Category: General News

Social re-use of confiscated assets in Serbia

Posted on by Milutin

On 24 January, the OSCE organized the third national workshop on the social re-use of confiscated assets in Serbia. The event brought together representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, civil society and other international organizations.

The workshop provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss key legislative and practical challenges for the social re-use of criminal assets, as well as how to tackle these challenges. Civil society representatives, including the DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević, stated that the lack of clear procedures to apply and receive assets for re-use from the government is a key issue. Moreover, transparency and overview of available assets is required for effective social re-use.

The workshop highlighted the importance of co-operation between civil society and government in fighting organized crime.

This activity was organized as part of the Strengthening the fight against transnational organized crime in South-Eastern Europe through improved regional co-operation in asset seizure, confiscation, management and re-use project, which is financially supported by Germany, Italy the United Kingdom and the United States.

CSFD – UNODC cooperation

Posted on by Milutin

DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević, member of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs Core Group, joined the meeting between the CSFD Working Group 2 and UNODC Brussels Liaison Office. The meeting was scheduled to discuss cooperation on the issues of interest discussed by the European Union related to drugs.

Milutin presented the priorities and work of the Working Group 4 he is chairing. He also pointed the need to advocate for more balanced approach to accession processes for the EU candidate countries, which is currently almost exclusive addressing splly reduction measures.

The two sides agreed in preparing a joint advocacy event in the occassion of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 26 June.

Code of Conduct for fair and effective engagement with civil society organisations

Posted on by Milutin

Together with more than 400 organisations and experts, DPNSEE call the United Nations ECOSOC, and in particular the Committee on NGOs, to lead a UN-wide process to adopt a model Code of Conduct for fair and effective engagement with civil society organisations.

The action was proposed by the Centre for Health Science and Law (CHSL).

The text of the Call is available in the document following this link>>>.

 

UN resolution that doesn’t include “drug-free world”

Posted on by Milutin

From the Ann Fordham’s article published at the IDPC webiste

For decades, debates and political commitments on drug policy at the United Nations have been plagued by the goal of ‘achieving a society free of drugs’ (or ‘drug abuse’). This fantastical notion has underpinned unimaginable harm as governments all over the world have strived to eradicate drugs through draconian measures. Despite these efforts, the global market in illegal drugs grows ever larger, more robust and with a greater diversity of substances. In parallel, the human cost of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ continues to grow exponentially – a devastating crisis of mass incarceration, overdose deaths, extrajudicial killings and a litany of human rights violations that have impacted some of society’s most marginalised.

Last week the UN General Assembly made history by adopting a resolution on drugs that did not include the long-standing reference to ‘actively promote a society free of drug abuse’ for the first time in three decades. Not only was this overly simplistic, ‘war on drugs’-era notion absent from the text, but the resolution includes some of the strongest ever human rights language relating to drug policy, an aspect on which the main UN drug policy forum in Vienna (the Commission on Narcotic Drugs) has made little progress in recent years.

Resolutions on drug policy at the General Assembly have always been agreed by consensus, however this resolution broke new ground as it was adopted – for the first time in history – after a vote.

It was a reluctant breaking of the consensus with an unprecedented number of countries making statements before the vote in the 3rd Committee, many of them lamenting the need for a vote and noting their hope for a return to the usual consensus for future drug policy resolutions. Ultimately, when the resolution reached the plenary of the General Assembly, a total of 124 Member States voted in favour of the resolution, while 9 voted against, with 45 abstentions.

Overall, by emphasising human rights concepts and doing away with tired and ultimately harmful ideological objectives such as ‘a society free of drug abuse’, the resolution goes a long way towards refocusing international cooperation away from reducing illegal cultivation, production and drug trafficking and towards reducing the negative consequences of the global drug situation on individuals and communities.

Crucially, this progressive text was adopted by an overwhelming majority of Member States, with only 9 countries voting against it. This demonstrates that the ‘Vienna consensus’ has been an instrument to hold back progress on drug policy making, pushing the international community towards policies and narratives that are far more conservative than those of a majority of Member States.

Read more about in the article at the IDPC website following this link>>>.

 

The Global Fund Eligibility List 2023

Posted on by Milutin

Whether a country or region is eligible for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria support is determined by its income classification and disease burden, as detailed in the Global Fund’s Eligibility Policy. The policy is designed to ensure available resources are allocated to countries with the highest disease burden, the least economic capacity, and where key and vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected by the three diseases.

A particular country’s eligibility by component (HIV, tuberculosis and malaria) is recorded annually in the Eligibility List.

The Global Fund published the Eligibility List 2023. It identifies which country components are eligible for an allocation for the 2023-2025 allocation period in support of the Global Fund Strategy for 2023-2028, Fighting Pandemics and Building a Healthier and More Equitable World.’

A few countries from South East Europe are at the list:

  • Kosovo* for HIV and Tuberculosis – both Transition (2020 & 2023)
  • Montenegro for HIV
  • North Macedonia for HIV
  • Romania for Tuberculosis – Transition (2023)
  • Serbia for HIV

Albania is not at the list any more – their Transition project ended. Newcomer is North Macedonia, which is good, but question is why Bosnia Herzegovina is not at the list as situation there is worse and no har reduction/prevention service is available in the country?

Since Romania is not on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list of Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients, Romania may be eligible for an allocation for HIV for non-governmental or civil society organizations under Paragraph 9b of the Eligibility Policy only if there are demonstrated barriers to providing funding for interventions for key populations, as supported by the country’s epidemiology. As 2023 is an allocation year, the Secretariat has conducted an assessment and has determined that Romania does not meet the requirements under Paragraph 9b of the Eligibility Policy. Therefore, Romania has been determined not to be eligible for an HIV allocation for the 2023-2025 allocation period.

The Eligibility List 2023 is available following this link>>>.

 

Meeting with the UN agencies

Posted on by Milutin

DPNSEE and 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 in Serbia held an online meeting with the representatives of he UN agencies in the country. The aim of the meeting was to present the project and to ensure that it is connected with the work of the agencies.

We expect that the support of the UN system will contribute to establishing good relations and eliminate potential challenges in implementation of the project.

End of the Czech EU Presidency

Posted on by Milutin

Based on the article from the EMCDDA webpage

This month, the Czech six-month Presidency of the Council of the EU draws to a close. With the motto ‘Rebuild, Rethink, Repower’, the Presidency focused on five key priorities: managing the refugee crisis and post-war reconstruction of Ukraine; energy security; strengthening European defence capabilities and cybersecurity; strategic resilience of the European economy; and the resilience of democratic institutions.

In the drugs field, the country led the Council’s Horizontal Working Group on Drugs (HDG), the body responsible for leading and managing the Council’s work in the drugs field and carrying out legislative and general policy work in the areas of supply reduction and demand reduction.

The human rights dimension of drug policy was a key topic over the six-month period, with work culminating in Council conclusions on this issue on 8 December, endorsed by the Council for Justice and Home Affairs. The document invites EU Member States to ‘further support the development and implementation of evidence-based policies and interventions that put human rights at the centre of drug responses, whilst countering crime and ensuring public safety and security, sustainable and viable livelihoods and the health of individuals, families and communities across the EU’.

The document also invites EU Member States to ‘further promote drug policies that adhere to human rights, address discrimination, and reduce the stigma on people who use drugs, in order to ensure voluntary access to services, including prevention, evidence-based life-skills programmes, risk and harm reduction, early detection and intervention, counselling, treatment, rehabilitation, social reintegration and recovery of people who use drugs, as well as treatment of drug-related comorbidities’.

The text includes many amendments, however thanks to a constructive debate among all EU Member States, it was approved by consensus. DPNSEE, along with other members of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs, participated in consultations and provided contributions to the document. Unfortunately, we see that most of the civil society proposals were not taken into account in the final version. This is the price of the consensus requested by the EU regulations where even one country can block initiatives that are supported by others, even if they are realistic and forward looking.

Ministers call for a human rights-centred approach to drug policies

Posted on by Milutin

From the Pompidou group website

Closing the 18th Ministerial Conference of the Council of Europe’s Pompidou Group, ministers and high-level participants from 41 Pompidou Group member states have called for a human rights centred approach to address drugs addictions and related disorders.

In their “Lisbon Declaration”, participants furthermore called for exploring strategies to address addictions related to the use of communication and information technologies, as part of a broad policy direction to be followed by the Pompidou Group over the near future.

Portugal, which has been presiding the Pompidou Group since 2019, hosted the two-day conference, which gathered some 150 participants, including ministers, representatives from 46 governments and six international organisations or agencies, as well as drug policy experts, law enforcement, health and justice officials, and civil society representatives.

Before adopting their declaration, participants assessed the impact of current trends in drug trafficking, from increased use of performance- and image-enhancing drugs to behavioural addictions, such as excessive and compulsive video gaming, gambling and online shopping.

On the basis of a report drawn up by the Pompidou Group’s Permanent Correspondents, conference participants also reviewed activities and achievements under Portugal’s presidency and adopted a new work programme for 2023-2025.

The conference inaugurates a new era, as Portuguese Health Minister Manuel Pizarro handed over its presidency to Italy, represented by the Under Secretary of State of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Alfredo Mantovano. Switzerland has been named Pompidou group Vice-President.

The Pompidou Group’s Lisbon Declaration is available following this link>>>.