Tag: DPNSEE

A chapter on drugs in the PrEUgovor Alarm Report

Posted on by Milutin

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>>>.

EU – Western Balkans Dialogue on Drugs

Posted on by Milutin

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.

Visit to the Duga Checkpoint centre

Posted on by Milutin

Representatives of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ms Fariba Soltani, Chief, HIV/AIDS Section and Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDS, Ms. Gorica Popović, Specialist, Law Enforcement and HIV and Ms Žana Glavendekić, the Regional Project Officer for Drug Demand Reduction visited the Duga Checkpoint centre in Belgrade and met with community-led organizations working on HIV and harm reduction services for key populations.

It was an opportunity to share about services which Prevent, TOC, Duga and ReGeneration provide and to discuss operational issues related to implementation 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”.

A dialogue on national drug strategies

Posted on by Milutin

Following the previous South East Europe government – civil society dialogues on drugs, held in 2018 and 2020, the Drug Policy Network South East Europe organised a very successful Regional round table focused on community-led consultative process on the importance of human rights and evidence-based national drug strategies in HIV response.

The Round table was held in scope of the UNODC-led project for implementation of the “Emergency support for the provision of HIV and Harm Reduction services among key populations in Ukraine and refugees in selected neighbouring countries.” The primary objectives of the project are to ensure the continuity of the HIV prevention, treatment and care (including OAT and ARV) services for people who use drugs/live with HIV, especially community-based care and support for people who use drugs, people living with HIV and other key populations.

The aim of the event was mobilising civil society, service providers, policymakers and other national stakeholders from the Western Balkan region to ensure wide and all-involving drug strategy development process, with the focus on evidence and human rights-based drug strategies which prioritise health-related needs and resources.

The Regional round table was held on 21 February 2023 in Belgrade. The Office for Combating Drugs of the Government of Serbia supported the event ensuring that it is held in the Palace of Serbia.

A record 58 participants came from across of the region, including civil society, service providers, policymakers and other national stakeholders. Representatives of UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), European Drug Agency (EMCDDA) and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria joined.

The agenda of the event included presentations of the UNODC project and work around key populations at the global level, the ongoing refugee situation in Serbia and Montenegro, as well as national responses to humanitarian refugee crisis and changing drug situation in countries of the region. In addition, the Round table offered a platform for discussion on with the focus on identifying needs of different stakeholders, especially key affected populations, analysing the national HIV/harm reduction response, key challenges and priorities, the role of the civil society, funding, monitoring, evaluation and impacts assessment.

Presentations from the Regional round table are available following this link>>>.

Bellow is the recording of the Regional round table.

 

Project coordination meeting

Posted on by Milutin

Partners in the “Emergency support for the provision of HIV and Harm Reduction services among key populations in Ukraine and refugees in selected neighbouring countries” project held a coordination meeting with the representative of the UNODC Regional Programme Office for Eastern Europe which supports the project. It was an opportunity to present information of the activities implemented since the start of the project in mid-December and additionally clarify some issues related to reporting.

Civil society statement on ensuring continuity of essential life-saving treatments for Ukrainians in European countries

Posted on by Milutin

The Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) initiated the Civil society statement on ensuring continuity of essential life-saving treatments for Ukrainians in European countries. The statement signed by 29 civil society organizations and networks, including DPNSEE.

The undersigned organisations, working with and representing the interests of communities of people living with and affected by HIV, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis and drug dependence in Central and Eastern European countries, call for the following urgent measures:

  • Organise medical data exchange with a particular focus on HIV and opioid dependence to ensure continuity of services between Ukraine and EU member states and among the EU member states;
  • As good clinical practice, ensure that previous diagnosis are accepted, people are prescribed the same regimens and take-home dosages of OAT as in Ukraine as much as possible;
  • To promote and follow the recommendations being set in the Standardized Protocol for clinical management and Medical Data-Sharing for people living with HIV among refugees from Ukraine[1] and to collaborate with WHO on the development of a similar protocol for the refugees from the Ukraine who are OAT patients
  • Support EU member states with emergency procurement and exchange of medications, as needed, to ensure methadone (tables), buprenorphine, dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy, pediatric antiretroviral medications and similar Ukraine-prevalent treatments are made available for continuation in all border and other neighbouring countries;
  • Establish a pool of translation support for clinicians and Ukrainian refugees and utilise automated translation services to overcome barriers in refugee services and clinical settings;
  • Support outreach and contacts by HIV and drug treatment experts and NGOs in refugee centres, including the sensitisation of staff and to urgently identify people in need of uninterrupted daily treatment;
  • Introduce simplified initiation of essential treatment to all Ukrainians with or without refugee status based on their passport data; and,
  • Ensure that monitoring systems and hotlines are available to clinicians and other service providers to immediately solve the health issues affecting Ukrainian refugees.

The Statement was sent to high level EU officials and authorities of France (currently holding EU Presidency), Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

To read full Statement, follow this link>>>.

 

DPNSEE annual General Assembly

Posted on by Milutin

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe held its regular annual General Assembly on 29 March 2022. The Assembly was again held online.

The Assembly performed regular annual duties: discussed and adopted the narrative and financial reports for 2021. The report states that 2021 was a challenging year, but that DPNSEE and our member organisations managed to operate in a solid way, although the space for our work is more and more shrinking.

DPNSEE have managed last year to reach the new horizons. We have been welcomed to the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs. Our representatives spoke on important events, our colleagues elected to other important positions. We joined Correlation, EHRA and other organisations and networks in joint advocacy to fight harm reduction crisis in our region and preparing project proposal for project submitted to the EU for Health programe.

Most of our work in 2021 was dedicated to young people. We implemented the “No risk, no borders for young people” project with our 5 member organisations. We already have a large group of engaged young people, many of whom takes important roles in their organisations and internationally. We hope that they bring a new spirit and engage their peers.

You can find more about the work of DPNSEE in 2021 in the report following this link>>>.

Unfortunately, the Assembly acknowledged that Centre for Life from Greece stopped operating so we had to take them off the list of our member organisations. On the other side, the Assembly recognised the LINK – Montenegrin Harm Reduction Network as the ordinary member organisation. The Assembly also changed the status of organisation PROI from Bosnia Herzegovina from ordinary to associate.

Members of the new Board are
• Nebojša Đurasović, President, President of Prevent, Serbia
• Nicoleta Dascălu, Vice-President, Advocacy manager, ARAS, Romania
• Marios Atzemis, Harm reduction worker, Positive Voice, Greece and Consultant at European AIDS Treatment Group and Steering Committee member of AIDS Action Europe
• Besnik Hohxa, Clinical psychologist, Aksion Plus, Albania
• Berina Bahić, Project coordinator and head of regional office Tuzla, Margina, Bosnia Herzegovina
• Marija Mijović, Deputy Coordinator of the Direct Assistance Program, Juventas, Montenegro
• Zharin Simrin, User Activist, Coordinator and Assistant for Needle Exchange, HOPS, North Macedonia

We are assured that the combinations of experience and youth, men and women, people from communities and those supporting them and geographic spread around the region we have now in the Board will be efficient and effective in the challenging period ahead.

In the second session, the Assembly completed the strategy review process with the support of our consultant Nenad Čelarević. The new Board will consolidate the results of the process and propose Action plan to implement the strategy.

An important DPNSEE Board meeting

Posted on by Milutin

The DPNSEE Board held online meeting on 3 March 2002. The meeting agnda included some very important points.

The Board discussed current Network situation. With reduced funding, DPNSEE is now working in a “safe mode” with 50% staff working time and limitted expenses. We are safe in this mode for the first half of 2022 and expect that with some new projects we shall return to regular work soon.

The Board decided to organise the DPNSEE General Assembly online on Tuesday 29 March. The Assembly will have three thematic sessions: 1) Formal meeting to adopt reports and plans; 2) Elections (at least three Board members are not eligible for re-election) and 3) Strategic planning (finalising the DPNSEE Strategy).

The Board in length discussed the situation with key affected populations caused by the recent war in Ukraine. Several actions have already been taken by UN agencies, Global Fund community delegations, EHRA and various civil society organisations to ensure that provision of necessary harm reduction services and HIV prevention programs, both in Ukraine and Russia but also in countries which welcomed refugees from the two countries. The Board invites member organisations to open their services for the refugees and help them settle in the unpleasant situation. The Board will follow the situation and take necessary further steps if needed.

 

Which way to gender equality?

Posted on by Milutin

DPNSEE is finalising the strategy review process. As part of it, we had a very inspiring online meeting with experts from the KANA (Creative Active of New Adventures) on gender equality in drug policy on 1 March 2021. With their support, we intend to add elements to the DPNSEE Strategy that will lead us through a process of critical exploration of gender and its implications on drug use and vice versa.

We plan to finalise the Strategy on the General Assembly, expected to be scheduled for end of March/beginning of April.