With the support from the Open Society Foundations, the Drug Policy Network South East Europe organised the South East Europe Meeting on 20 November in Bucharest, Romania, prior to the 4th European Harm Reduction Conference. The event aimed to get together activists working on harm reduction services, exchange experiences and promising ideas for the future, meet with international partners and discuss future opportunities for collaboration. 36 representatives of harm reduction organisations and institutions from countries of the region and from various international organisations attended this meeting: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo*, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
Nebojša Đurasović, Vice-President of the DPNSEE Board opened the Meeting with welcome note and agenda review and announced first session Where is South East Europe now? Sofia Galinaki from Diogenis, the member of the IDPC Members’ Advisory Council, moderated this session. She presented the results of the Harm Reduction Survey. Dragoş Roşca, Romanian Harm Reduction Network, continued this session and spoke about current situation in Romania, Denis Dadajić, from Margina, explained situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Silvana Naumova from HOPS, presented current situation in Macedonia.
Facilitating the second session What do we actually do?, DPNSEE Executive Director Milutin Milošević, reminded on some dilemmas, including those of quality in the times of transition and integrated services for all vs. those specific for key sub-populations. Ivica Cekovski from HOPS spoke about the concept of quality in Macedonia. The session continued with Dr Vera Kerleta-Tuzović, Agency for Healthcare Quality and Accreditation in FBiH who presented accreditation of drop-in centres Bosnia and Herzegovina and session was closed with Tomaž Koren, from Alliance of NGOs for Drugs and Addictions, from Slovenia, who talked about quality of services in Slovenia, with special view on harm reduction in nightlife and festival settings.
The pre-conference meeting continued with third session that was moderated by Jelena Čolaković, from the DPNSEE member organisation Juventas, Montenegro. The speakers crossed over specific topic Where do we go from here? and was centred around opportunities for collaboration, including a regional program on sustainability supported by the Global Fund. Vladan Golubovic, from Chairman sent a presentation about the Regional Coordinating Mechanism. Tetyana Deshko, from Alliance for Public Health presented upcoming Global Fund supported regional project “Sustainability of services for key populations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region”. Then, Mišo Pejković from Cazas spoke about experiences in cooperation in the region. The session was closed by Amarildo Fecanji, from ERA, who talked about potential cooperation between the networks and organisations.
At the last session What else we need to talk about? Ganna Dovbakh from Eurasian Harm Reduction Association emphasized potentials for advocacy in the process of EU Enlargement on national level.
Closing the Meeting, Nebojša Đurasović thanked all for contributing to the Meeting which he found successful. He noted a very friendly and open atmosphere and hoped that the experiences and ideas presented will be a good basis for future cooperation and partnerships.
Photos: Snežana Šundić – Vardić and Sanja Đurasović
This article of the News will be updated daily during the Conference
More than 15.000 researchers, activists and policy makers from more than 160 countries gathered in Amsterdam for the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018). The International AIDS Conference is the largest conference on any global health issue in the world. First convened during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1985, it continues to provide a unique forum for the intersection of science, advocacy, and human rights. Each conference is an opportunity to strengthen policies and programmes that ensure an evidence-based response to the epidemic.
Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema opening the Global Village
The theme of AIDS 2018 is “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges”, drawing attention to the need of rights-based approaches to more effectively reach key populations, including in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and the North-African/Middle Eastern regions where epidemics are growing.
Six member organisations and DPNSEE have representatives at the Conference.
A specific warm-up of the Conference was the official opening of the AIDS 2018 Global Village by the Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema and Elizabeth Taylor grandchildren Quinn Tivey, Laela Wilding and Naomi Wilding on Sunday 22 July.
Daily highlights from the pre-conference events on 21 and 22 July is available following this link>>>
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Monday 23 July, the first formal working day of the Conference, was already full of activities. Representatives of civil society organisations from South East Europe held a consultative meeting with the Open Society Harm reduction Programme representatives. It was a good opportunity to refer to some important issues, including prices of medicines, regional multi-country project for the Global Fund and sustainability.
At the session “Harm reduction for people who inject drugs in Europe: Findings from European Joint Action HA-REACT”, the EU Health Programme 2014-2020 addressed gaps in the prevention of HIV and other co-infections in the European Union. This session focused on harm reduction services in Europe for PWID, presenting new findings and good practices from this major European project including tailored low threshold services for women who use drugs, harm reduction for prisoners and mobile unit outreach work. Presentations from the session are available following this link>>>>
In the evening, a formal opening session of the Conference was held. It was a moving and empowering, filled with emotional moments remembering those who we have lost and celebrating those who are furthering the fight against AIDS, with a special performance by the Dutch National Ballet, a keynote address by Conchita, a special tribute to MH17 and many more powerful moments.
The grandchildren of Elizabeth Taylor talked about returning Amsterdam where it all started in 1992 and how her work continues today with The Elizabeth Taylor Human Rights Award winner, Allan Achesa Maleche. The famous quote from Dame Elizabeth Taylor’s famous speech at the 1992 AIDS Conference, was the theme of last night’s opening ceremony – “The fight against AIDS is not and must never be a fight against other people, it’s a fight about human beings against a virus.”
You can watch the recording of the opening session
Tuesday 24 July morning started with a plenary session with celebrities of the Conference. The session focused on understanding the inequity in HIV response and stressed to need to focus on specific populations who are left out. The message that risk of HIV is not evenly distributed and most infections are emerging from unmet prevention and treatment needs was clear.
The highlight was the speech of Charlize Theron, a famous actress who is founder of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project in South Africa. Her native country. She reminded of her Dutch origin and all the colonial approach which brought so much suffering to African people. She invited to fighting prejudices and emphasised excellent activism of young Africans she observed while working on fighting HIV. You can see the Charlize Theron’s speech at AIDS 2018 Youtube channel below
Special presentation which included Sir Elton John and HRH The Duke of Sussex announced that a group of major HIV/AIDS donors, NGOs, and pharmaceutical companies have joined forces into The MenStar coalition to launch a $1.2 billion coalition to expand the diagnosis and treatment of HIV infections among men, who are currently less likely to be accessing these services.
A leadership workshop “It is OUR money!: Effective community advocacy to insure domestic resources for sustainable HIV services” was designed based on budget advocacy experience in EECA countries and utilizes knowledge from health financing and public financing fields to help community and civil society leaders to learn how to do budget advocacy work and formulate successful budget advocacy strategies. Elizabeta Božinovska from HERA, Macedonia, presented results of the budget advocacy and monitoring efforts that resulted in country taking over financing harm reduction services.
The Robert Car civil society Networks Fund celebrated and showcased their work and impact of civil society and community led networks in the HIV response at the session “From Invisibility to Indivisibility”. The Fund is the first international pooled funding mechanism that specifically aims to strengthen global and regional HIV civil society and community networks across the world. This focus is in recognition of networks’ critical value and contribution to better health, inclusion and social wellbeing of inadequately served populations (ISPs), given their unique reach into and impact at community level. The news is that the Fund will, though the Request For Proposals for 2019-2021, also support newly applied networks!
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One of the most interesting sessions on Wednesday 25 July was “Drugs, drug policy, harm reduction: A reality check”, co-chaired by Ruth Dreifuss, Former President of Switzerland and Chair of the Global Commission on Drug Policy and John-Peter Kools from the Trimbos Institute, Netherlands, with Julia Buxton, Central European University, Hungary, Daniel Joloy, Amnesty International, Daniel Wolfe, Open Society Foundations, Niamh Eastwood, Release, United Kingdom and Judy Chang, International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD). The session made a powerful case for moving away from drug prohibition and abstinence as the key outcome of interest. Examples from the Czech Republic, Portugal, and other 25 countries experimenting decriminalization show that if we are to reach our 2030 goals we need to end mass incarceration, mass killings, and mass criminalization of drug use and drug possession. Most importantly, we are not going to do it without working with people who use drugs. All panellist argued that a combination of factors contributes to this massive failure. The failed war on drugs has been unfolding into wars on people in the Philippines, most of Latin American, Asia and the US; the over reliance on biotechnologies, biometrics, e.g. PreP, increase costs and shift people away from the basic message of harm reduction, that is to focus on “people needs, not health interventions” an emphasised the role of communities as key to getting back on track. A video recording and all presentations (some very effective) are available following this link>>>
The session “Civil society under threat: How can HIV advocates resist the impact? Conservative populism and social exclusion of civil society” has indicated that repression of civil society is rising. In 2012-2015, more than 120 laws restricting civil rights were introduced or proposed in 60 countries. Governments are implementing legal, administrative and other measures restricting operations of non-governmental organizations, particularly those rooted in marginalized communities disproportionately affected by HIV. Repression tools include burdensome registration requirements, restrictions on basic freedoms (including peaceful assembly and online expression), physical attacks and imprisonment. Péter Sárosi, from the Rights Reporter Foundation, Hungary and Ivan Varentsov, from the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association were among panellists. Video from this interesting session is available following this link>>>
The session “Why do we fail in responding to the epidemic among people who inject drugs?” brought together science, law enforcement and community in a panel that tried to answer a recurring question: why we are failing to respond to skyrocketing epidemics among PWID, particularly in Eastern Europe, where the lack of appropriate responses is accounting for unprecedented levels of HIV transmission? Presentations and video from the session are available following this link>>>
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You can follow all of the #AIDS2018 action throughout the week:
Live streaming: Watch the live stream of the opening and closing ceremonies, the plenary sessions, special sessions and official press conferences http://www.aids2018.org/Live
Facebook: AIDS 2018 Live! Tune into live sessions featuring conversations with experts, advocates and news makers from the conference https://manychat.com/l1/HIVgov
Instagram: Follow @aids_conference to see snapshots from around the conference, with a behind-the-scenes look via Instagram take-overs from special guests https://www.instagram.com/aids_conference/
The National Conference on Innovative Community Based Services for People Living with HIV and AIDS, held in Belgrade, Serbia on 1 December 2017, was also the final activity of two-year project “Towards standardization of community based social service provision for people living with HIV in Serbia”, implemented by the Union of Organizations of Serbia dealing with the protection of people living with HIV and AIDS (USOP) with partners: Žena plus, AID +, Centre AS, Sunce, Crvena linija, Stav + and Nova + (PLHIV associations from Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Subotica and Pančevo). The project is part of the “European Union Support to an Inclusive Society” program, funded and implemented by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans’ Affairs and Social Affairs through the IPA Program (The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance).
The conference addressed the activities of both civil and government sectors in response to the HIV epidemic, especially when it comes to social care, health care and legal assistance to people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV), but also prevention and the possibility of stopping the spread of infection, as well as reducing stigma and discrimination against this population.
The services are the basic means of achieving the goals of social protection. The Law on Social Protection recognizes five groups of services for which the standards were developed by the project or are in phase of development. In addition to these, other community-based innovative services have been developed in the community to respond to a wide range of people’s needs. One of the innovative services is peer support service for people living with HIV and AIDS offered by activists living with HIV and AIDS.
The second European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies – Lisbon Addictions 2017 – was held from 24 to 26 October 2017 building on the success of the first Lisbon Addictions, which took place in September 2015. That conference was originally planned as a small, one-off event to support networking across European addiction professionals. But, organisers were taken by surprise by the enthusiasm that the Conference generated. Participants’ evaluation showed that it provided a unique and valuable opportunity for discourse and networking across the different disciplines involved in this challenging and dynamic area. Lisbon Addictions was therefore made a biennial event.
Vision for Lisbon Addictions 2017 was to provide a European focused Conference but with an international perspective. Therefore, more than 1 200 participants from over 71 countries came to Lisbon, including policy actors, researchers, academia, practitioners, health professionals, governmental and non-governmental representatives, patient organisations, health economists and others. The conference spanned all aspects of the addictions field with wide diversity of the submissions made. Participants had the opportunity to select from over 500 oral presentations, view over 200 posters and hear from over 20 keynote speakers representing some of the most eminent scientists and practitioners working in the addiction field today.
The evaluation of the first conference also indicated a demand to go beyond the usual conference communication formats and complement the programme with an integrated training event to explore a selection of “hot” drug and addiction topics in-depth and build capacity among different stakeholders, using novel interactive dynamic learning formats, knowledge and experience exchange, and multi-sector networking environments. The TWIST project (Training WIth STakeholders – Applying EU drug and addiction research) was prepared as a training strand, with the participation of the target audience (early stage professionals) and other stakeholders. Aim was to meet this need through a two-day training programme embedded within the scope and programme of LxAddictions17. Most of the participants from South East Europe, especially from the civil society sector, were supported by TWIST. The topics, contents and delivery formats of the TWIST training programme were conceptualised and designed through a participatory process with selected EU representatives of the stakeholder groups.
The conference was held in the excellent facilities of Lisbon’s Congress Centre which provides the opportunity to hold large major sessions as well as smaller venues for more intensive and participatory discussions.
Sharing at the conference, either at scheduled sessions or in informal setting, helped build future collaborations between professionals both within Europe and beyond.
The next conference is already scheduled for 23 – 25 October 2019, again in Lisbon.
DPNSEE member organisations Diogenis organised conference “Treatment and Harm reduction services in the context of the economic crisis, developments and challenges” from 19 to 21 October 2017 in Nicosia, Cyprus. The conference aimed to provide knowledge about the developments and challenges concerning
treatment and harm reduction services in the context of the economic crisis in countries of South
and South East Europe and to discuss possibilities which can guarantee the continuity, quality and
further development of services.
This conference is part of the project “New Approaches in harm reduction policies and practices”, financially supported by the European Commission. Transnational Institute from The Netherlands is the lead organisation of the project and partners are Diogenis, Drug Policy Dialogue from Greece, Forum Droghe from Italy and the International Centre for Ethnobotanical Education from Belgium.
Issues discussed at the conference included:
The way in which the competent authorities and the responsible service providers reacted to the economic crisis; the role of Civil Society Organisations in this respect and the lessons learned for securing the continuation of harm reduction and treatment services to drug users.
Strategies and action plans for effective harm reduction advocacy at the national level.
Developments on cannabis policy in South and South East Europe countries. Regulation of cannabis for medical purposes.
Decriminalisation of drug possession for personal use.
Supervised consumption sites.
Recent developments in countries of South and South East Europe.
The conference also paid attention to the new EU Action plan on drugs 2017-2020 and the developments in drug policy on the international level.
Diogenis cooperated with researchers from different countries, who were responsible to conduct interviews based on a research questionnaire and summarize the outcomes of these interviews in a related short report. All reports were collected and presented in a paper which was the background of the discussion at the conference.
Participants were representatives of civil society, national agencies and experts from 12 European countries. They had the opportunity to exchange information, good practices and policies on drugs in their countries as well as Europe-wide, amid economic difficulties and social challenges in Europe.
The Belgrade Open School, together with the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of Government of Serbia, organized the Third Annual Regional Conference ’’Move. Link. Engage – Rethinking Europe and Western Balkans’, on 18th and 19th of September in Belgrade. The Conference was supported by ’Europe for Citizens’ Program and Kingdom of Sweden. The goal of the Conference was to promote and encourage regional approach in solving shared problems and better cooperation among citizens and civil society in the European Integration Process.
At the main panel of the Conference, titled ’Western Balkans in Motion: Berlin Process Aftermath’, prominent speakers and participants stressed out the importance of the Berlin Process, which is recognized through shifting focus towards economic and social questions and contribution to European Integration Process of all states in the region. Participants of the session dedicated to the Civil Society Participation in European Integration Process came to the conclusion that civil society is the bridge between decision makers and the citizens, and that it is important to build alliances founded in European values and closely watch and follow the decisions that authorities make on behalf of citizens. Civil society organizations agreed that there would be no progress in the European Integration process without strong institutions and common values, and pointed out that European Integration Process should be founded in citizens’ participation in developing public policies, transparency and accountability.
During the conference, a regional workshop was organized, dedicated to project preparation within ’Europe for Citizens’ Program, as well as official diploma awarding ceremony for 24th generation of students of the ’Future studies’ Program of Belgrade Open School.
The Conference gathered more than 200 participants, numerous representatives of organizations from Serbia and the region, representatives of institutions and foundations, as well as representatives of the media, researches, activists and students. Milutin Milošević, the Executive Director, represented DPNSEE at the conference. That was a good opportunity to meet with peers from the civil society sector and representatives of authorities.
The South Eastern European Adriatic Addiction Treatment Network invites you to come to Budva, Montenegro‚, from 12 to 14 October 2017, to celebrate the 8th Adriatic Drug Addiction Treatment Conference and the 16th SEEA Symposium on Addictive Behaviours and to be a part of the premier addiction treatment conference in the region.
In the last few years SEEAnet has organised joint international conferences with Global Addiction Association and numerous other events in the region. They have been included in developing treatment programmes and trainings in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe. Knowledge and experience from SEEAnet region have been so shared internationally. Addictions continue to remain in the front of medicine and other sciences and practices as the reaction to new challenges in this field in our changing world.
The main conference topics are treatment of drug users with comorbidities and cooperation with drug prevention, harm reduction, treatment and rehabilitation programs, specially psychiatric but not at all excluding other medical, social, educational, law enforcement … services and NGOs in the region, specially Montenegro, treatment of people who use new psychoactive substances, treatment of Hepatitis C, different praxis trough the region, treatment in prisons and use of medical cannabinoides.
The registration is open and organisers are now accepting abstracts submissions on all topics of the addictions keeping registration fees on 2009 levels when the conference had been already in beautiful Budva and where you had wanted to return again.
More about the Conference is available from the SEEAnet website HERE>>>
The Annual Regional Conference in South East Europe was organised in Thessaloniki from 8 to 10 June 2017. The conference aimed to bring together NGOs, policy makers and researchers active in the drugs field in the region of South East Europe, in order to discuss drug policy developments and trends, exchange experiences and best practices in the region, Europe and the United Nations.
The conference is part of the regional project “Strengthening NGO capacity and promoting public health and human rights oriented drug policy in South East Europe”, supported financially by the European Commission and the Open Society Foundations. The organiser was Diogenis, Drug Policy Dialogue.
National drug coordinators from Romania and Croatia
The Conference agenda included a large number of interesting issues:
The Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and drug policy. Priority issues, the role of UN agencies, expected commitments from the member states and role of NGOs. Presenter was Jo Dedeyne-Amann, Chief Secretariat to the Governing Bodies, Division for Treaty Affairs, UNODC. Nikos Stergiou, Communication and public relations Officer, Diogenis, presented experience of two local meetings.
Initiatives undertaken in the countries of our region related to implementation of the outcomes of the UNGASS and the role of NGOs. National drug coordinators presented work in their countries: drug co-ordinators: Sorin Oprea (Romania), Milan Pekić (Serbia), Željko Petković (Croatia) and Manina Terzidou, head of the Greek Monitoring Centre for Drugs (EKTEPN) (Greece)
Women and Drugs. Facts and Special Characteristics for Girls and Women who use drugs was the presentation from Meni Malliori, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Athens, while Georgia Aslanidou, Psychologist, OKANA Thessaloniki presented about Addicted mothers and the journey of therapy
Drugs and internet: experiences, opportunities and concerns in the use of online counselling tools presented by Ilias Paraskevopoulos, Consultant for addictions at KETHEA ITHAKI
The Harm reduction project in South East Europe. Developments and next steps presented by Sofia Galinaki, Advocacy Officer, Diogenis and Peers’ involvement in harm reduction, with introduction from Christos Anastasiou, Peer Network of Users of Psychoactive Substances (PENUPS).
Irena Molnar and Bojan Arsenijević from the NGO Re Generation, Serbia provided valuable insight into Changing culture in drug use including new psychoactive substances
Developments in the discussion about cannabis policy in countries of SEE
Irena Molnar presenting about Changing culture in drug use including new psychoactive substances
Representatives from 14 DPNSEE member organisations, 3 Board members and all 5 Staff were at the Conference. We presented the Network, strategic priorities and plans for the future. Our two volunteers talked about their work on the Glossary and Resource Pool.
Marios Atzemis, DPNSEE Board member, making an intervention
The Conference was a very good opportunity to share and learn about interesting ideas and make plans for the future.
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.
Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Serbia, in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), organised the conference about the sustainable development goals on 21 February 2017. DPNSEE, Prevent and Re Generacija were among 200 participants of this widely promoted event. The aim of the conference was to introduce the 17 proposed UN sustainable development goals to the civil society organisations working with young people and international trends in their implementation. Most of the conference was spent on promotions of different international and national organisations. Nebojša Đurasović was one of the few people who got an opportunity to speak and he commented very openly the presentation and work of the Ministry of Health. The conference was also an opportunity to meet representatives from different institutions and other CSO organisations.
With the support from the Open Society Foundations, the Drug Policy Network South East Europe organised the South East Europe Meeting on 20 November in Bucharest, Romania, prior to the 4th European Harm Reduction Conference. The event aimed to get together activists working on harm reduction services, exchange experiences and promising ideas for the future, meet with international partners and discuss future opportunities for collaboration. 36 representatives of harm reduction organisations and institutions from countries of the region and from various international organisations attended this meeting: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo*, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
