFD, presented upcoming Commission activities concerning drug policy , emphasising the current strong political impetus to act against drug trafficking and the risks posed by organised crime, while CSFD asked for more human rights, health and care focus of EU Drugs Policy, balanced with security focus, and offered to contribute its ample evidence and experience. The CSFD requested more focus and funding for demand reduction, prevention, treatment and harm reduction in the upcoming new EU Drugs Strategy, while political signs would point in the opposite direction of only concentrating on supply reduction. The CFSD was concerned about a criminalisation of drug use that would in its view lead to more crime and violence, while a people-centred and community-based approach, as well as security considerations, would plead for decriminalisation and decent care for those using drugs.

Following a DPNSEE intervention, the CSFD called for cooperation with DG Near on balanced approach to accession acquis of the EU candidate countries.

The CSFD is governed by a core group. The new organisation of the CSFD and the Core Group inscludes two thematic groups:

  • Thematic Group 1: CSFD’s engagement with the EU towards UN institutions / CSFD’s engagement with the EU with third parties (bilateral dialogues, engagement with other entities, advocacy around accession of new Member States)
  • Thematic Group 2: Flexible working group focusing on setting up ad hoc/time bound groups focusing on specific themes or research (e.g. violence; synthetic drugs; internal security strategy; new EU drugs strategy; contributions to EUDA CS engagement mechanism; indicators)

The Core Group members are: Ganna Dovbakh as chair (Euroasian Harm Reduction Association, Ukraine), Oriol Esculies as vice-chair (coordinator of the Oviedo Initiative, Proyecto Hombre, Spain), Milutin Milosevic (DPNSEE, Serbia), Stig Erik Sorheim (EURAD, Norway), Benjamin Tubiana-Rey (Fédération Addiction, France) and Marie Nougier (IDPC, UK).

At the 7. Joint meeting with HDG, participants discussed EU preparedness for synthetic drug threats, developments in the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), recent and upcoming Dialogues on Drugs with third countries and regions, and drug-markets related violence.

 

One more DPNSEE mandate in the Civil Society Forum on Drugs

Posted on by Milutin

The Drug Policy Network Youth East Europe was today formally informed that we have been, for the second time in row, selected as a member of the European Commission Expert Group – Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) 2024-2027.

As every three years, he European Commission had opened the Call for applications for members of its expert group to completely renew membership for 2024-2027 mandate. We have applied as the network that gathers civil society organisations from all 11 countries of this region of Europe.

The Forum membership comprises 45 civil society organisations coming from across Europe and representing a variety of fields of drug policy, and a variety of stances within those fields.  Its purpose is to provide a broad platform for a structured dialogue between the Commission and the European civil society which supports drug policy formulation and implementation through practical advice.

DPNSEE was member of the Forum in the 2021 – 2024 mandate, where we chaired the Working group on emerging issues in drug policy. We actively participated in CSFD activities and contributed to various documents and position papers, including the Position paper on decriminalisation. We are proud on being selected again and expect to continue being an active member.

 

A civil society report on EU Drugs Strategy

Posted on by Milutin

Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN) in cooperation with the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) and building on previous work of the CSFD, published Implementation of the European Union Drugs Strategy 2021-2025. A civil society report.

To evaluate the implementation of the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plans, the CSFD first surveyed civil society experts in 2018 (at the outset of the 2017-2020 Action Plan period) (Kender-Jeziorska & Sarosi, 2018), and subsequently in 2021 (after the end of the 2017-2020 Action Plan implementation period) (Jeziorska, 2022).

Present analysis focuses on the currently ending EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan, addressing their demand and harm reduction aspects, and aiming to provide insights into civil society’s perceptions of the availability, accessibility and quality of fourteen key services in 2023/2024, as well as to identify any changes that occurred between 2018 and 2023/2024. Like the previous assessments, this project also examines the accessibility of specific services for several key populations.

The report is available following this link>>>.

 

Position paper on decriminalisation

Posted on by Milutin

Decriminalisation is defined as the removal of criminal sanctions for certain activities related to drug use and possession for personal use.

Several actors in the field of drug policy have indicated that a punitive approach is counterproductive to achieving the health and welfare of humankind. Many UN agencies have reported the negative impact of criminalization on people who use drugs and on their surrounding communities. Recommendations have also been brought that favour a decriminalisation process in drug policies. This process aims to remove the stigma against people who use drugs as well as ensure that they have access to a broad range of support and health services, including prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction. The decriminalisation of drug use and related activities is a policy option that is widely supported by the United Nations as a core component of a human rights- and health-based approach towards people who use drugs.

The current EU Drug Strategy 2021-2025 endorses alternatives to coercive sanctions as an approach that respects the human rights of people who use drugs.

While some EU member states retain a stance of criminalising personal use and related behaviours in their national legislation, several member states have already decriminalised use and possession for personal use, and various EU member states have bills in their parliament to take that step as well.

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD), an expert group of the European Commission, is of the opinion that the perspective established by the EU Strategy 2021-2025 – a balanced, human rights-based approach to drug policy – needs to be improved at the EU level and in member states.

After almost two years of discussions and balancing often oposite positions, CSFD produced this Position paper. DPNSEE is proud of being involved and even managed the process of agreeing on the final version of the document.

To access the Position paper, follow this link>>>.

 

European civil society consultations

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To facilitate meaningful civil society contributions to the 2024 high-level segment of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the Vienna & New York NGO Committees on Drugs (VNGOC & NYNGOC) in cooperation with the UNODC Civil Society Unit organised a series of regional civil society consultations in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. In addition, a global online survey was launched in November 2023 to further solicit broad input. The outcomes of the regional consultations in preparation of the 2024 mid-term review will feed into the global civil society contributions towards the 2024 mid-term review and will be presented to Member States in February 2024.

The European Civil Society consultations were conducted in partnership with the Civil Society Forum on Drugs in the EU (CSFD). They consisted of a series of online consultations as well as a hybrid consultation held on 16 January in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević participated and contributed to this event in person.

Mental Health and Substance Use

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On the 10th of October, on World Mental Health Day, the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) sent its position paper People Who Use Drugs and Mental Health to the EU Spanish Presidency, the Horizontal Working Party on Drugs, and the European Commission.

The paper addresses the complexity of the relationship between mental health conditions and substance use. Mental health conditions are influenced by social determinants such as inequality, discrimination, violence, and homelessness, factors which disproportionately affect people who use drugs. Furthermore, specific subpopulations, including women, young people, ethnic minorities, and indigenous groups, face unique challenges in accessing appropriate services for their mental health and substance use needs. These disparities highlight the pressing need for a comprehensive and inclusive approach to addressing these issues from a person-centred, holistic perspective. The paper also calls for specific terminology reform, promoting the use of the term ‘comorbidity’ to describe the existence of both mental health conditions and substance use.

The paper concludes with a number of recommendations related to this issue, urging for a comprehensive review of current shortcomings in accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability of care. The CSFD welcomes the introduction of this topic within the political agenda, as these issues have historically been disregarded and warrant urgent consideration. The CSFD’s position paper serves as a call to action, urging policymakers, healthcare providers, and society at large to recognize and address the critical issues surrounding mental health and substance use. By adopting these recommendations and working together, we can strive for a more inclusive and compassionate approach to mental health care for all, particularly those who use drugs and face complex challenges.

Read CSFD’s position paper here>>>.

Marija Mijović, member of the DPNSEE Board, who contributed to the document, translated it into Montenegrin (also easy to read by those speaking Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian). You can access the document Osobe koje koriste droge i mentalno zdravlje following this link>>>.

CND side events organised by CSFD members

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Member organisations of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) have prepared an impressive list of 24 side events for the UN Committee on Drugs and Narcotics (CND) that will take place the next week. The list of the side events is available following this link>>>.

One of the side events is organised by the CSFD: “Driving change from a shrinking space: Challenges to effective civil society participation in drug policy making“, which will take place on Wednesday 16 March, at 9am Vienna time. It is prepared by the Brussels Federation of Institutions for Drug Addicts with the support of Czechia, the Civil Society Forum on Drugs in the EU, the Council of Europe – Pompidou Group, the

European Union and the French NGO Platform on Drug Policy.

The event will take stock of the main challenges to effective civil society and community participation in both international and national-level drug policy making, with a particular focus on the shrinking space for civil society in certain contexts and on the impact of COVID19-related restrictions, and it will seek to provide concrete and actionable recommendations to decision-makers.

The 65th session of the CND will take place on 14-18 March 2022 via hybrid format with most participation taking place remotely. A final Programme for the session is available here>>>.

 

Workshop on civil society advocacy

Posted on by Milutin

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) organised an on-site Workshop on civil society advocacy from 23th to 24th November in Madrid, with the support from UNAD, International Drug Policy Consortium, Rights Reporter and AFEW.

Since advocacy is an important tool for civil society members to achieve their main goal of influencing public policies, this training workshop brought together representatives from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the field of drugs in order to improve their capacities in formulating, implementing and evaluating advocacy actions.

Several participants came from the DPNSEE member organisations. The participants’ profile was:

  • Civil society representatives and service providers in the field of drug use and drug demand reduction which have their main base of operation in an EU member state, EEA, acceding, candidate or potential candidate country(*). They are members of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs or related to one the members’ networks.
  • Highly motivated to improve their capacities in the area of advocacy and will be able to implement and share gained knowledge and information within their organisation.

The workshop was an interactive training with open space to intervene and to create new tools for advocacy in a hostile environment. Excellent presentations were delivered by Peter Sarosi and Marie Nougier.

DPNSEE presented at the CSFD – HDG meeting

Posted on by Milutin

The new Civil Society Forum on Drugs 2021 – 2023 (CSFD) held meeting with the Horizontal Drug Group on 7 October 2021.

The Horizontal Working Party on Drugs (HDG) is a coordination body responsible for leading and managing the European Union Council’s work on drugs. This group, including national representatives of each EU country, meets on a monthly basis and prepares all relevant legislation and political documents adopted by the Council, such as the EU drugs strategies and action plans. In addition, the members of the group, under the leadership of the presidency, elaborate EU statements on drug-related aspects to be presented at international fora, such as the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). Currently, HDG is chaired by Slovenia, which holds EU Presidency in the second half of 2021.

Topic of the meeting included Implementation of the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2025, role of the CSFD and Drug-related deaths and how to best prevent them.

On request of the Slovenian EU Presidency, the DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević presented the Network, including presentation of the situation with services for people who use drugs and drug strategies in the region.