Category: General News

Help Shape the Global AIDS Strategy 2026–2031

Posted on by Milutin

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS UNAIDS is developing the Global AIDS Strategy 2026–2031, and they are calling on communities, civil society, and other key stakeholders to help shape the direction of the global HIV response for the years ahead.

As part of this process, UNAIDS has launched a global survey to gather your insights and experiences.

📝 Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SJN6RXX

📅 Deadline: 18 April 2025

🌍 Languages available: English, French, Spanish (more coming soon)

Why this matters:

Your perspective is critical to ensure the next Global AIDS Strategy reflects the realities on the ground, strengthens community-led responses, and addresses the challenges we face – including threats to funding, human rights, and access to care.

📖 Learn more about the Global AIDS Strategy 2026–2031 here:

https://www.unaids.org/en/2026-2031-global-aids-strategy

 

Advocacy in Action

Posted on by Milutin

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe hosted the side event “Advocacy in Action: Advancing Comprehensive Health and Harm Reduction Services” at the 68th UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, held from 10 to 14 March 2025 in Vienna.

This side event was organized with the support of Czech Republic, Pompidou Group, UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, European Network Of People Who Use Drugs, Re Generation, Villa Maraini, ISGlobal, Fondazione LILA Milano, Asociación Bienestar y Desarrollo, Free Clinic, Spolecnost Podane ruce, and Knowmad Institute.

The session illustrated key advocacy strategies and actions which highlight successful community-led interventions and policy reforms that address barriers such as stigma, legislative hurdles, and funding gaps.

The speakers presented the BOOST Project 2023-2025 (Katrin Schiffer, Correlation), Advocacy Strategy for Comprehensive Health and Harm Reduction Services for People Who Use Drugs in Europe (Ganna Dovbakh, EHRA), Scaling up community involvement for an integrated, responsive and sustainable Harm Reduction (Ligia Parodi, EuroNPUD), and Decriminalization and regulation (Marios Atzemis, DPNSEE). A recorded message from Hon. Halldóra Mogensen, parliamentarian from Iceland, was presented.

Discussion after the presentations included contributions from Czech Republic, Juventas, and Pompidou Group.

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.

 

Webinar on data

Posted on by Milutin

The Drug Policy Network South Wast Europe hosted a webinar to present the recently published data related to harm reduction and HIV/AIDS in South East Europe on 26 November 2024. Besides presenting the data, it was an opportunity to discuss ways in which data should be more reliable and how to integrate data collected by civil society organisations in govrenmental reporting.

Following the welcome address by Nebojša Đurasović, DPNSEE President, we had excellent presentations:

  • Global State of Harm Reduction report – presented by Colleen Daniels, Deputy Director and Public Health Lead, Harm Reduction International (2024 available here>>>)
  • Harm Reduction in South East Europe – Marios Atzemis, DPNSEE Board member (available here>>>)
  • Civil Society Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe – Iga Jeziorska, Senior Research Officer, Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network (available here>>>)
  • HIV/AIDS surveillance data for South East Europe (data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control – ECDC) – Milutin Milošević, Executive Director, DPNSEE (available here>>>)

In addition, DPNSEE had sent data by countries and territories to its member organisations and governmental institutions. You can also download them here:

Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Greece Kosovo*

Montenegro North Macedonia Romania Serbia Slovenia Turkey

DPNSEE informed that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control – ECDC will publish the HIV/AIDS surveillance in Europe 2024 (2023 data) report on 28 November at https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/. DPNSEE will process the new data and prepare new visuals in early 2025.

Global State of Harm Reduction 2024 Report

Posted on by Milutin

The Global State of Harm Reduction is the only report that provides an independent analysis of harm reduction in the world. Now in its the ninth edition, the Global State of Harm Reduction 2024 is the most comprehensive global mapping of harm reduction responses to drug use, HIV and viral hepatitis.

The Global State of Harm Reduction has always been produced through a collaborative effort between community and civil society representatives and researchers. The report includes nine regional chapters authored by experts from each region. This year’s report differs slightly from previous editions as we emphasise key regional issues and populations that continue to be neglected by harm reduction services.

Each regional chapter presents data on the availability of harm reduction services and addresses two key issues that require special attention. The report also includes three new thematic chapters focused on harm reduction for Indigenous people, people in prison and youth. We also continue to include data to map the implementation of viral hepatitis services for people who use drugs.

Top trends presented in the report include:

  • 93 countries now provide at least one needle and syringe programme (NSP), compared to 92 in 2022.
  • Opioid agonist therapy (OAT) programmes are now in 94 countries, compared to 88 in 2022 – although coverage remains varied and limited.
  • The number of countries with drug consumption rooms (DCRs) or overdose preventions centres remains very small, but it has increased from 16 to 18 since 2022. The two new countries on this list are Colombia and Sierra Leone.
  • Take-home naloxone programmes are now available in 34 countries, a slight decrease from 35 in 2022.

DPNSEE has been following the Global State of Harm Reduction reports in recent years. We have already prepared an overview of the findings of the situation in South East Europe. Here it is

To access the Report, follow this link>>>.

 

First cannabis club distribution in Germany

Posted on by Milutin

From a Weser Kurier news

Since July, German cannabis cultivation clubs have been permitted to grow cannabis together and distribute it. For the first time, a cultivation association in Ganderkesee has distributed legally grown cannabis to its members. This club claims to be the first club in Germany to harvest a legal cannabis crop.Michael Jaskulewicz was the first member of the Cannabis Social Club Ganderkesee to receive a few grams of various types of the drug. “Being here and picking this up was an absolutely amazing feeling,” he said.

According to a spokeswoman for the Federal Drug Commissioner, no other association is known to have started harvesting earlier. However, she pointed out that the authority has no official information on the harvest situation of the individual cultivation associations. It is known that the association in Ganderkesee is very far advanced.

“Our members come from the middle of society,” said association chairman Daniel Keune. The age range is from 18 to 70 years, from employees to entrepreneurs.

The association has been working on the issue of legalizing cannabis consumption in Germany for two years. Partial legalization enables preventive health protection because the association guarantees that the cannabis distributed is safe and without additives. “This health protection that we can provide has motivated us.”

 

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.

 

The Convent Book of Recommendations published

Posted on by Milutin

The National Convention on the European Union today published the Summary of the Book of Recommendations for 2024. This regular annual publication presents the most comprehensive overview of the state of Serbia’s negotiation process in the year that marks a full decade since the official start of negotiations between Serbia and the European Union. The book was created with the contribution of hundreds of members of the National Convention, the largest network of civil society organizations in Serbia.

The book of recommendations for 2024 reflects the reality of the current state of Serbia’s European path, primarily the fact that Serbia has not formally advanced in the negotiation process since the end of 2021.

A total of 426 recommendations were defined, of which 344 were intended for the Government, 42 for the European Union, and 40 for the civil society of Serbia. For each part of the negotiation framework, the continuity and level of implementation of the recommendations compared to the previous year is monitored, while new recommendations were also formulated, taking into account taking into account the situation and context during 2024.

Thus, out of a total of 344 recommendations to the Government, compared to the previous year, only eight were fully implemented. 67 recommendations were partially fulfilled, while 221 recommendations remained unfulfilled. The number of new recommendations is 48.

Out of a total of 42 recommendations for the European Union, two are new. Of the remaining 40, five were fully fulfilled, 11 partially, and 24 recommendations remained unfulfilled.

A total of 40 recommendations are foreseen for civil society, one of which is new. Among them, one was fully fulfilled, 11 partially, while 26 recommendations remain unfulfilled.

The book contains three recommendations that DPNSEE proposed based on our activities so far and the previous and current conditions for accession to the European Union. The recommendations are related to strategic planning, prevention and amendments to the Criminal Law.

A summary of the Book of Recommendations (in Serbian) is available following this link>>>.

 

Intensifying EUDA cooperation and collaboration with civil society organisations

Posted on by Milutin

A very interesting and fruitful meeting was hosted by the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) today in Lisbon, Portugal. The objective of the consultation meeting is to explore ways to strengthen cooperation, share best practices and promote mutual understanding between EUDA and civil society organisations in order to ‘attain maximum efficiency in monitoring, assessing and responding to the drugs phenomenon’ (Article 5(7) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1322).

The European Union Regulation (2023/1322) establishing the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) calls on the EUDA to intensify cooperation and collaboration with civil society organisations (CSOs), including organisations of people who use drugs and communities affected by the consumption and sale of drugs or drug-related crime. This should involve consultations, information exchange and knowledge sharing. Recognising the value of these potential developments, the EUDA convened the consultation meeting in the margins of the Lisbon 2024 Addiction Conference.

More than 60 participants came not only from EUDA and civil society organisations from different corners of Europe and covering different thematic areas of drug policy but also from governmental institutions, academia and others. They provided invaluable input for the formulation of a roadmap outlining the regular and systematic cooperation with civil society organisations.

These issues addressed in the sessions dealt with the path of cooperation, the added value and the range of possible cooperation mechanisms. A panel discussion shed light on the concept of affected communities by the consumption and sale of drugs or drug related crime. The final panel discussion examined future perspectives.

DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević, who was one of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs representatives at the meeting, proposed two point for cooperation between EUDA and civil society:

  • Working together of supporting candidate countries in their EU accession process, particularly in adjusting the aquis in the area of drugs which are almost exclusively directed to law anforcement, with just a small reference on health and no single letter about human rights of people who use drugs;
  • Facilitating better cooperation between national institutions and civil society, which are not involved in strategic planning (that is usually missing in the candidate countries) and reporting.

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>>>.