Category: News from Member Organisations

Regional Conference “Harm Reduction in the New Environment”

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In Vilnius, Lithuania on April 4-6, the First Regional Harm Reduction Conference for Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia (CEECA), hosted by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN), brings together 400 participants from 45 countries.

The main issues and tasks set forth for the participants of the Regional Conference “Harm Reduction in the New Environment” are reflected in the themes of the three days of the conference:

Day 1 – Funding of harm reduction in the new environment;

Day 2 – The role of harm reduction in social and medical care for people who use drugs;

Day 3 – Harm reduction – the way to achieve an effective and human rights-based drug policy.

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe and the present member organisation participated in the plenary sessions and the experiences of our member organisations Prevent from Serbia and PROI from Bosnia and Herzegovina were presented during the workshop: “Is there life for harm reduction programs in the region without financial support from external donors?”. The work of Juventas [K1] from Montenegro was also presented at the workshop “Mechanisms and models of governmental funding of harm reduction services”.

The EHRN conference is an excellent opportunity for exchange and building partnerships. So far, the representatives of the Network held discussions with Gyongyver Jakab, Portfolio Manager, S&T Focal Point for Balkan Countries, the Global Fund, Michel Kazatchkine, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Vinay Saldanha, Director of the Regional Support Team for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Jindrich Voboril, National Anti-Drug Coordinator, Director of the Secretariat of the Government Council for Anti-Drug Policy Coordination, Czech Republic Yuliya Georgieva, Chair of the Centre for Human Policy, Bulgaria, Kirsten Horsburgh, National Naloxone Coordinator, Scotland regarding future cooperation and support.

SPEED DATING: youth organisations and EU grants

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The EU Info Point in Belgrade hosted representatives of 37 youth organisations and organisations for youth from 7 cities in Serbia on 28 March for the “Speed dating” event on EU funds. 9 different EU programmes and 2 national were present. The CU Delegation in Serbia, Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Youth Council supported the event.

Participants got interesting information from EIDHR, The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, Civil Society Facility (CSF) , COSME (Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SME), Horizon 2020 (EU programme supports research projects, The Office for Cooperation with Civil Society supports projects (in scope of the programme Europe for Citizens), Creative Europe, Erasmus+, TACSO – Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Media programme and EU Info Point.

 

Highlighting problems, proposals for solutions and the need for protecting the rights of HIV positive detainees, at the conference of the Centre of Life

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The Centre of Life organized a conference titled “Detention centres and HIV: Prevention, Therapy, Support” aiming to inform about the defence of the human rights of the HIV positive detainees.

The Secretary General of Crime Policy of the Greek Ministry of Justice, Mr. Eftichis Fitrakis, opened the conference with a salute and highlighted that “this conference is part of an overall problem that concerns all the aspects of human rights and is related to health in combination with detention conditions”.

Main part of the conference was the presentation of the research of the Centre of Life “HIV positive detainees and access to Social Rights”, the results of which are based on the interference of the Organization from March 2016 until December 2016, with the Detainee Hospital of Korydallos, the women’s department of the Korydallos prison, the detention facilities of directorate of Attiki and Thessaloniki Aliens and the Diavata prison.

According to the research of the Centre of Life, it is suggested:

  • Accession of the Detainee Hospital of Korydallos to the National Healthcare System, ensuring a separate fund from the budget for the antiretroviral treatment, as well as the employment of specialized and sufficient health professionals.
  • Introduction of therapeutic rehabilitation and substitution programs.
  • Improvement of the infrastructure, conformation of the yards and creation of recreation and sports areas.
  • Compliance with a dietary plan that will correspond to the special dietary needs of the HIV positive detainees, according to their religious beliefs as well.
  • The issuing of the Ministerial Decision for the details concerning the regular update of the personnel of the detention centres, as well as the information of the detainees on issues of counselling hygiene and receiving preventive measures for dealing with HIV or other infectious diseases.
  • Systematic evaluation, from competent bodies, of the applied measures and practices as well as collaboration of the bodies, state and non-state, at a local, national and international level.

During the conference, the competent bodies agreed on the need of promoting a common strategy, in order for detainees to experience dignifying detention conditions and uninterrupted access to health care services. According to the participants, this will improve the public health care issues, at a broader scale, and in the same time it will enhance the level of the provided medical care and the detention conditions in prison.

You can find here the study conducted by Centre for Life.

The DPNSEE Board meeting

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The first meeting of the Board of the Drug Policy Network South East Europe was held on 20 and 21 March 2017 in the DPNSEE Office and the Library of the House of Human Rights in Belgrade, Serbia. It was an opportunity for the new start of the Board after the changes in the composition made at the last General Assembly held in November 2016. All the Board members participated, and Staff including two volunteers joined for some parts of the meeting.

The Board adopted the DPNSEE Annual statement, the minutes from the recent General Assembly and the Board meeting and the Report for period December 2016 – March 2017 proposed by the Staff. Board also discussed the Operational plan for 2017 and forthcoming events and activities.

The Board discussed the fundraising strategy, membership fees payments, reimbursement procedures, capacity building (training), volunteers’ work on resource pool and glossary, website, Expert committee and DPNSEE Strategy 2016 – 2019.

Volonterski program DPNSEE

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Mreža za politike prema drogama otvara dva volonterka mesta u okviru projekta “Jačanje kapaciteta nevladinih organizacija i promocija politike prema drogama u jugoistočnoj Evropi koja je zasnovana na javnom zdravlju i ljudskim pravima”, finansiranim od strane EU.

U okviru ovogodišnjeg volonterskog programa DPNSEE će angažovati volontere kratkoročno na dve pozicije. Profili volontera nisu strogo određeni ali bi bilo poželjno da se prijavite ako ste student (ili svršeni student) humanističkih, organizacionih, socijalnih ili političkih nauka, prava ili medicine. Obavezno je znanje engleskog jezika, a znanje drugih jezika regione je prednost

Trajanje volonterskog staža neće biti duže od 3 meseca, a obim poslova podrazumeva angažman od 10 do 12 sati nedeljno.

 

Ova mogućnost volontiranja prilika je za sticanje znanja, veština i iskustava u oblasti politike prema drogama zasnovanje na principima ljudskih prava i javnog zdravlja, ne samo u Sbiji već u regionu jugoistočne Evrope. Na taj način aktivno se uključuje u društvene procese i razvoj humanijeg i ravnopravnijeg demokratskog društva jednakih mogućnosti.

 

Volonter/ka 1: Izrada Rečnika pojmova

Rečnik pojmova (glossary) će biti abecedni spisak termina koji se koriste u oblasti politike prema drogama, sa definicijama. On će sadržati objašnjenja pojmova i termina koji se koriste kada se govori o droge ali i drugim bliskim oblastima i sličnim pitanjima.

Rečnik treba da služi pre svega organizacijama članicama tako što će pomoći u procesu usklađivanja mišljenja i stavova. Nadalje, ovaj materijal će koristiti širi spektar grupa ljudi, uključujući donosioce odluka, kreatore politika, interesnih grupa, aktivista, medija, policije, sudstva i druge.

U toku marta i aprila 2017. godine, očekujemo da se volonter/ka angažuje na sakupljanju i popisu termina u prvoj etapi formiranja rečnika.

 

Volonter/ka 2: Uspostavljanje Resursnog centra

Resursni centar Mreže za politike prema drogama Jugoistočne Evrope će imati ulogu da služi zajednici organizacija građanskog društva Jugoistočne Evrope. On ima za cilj da poboljša rad, omogući i doprinese razmeni informacija, resursa i iskustava između nevladinih organizacija, njihovih partnera i lokalnih organizacija, dodatno obezbeđuje korisne obuke, praktične informacije i usluge. Ona takođe ima za cilj da ojača odnose i unapredi dijalog između nevladinih organizacija i drugih aktera, u oblastima vezanim za politike prema drogama, ljudskih prava i javnog zdravlja.

U toku marta i aprila 2017. godine, očekujemo da se volonter/ka angažuje na sakupljanju podataka za kreiranje baze u oblasti politike prema drogama, ljudskih prava i javnog zdravlja u jugoistočnoj Evropi.

Volonterima će biti obezbeđeno:

·                uslovi za rad u kancelariji Mreže

·                refundaciji mesečnih troškova prevoza

·                učešće na treningu iz oblasti politike prema drogama koji Mreža organizuje krajem aprila

·                potvrda o obavljenom volontiranju

Početak volonterskog staža planiran je za 1. mart 2017. godine.

Prijave slati na elektronsku adresu office@dpnsee.org do 24.  februara 2017. godine. Prijava treba da sadrži kratko motivaciono pismo (do 200 reči) i biografiju kandidata.

 

Najuspešniji kandidati biće pozvani na intervju koji će biti održan 28. februara u prostorijama Mreže za politike prema drogama u jugoistočlnoj Evropi, Dr Aleksandra Kostića 14/6, u Beogradu.

Press conference to presentation and promotion of the activities of the project “Strengthening NGO capacity and promoting public health and human right oriented drug policy in South East Europe“

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The Members of DPNSEE will have a press conference in EU info center in Belgrade, on Thursday 1st September, regarding presentation and promotion of the activities of the project “Strengthening NGO capacity and promoting public health and human right oriented drug policy in South East Europe”.
The speakers on the conference will be Mr Thanasis Apostolou president of DPNSEE, Mr Nebojša Djurasović director on Prevent organisation, member of the DPNSEE and executive director of the DPNSEE  Mr Milutin Milošević.
More detailed agenda on the conference you can find in the link below

Issue of drug during the summer tourist season

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The Ministry of health of Montenegro hosted the Regional Workshop on Drug Supply and Demand
Reduction During the Summer Tourist Season, organised by the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission. The Workshop was held in Podgorica on 7 and 8 July 2016.

The aim of the Workshop was to strengthen capacities of Police and Anti-Drugs Services in the Western Balkans and Turkey on drug supply and demand reduction during the summer tourist season, especially at large events such as music festivals. A report from the EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) on travel and drug use in Europe notes that certain travel destinations across Europe have a reputation of having a wide availability of a range of drugs; these include party locations, electronic music festivals and the nightlife scene on certain Mediterranean islands. This is very interesting now, when the festival tourism is the fastest growing tourist branch, especially in the Southeast Europe.
Participating countries included Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and theFormer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Guest speakers came from Belgium, Croatia, Italy and Slovenia. From the Montenegrin side, all for most active NGOs participated, including DPNSEE member organisations 4Life and Juventas and Cazas and Preporod. The Executive Director of DPNSEE participated for one day, sharing experiences and establishing contacts with a variety of participants.

The Workshop was an interesting platform for sharing of best practices and exchanging of knowledge with Experts from EU Member States on effective tools for reducing drug supply and demand. The thing which left a specific impression was the completely opposite positions: restrictive one of state agents (policy, anti-drug services, prosecutors) and pro-active one of the non-governmental organisations. Also, it is a pity that representatives from big festivals were not invited to share their experiences (“Sundance” being prepared at the time of the workshop).

Policy paper on reduction of drug related harm in Montenegro

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Στιγμιότυπο 2016-07-06, 10.48.16 π.μ.
Publication on harm reduction  “Policy paper on reduction of drug related harm in Montenegro”, one of products of project Harm Reduction works. Fund it in Montenegro!  implemented by Montenegrin Harm Reduction Network Link, with support of NGO Juventas.
Project was implemented within Eurasian Harm Reduction Network Small Programs Grant, with financial support of Robert Carr civil society Networks Fund.