Tag: #SupportDontPunishSEE

Another year of the Support. Don’t Punish campaign

Posted on by Milutin

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe coordinates activities of the campaign in South East Europe around the Global Day of Action 26 June – which is also the United Nations’ International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The campaign took to the streets, social networks, parliaments and many more to bring collective message to life in at least 294 cities of 94 countries – an incredible feat that we should all be proud of!

The Support. Don’t Punish 2023 campaign was held in all countries of South East Europe. It had

In 2023, we also participated in activities of the #DrugDecrimmonth to contribute to fighting stigmatisation and criminalisation of people who use drugs.

The DPNSEE staff collected and published articles alongside with photos of the involved organisations in the Network during the campaign on Internet page www.dpnsee.org and social media Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The report from the campaign is available following this link>>>.

      

Jubilee Support. Don’t Punish campaign

Posted on by Milutin

Following a good result in coordination of the campaigns since 2017, the International Drug Policy Consortium and The Drug Policy Network South East Europe agreed on continuing cooperation on organising the campaign in 2022.

The 10th Global Day of Action was a resounding success and brought into sharp relief our movement’s commitment to bring about positive change with people at the centre! For a decade, campaigners in all corners of the world have mobilised decisively to counter the harmful ‘war on drugs’ and the many systems of violence and neglect at its heart, and to build sustainable alternatives based on harm reduction and decriminalisation.

Through hundreds of creative, collaborative and impactful activities, campaigners have put harm reduction, decriminalisation and community engagement firmly on local, regional and national agendas. All while growing people power to ensure no one is left behind.

The Support. Don’t Punish 2022 campaign was held in all countries of South East Europe. It had

The Support. Don’t Punish activities were organised by, or in collaboration with, people who use drugs, people living with HIV, women, LGBTQ+ people, sex workers, young people, families of incarcerated people, and a long etcetera.

The DPNSEE staff collected and published articles alongside with photos of the involved organisations in the Network during the campaign on Internet page www.dpnsee.org and social media Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The report from the campaign is available following this link>>>.

Support. Don’t Punish activities in 2022

Posted on by Milutin

Support. Don’t Punish is a global grassroots-centred initiative in support of harm reduction and drug policies that prioritise public health and human rights. The campaign seeks to put harm reduction on the political agenda by strengthening the mobilisation capacity of affected communities and their allies, opening dialogue with policy makers, and raising awareness among the media and the public.

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe coordinates activities of the campaign in South East Europe around the Global Day of Action 26 June – which is also the United Nations’ International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

In 2022, we shall participate in activities of the #DrugDecrim month to contribute to fighting stigmatisation and criminalisation of people that use drugs.

The campaign 2022 shall have in South East Europe:

  • 9 countries
  • 21+ cities
  • 12 organisations
  • 40+ Parners (OCDs, universities, festivals…)
  • 100+ Volunteers
  • 9 Focus groups
  • 10Public street events
  • 8 Educational events
  • 4 Cultural events
  • 1 Sport activities
  • 3 Advocacy campaigns
  • 30 accounts on social networks

To find out what is planned in your city or country, follow this link>>>.

Information about the global campaign is available from the website http://supportdontpunish.org.

 

Support. Don’t Punish activities in 2021

Posted on by Milutin

Support. Don’t Punish is a global grassroots-centred initiative in support of harm reduction and drug policies that prioritise public health and human rights. The campaign seeks to put harm reduction on the political agenda by strengthening the mobilisation capacity of affected communities and their allies, opening dialogue with policy makers, and raising awareness among the media and the public.

The Drug Policy Network South East Europe coordinates activities of the campaign in South East Europe around the Global Day of Action 26 June – which is also the United Nations’ International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

In 2021, we shall participate in activities of the #DrugDecrim month to contribute to fighting stigmatisation and criminalisation of people that use drugs.

The campaign 2021 shall have in South East Europe:

  • 8 countries
  • 14+ cities
  • 12 organisations
  • 50+ activities
  • 25 accounts on social networks

Activities have already started in some of the countries of the region.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic which is still hitting the region and the world, DPNSEE will not organise the traditional kick-off event in 2021.

The DPNSEE Board decided to issue a public appeal on harm reduction crisis, following a very critical situation in which are harm reduction services in several countries of South East Europe.

To find out what is planned in your city or country, follow this link>>>.

Information about the global campaign is available from the website http://supportdontpunish.org.

 

A successful campaign in new circumstances

Posted on by Milutin

Following a good result in coordination of the campaigns in 2017, 2018 and 2019, The International Drug Policy Consortium and The Drug Policy Network South East Europe agreed on continuing cooperation on organising the campaign in 2020.

The Support. Don’t Punish 2020 campaign was held in very difficult circumstances, but participating organisations managed to find a way to hold activities and continue contributing to achieving its goals.

The campaign in South East Europe had

For the first time, DPNSEE haven’t organised a Kick-off event to launch the campaign due to the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, and as a specific way of promoting the campaign and achieving its goals, DPNSEE organised a regional campaign using social media to spread messages around. We prepared a set of up to 20 messages with combination of quotes from Kofi Annan’s speeches and appropriate photographs, ready for use in Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The DPNSEE staff collected and published articles alongside with photos of the involved organisations in the Network during the campaign on Internet page www.dpnsee.org and social media Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The report from the campaign is available following this link>>>.

 

Support. Don’t Punish regional campaign

Posted on by Milutin

For the fourth year already, DPNSEE coordinates the Support. Don’t Punish 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.

This year we organise a larger campaign, which will be part of our general efforts to ensure sustainability of services for people who use drugs in South East Europe – those that are under threat of being marginalised and side-lined as consequence of the coronavirus outbreak.

The DPNSEE Board decided to hold a regional campaign using social media to spread messages around. We prepared a set of up to 20 messages with combination of quotes from Kofi Annan‘s speeches and appropriate photographs, ready for use in Facebook, Tweeter and Instagram. They will be posted throughout June 2020, most frequently around 26 June, the Global Day of Action of the Support. Don’t Punish campaign and the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

We offered all our member organisations to share the messages through your networks. The messages will be translated in various languages and it will be simple to post and schedule their dissemination following dynamic we shall define. For the moment, 14 our organisations from 8 countries post and share the slides.

We warmly encourage all other organisations and individuals to share the messages and so contribute to the success of the campaign worldwide.

 

A month of Support. Don’t Punish activities in Albania

Posted on by Milutin

Our Albanian colleagues from the organisation Aksion Plus organised a sensitization campaign in the cities of Durres and Tirana in May and June 2019 as their contribution to the Support. Don’t Punish campaign.

On 9 May, a workshop was organized with the students of “5 October” High School. This workshop consisted in informing young people about drug use based on Aksion Plus’s many years of experience in providing services, awareness campaigns focusing on drug use as well as publishing of informative materials. Young students were also organized into work in groups in order to have everyone’s involvement and engagement. Additionally, a presentation by some of the school youth about their knowledge of the phenomenon of drug use was presented.

The focus of the meeting held on 16 May in the University of New York was the discussion with prospective professionals on issues that affect the reality of drug users, HIV / AIDS, giving special importance to prevention and damage reduction policies. These realities are already noticeably tangible in every part of society. Also discussed about the “Support, Don’t Punish” campaign.

This workshop in the High school “Charles Telford Erickson” held on 23 May consisted in informing students about drug use based on Aksion Plus’s many years of experience in providing services: Methadone Maintenance Therapy, Psychological Counselling, HIV Testing, Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, Syphilis, Hep B, Hep C and awareness campaigns. It was presented a video. Young students were also organized into work in groups in order to have everyone’s involvement and engagement.

This workshop in the High school “Gramoz Palushi”, including 4 representatives of Caritas Albania, was held on 14 June. A video was presented. Young students were also organized into work in groups in order to have everyone’s involvement and engagement. The goal was to involve all students in an interactive way. At the end of the workshop, some space was left for their questions, comments about what was discussed, and what suggestions they had about future workshops.

The Support. Don’t Punish campaign launched in South East Europe

Posted on by Milutin

For the launch of the Global Day of Action, DPNSEE organised a “Kick-off event” to start the campaign in South East Europe. The event was held in the EU Info Centre in Belgrade, Kralja Milana 7, on 19 June 2019.

Besides journalists, representatives of colleague civil society organisations, UN agencies, Office for combating drugs and political parties were present.

Representatives of the Network presented the key findings from baseline research on “Documenting Drug Related Cases of Discrimination”. This small scale research aims on raising awareness on existing discrimination in different areas of everyday life, map the situation and make a base for the further advocacy actions in decreasing stigma and discrimination towards people who use drugs.

DPNSEE also presented the proposal for decriminalisation of drug use and possession made to the Working group on changes to the Criminal Law in Serbia. The proposal was submitted to the Working Group for amendments to the Criminal Law but unfortunately was not supported.

DPNSEE member organisation Prevent presented results of the regional project “Budget Advocacy Monitoring in South East Europe” in Serbia. That included analysis of the national budgets for 4 last years with a specific focus on health and harm reduction, execution of the budget and excises, and the Declaration for sustainable national response to HIV.

Re Generation presented the results of their research “How the closing of the needle exchange programs affected the access to harm reduction services in two cities – Belgrade and Budapest“.

Finally, DPNSEE representatives presented the activities in the region in scope of the Support. Don’t Punish campaign.

To find out what is planned in your city or country, follow this link>>>

To see more about the campaign worldwide, follow this link>>>

“Support. Don’t Punish“ activities organized by Association Prevent

Posted on by Milutin

Association Prevent held action „Support. Don’t Punish“ for the third time in Novi Sad and for the first time in Kragujevac. In Novi Sad target group were students and in Kragujevac visitors of the music festival Arsenal fest. With these two actions few thousand people were reached directly.

Campaign started on 20 June when the media were informed about the action. Prevent also spread information through social networks and during campaign reached over 30 thousand people in this way.

Campaign continued with action in Kragujevac during music festival Arsenal fest in period from 22 to 24 June. Members of Prevent were there, talked to the visitors and photographed them with the slogan of the campaign.

On 26th June action was held in front of the student’s dormitory in Novi Sad. Photo booth (photo cabin for selfies) raised special attention of the visitors. They made a lot of photographs and in the same time they supported this campaign. Location was selected because young people are the key agents of change in society and that they could understand message the best.

Beside photo boot visitors of the action had a chance to talk with Prevent members and to read about the campaign from printed material.

Photos from the activity are available HERE.

Action in Novi Sad was visited by three the biggest TV stations (Radio and television of Vojvodina – public service, Novosadian television and Chanel 9) and two journalists from newspaper (Dnevnik and Magyar Szó). Information about the action was published on 12 internet portals. Few days after the activity, Chanel 9 organized 45 minutes long TV show dedicated to this issue. Guest in this show was president of the Association Prevent, Mr. Nebojša Đurasović.

Strong “Support. Don’t Punish” campaign in Macedonia

Posted on by Milutin

In the period from June 22 to July 07, as part of the “Support Don’t Punish” campaign, Healthy Options Project Skopje – HOPS has implemented activities in Macedonia.

Along with the Sustainability Platform for HIV Awareness Programs, on 22 June 2017, HOPS held a press conference for the need of providing financial resources and continuation of HIV prevention and harm reduction programs in the Republic of Macedonia. Dr. Arben Tarawari, new Minister of Health, also attended to the press conference and stated that the Ministry will support the programs.

The press conference with Dr. Arben Tarawari, Minister of Health

On June 16th 2017, a public call for the best journalistic article was published on the topic: „Sustainability and the need of harm reduction programs in the Republic of Macedonia”. Up to the deadline, 6 articles of journalism (5 texts and 1 video) were reported to the call. The articles evaluation committee has selected the two best articles, followed by a 300$ prize for the first place, and 200$ for second place. The winners are publicly announced on the HOPS website.

Logo of the campaign

With „Save Lives“ logo, an online petition was published to support harm reduction and HIV prevention programs in Republic of Macedonia. So far, 659 persons have signed the on-line petition. Additionally, on June 27th 2017, a stand for collecting signatures for support a petition was set on the city square in Skopje. In total, 980 signatures are collected. The petition will be submitted to the Ministry of Health and the Government of the Republic of Macedonia.