Project Field: Human rights

Emergency support for the provision of HIV and Harm Reduction services among key populations in Ukraine and refugees in selected neighbouring countries

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe and its member organisations from Serbia (Prevent, TOC, Duga, Re Generacija) and Montenegro (Juventas, Cazas) implement 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“.

Primary objectives of the project are:

  • Ensuring the continuity of the HIV prevention, treatment and care (including OAT and ARV) services for people who use drugs/living with HIV
  • Community-based care and support for people who use drugs, people living with HIV, people in prisons
  • Provision of essential requirements, including food and medicines and shelters, in coordination with the penitentiary service/local CSOs

Our organisations will implement the following activities:

  • Provide access to information about health services and drugs and ensure clear, reliable and trustworthy health information reaches refugees
  • Support in accessing health care in host country
  • Rapid provision/purchasing of basic products for existing key populations/refugee shelters/centers
  • Provision of HIV harm reduction services for key populations (including refugees)
  • HIV and harm reduction services for people who use drugs, including new psychoactive substances
  • 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
  • Increased awareness and understanding regarding comprehensive gender-sensitive HIV services for women who use drugs (WUD) among health care managers, service providers and decision-makers

This project will be conducted in UNODC partnership with the local CSOs and aims to strengthen the capacity of CSOs to address HIV prevention, treatment, care and support among people who use drugs (including those who use NPS/stimulants) internally displaced populations, refugees and prison populations.

Project findings will inform the development and implementation of evidence-based, gender-responsive and sustainable HIV and harm reduction services for people who used drugs/people in and released from prisons, and IDPs/refugees in Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro.

Latest news

  • Two more workshops on Women, Violence, and the Use of Drugs were held in Novi Sad and Niš. Read more>>>.

 

 

Recent news

  • The information of relevance about health services and drugs for the refugees from Ukraine and displaced persons from Russia which DPNSEE prepred have been printed and are now ready for dissemination. Read more>>>.
  • A workshop for service providers and shelter staff on Women, Violence, and the Use of Drugs was held in Belgrade. Read more>>>.
  • DPNSEE collected information of relevance about health services and drugs for the refugees from Ukraine and displaced persons from Russia. Read more>>>.
  • Serbia extended temporary protection for refugees from Ukraine for an additional year. Read more>>>.
  • Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) presented its annual report Right to Asylum in the Republic of Serbia 2022. Read more>>>.
  • UNODC representatives visited the Duga Checkpoint centre in Belgrade and met with community-led organizations working on HIV and harm reduction services for key populations. Read more>>>.
  • The Regional round table focused on community-led consultative process on the importance of human rights and evidence-based national drug strategies in HIV response was held on 21 Feburary 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia. Read more>>>.
  • NGO ReGeneracija held the training “Piloting web outreach services for working with people who use drugs and are at risk of HIV/AIDS, with a special focus on new psychoactive substances, stimulants and recreational drug use”. Read more>>>.
  • Our member organisation Re Generation provides web outreach services to displaced Ukrainian and Russian citizens in the form of peer consultations and counseling on the topics of harm reduction. Read more>>>.
  • Our member organisation Re Generation will implement the research study “The needs assessment among Ukrainian refugees and Russian migrants in the Republic of Serbia on access to services and new psychoactive substances/stimulant use“. Read more>>>.
  • Partners in the project held a coordination meeting with the representative of the UNODC Regional Programme Office for Eastern Europe. Read more>>>.
  • Launching the project in Serbia. Read more>>>.
  • Project partners meeting. Read more>>>.
  • Meeting with the UN agencies. Read more>>>.
  • A project for refugee key populations from Ukraine. Read more>>>.
  • A visit to UNODC Office in Belgrade. Read more>>>.

 

Support. Don’t Punish

Support. Don’t Punish is a global advocacy campaign calling for better drug policies that prioritise public health and human rights. The campaign aims to promote drug policy reform, and to change laws and policies which impede access to harm reduction interventions.

The campaign aligns with the following key messages:

  • The drug control system is broken and in need of reform
  • People who use drugs should no longer be criminalised
  • People involved in the drug trade at low levels, especially those involved for reasons of subsistence or coercion, should not face harsh or disproportionate punishments
  • The death penalty should never be imposed for drug offences
  • Drug policy in the next decade should focus on health and harm reduction
  • By 2020, 10% of global resources expended on drug policies should be invested in public health and harm reduction

On the occasion of the 26 June also the United Nations’ International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking the Global Day of Action of the Support Don’t Punish Campaign is organised in more than 150 cities in the world.

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe coordinates activities of the campaign in South East Europe, where our member organizations are pushing actions in countries and cities with activities that vary from the film screenings and street actions to public debates and dialogues with the different government bodies.

Annually, the campaign was organised in 10 countries, in 11 cities, by more than 20 organisations and 200 volunteers, through more than 40 activities, reaching up to half a million people through variety of action, public and social media.

For the launch of the Global Day of Action, DPNSEE organised the “Kick-off event” every year to mark the start of the campaign in South East Europe.

More about the campaigns is available from DPNSEE webpage following links to pages for 2017>>>, 2018>>>, 2019>>>, 2020>>>, 2021>>>, 2022>>> and 2023>>>.