Tag: UNODC

Pre-CND events

Posted on by Milutin

Sunday 11 March was full of preparatory events for the 61st Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Here is an information about a few of them where DPNSEE participated.

IDPC pre-meeting with member organisations

The International Drug Policy Consortium held a day-long meeting with member organisations representatives to help them oriented to the CND participation and agree on approach and actions.

In the morning, two separate sessions were held. One was the orientation session for new CSO representatives. They also had an opportunity to learn about the CND through a webinar which is available at the IDPC website.

The other session was intended to those who already had experience with CND. It was a strategy discussion, focused on the substantive details of tabled resolutions, with overview of member states dynamics at the CND, detailed review of CND resolutions and discussion on other key issues for CND 2018.

In the afternoon session, participants from the second morning session informed others about their discussion on resolutions (and resolutions themselves) to inform collective thinking on advocacy, strategy and the work of the network during CND and beyond. This session also included presentation of the IDPC 5-year Strategy and opportunities for collaboration, a report from the civil society meeting held at the end of 2017 in Berlin and presentation of the IDPC Members Survey results.

There are a few interesting things from this event.

An interesting proposed resolution is the one from the CND Chairperson addressing the Preparations for the sixty-second session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in 2019. The resolution already includes various positive elements, but should be strengthened my emphasising the role of the UN Secretary-General, references to civil society participation, active participation of all UN member states (not only 53 CND countries) and mentioning harm reduction in country presentations at the CND debate. This is very important because it is obvious that unrealistic targets of a “drug-free world” declared in 2009 Plan of Action will not be achieved. The world now have two possible ways forward: either continue with same policies that have proven insufficient (promoted by countries with rigid and conservative approach) or promote an active approach which bring public health and human rights to core of drug policy.

WHO proposes 12 substances for control – 6 of them are fentanyl based.

There will be 95 side events at CND – an invitation was shared to go to those which are critical. The same goes for some of the exhibitions of “usual suspects” (Russia, Singapore, Bahrain, Turkey… and especially Iran).

IDPC Asks from the Strategy include:

  • Move away from drug-free world targets
  • Reflect the UN goals of promoting health, human rights, development, peace and security
  • Reflect the realities of drug policies on the ground, both positive and negative – the elephant in the room
  • End punitive approaches and put people and communities first

Deadline for comments to the IDPC Strategic Plan is end of April.

SSDP Rally

Students for Sensible Drug Policy Austria organised a rally in the Vienna’s Sigmund Freud Park in the afternoon and evening. It was the first local CSOs event related to UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs held annually in this city. Besides stands which promoted new approach to drug policy and abandoning the “drug war”, several speakers addressed the public, including representatives of Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control, INPUD, Global Drug Survey, Veterans for Medical Marijuana, ENCOD — European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies, ARGE CANNA and LISTE PILZ.

Multi-stakeholder workshop on UN Convention against Corruption in Southeast Europe

Posted on by Milutin

UNODC hosted the first multi-stakeholder workshop on the United Nations Convention against Corruption and its Review Mechanism in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 25 to 29 September 2017. As the first such workshop held in Southeast Europe, the event aimed to develop capacities of around 60 participants across the region to contribute to the implementation of the Convention and its Review Mechanism.

The UN Convention against Corruption, ratified by 182 States, is the only legally binding, universal, anti-corruption instrument. Its far-reaching approach and the mandatory character of provisions make it a unique tool for developing a comprehensive response to global corruption issues.

The Convention covers five main areas: preventive measures, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange. The Convention covers many different forms of corruption, such as bribery, trading in influence, abuse of functions, and various acts of corruption in the private sector.

At the first review cycle, approximately 85 per cent of Governments involved civil society organizations in their country visits, building momentum to uphold their treaty obligations. The workshop, in this regard, reiterated the importance of this practice during the second review cycle, especially in the Southeast Europe region. It also aimed to promote collaboration between all relevant stakeholders.

Supported by the Austrian Development Agency through the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative, and by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the training informed participants about the methodology and tools for country reviews and build their capacity to reproduce workshop sessions at the national and regional levels. Participants engaged in a constructive dialogue by sharing their experiences, lessons learned and good practices, as well as undertaking practical exercises.

Milutin Milošević, the DPNSEE Executive Director, and Sanja Šišović CAZAS, Montenegro, participated in the workshop. That allowed them to gain a good insight in the Convention and opportunities to join the review process.

Annual Drug Policy Conference

Posted on by Milutin

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.

Paris Pact Expert Working Group (EWG) on Integrating Drug Dependence Treatment in the Public Health System

Posted on by Milutin
Paris Pact Expert Working Group on Integrating Drug Dependence Treatment and Care in the Public Health System. Belgrade, 10.10.2016
Paris Pact Expert Working Group on Integrating Drug Dependence Treatment and Care in the Public Health System.
Belgrade, 10.10.2016

Paris Pact Expert Working Group on Integrating Drug Dependence and Care in the Public Health

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Serbia hosted the Paris Pact Expert Working Group (EWG) on Integrating Drug Dependence Treatment in the Public Health System. The meeting was held at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade on 10 and 11 October 2016.

The meeting of this working group is part of the activities of the Paris Pact Initiative and the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). Participants had the opportunity to discuss current trends and scientifically based approach to the treatment of drug addicts, as well as the implications of UNGASS-a – special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on the global drugs problem. UNODC also introduced international standards of treatment of drug addiction, common document prepared by UNODC and the World Health Organization.

The event brought together 64 participants representing 22 member countries of the Paris Pact Initiative (Central Asia, Iran and the Balkan) and 3 international organisations. It included the series of interactive sessions where participants discussed, among other things, about the general situation regarding the use of drugs as well as on national systems for the treatment of addiction in the public health system.

The meeting started with the presentation of international standards of treatment of disorders of the drug use by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the World Health Organization, presented by the Dr. Elizabeth Sáenz, UNODC, with the objective to exchange and discuss frameworks for the integration of treating drug addiction in the health care system.

What followed were presentations by the member countries of the Paris Pact on national systems of treatment for substance use and the system of prevention; shortcomings and challenges and the Round Table with the objectives to identify gaps and challenges in the process of building a comprehensive and integrated system for the treatment of drugs in accordance with the international standards.

Special emphasis was given to group discussion on the existing mechanisms for quality assurance in the countries of Western and Central Asia and the Balkans, with group work discussion on common regional issues and explore opportunities for regional cooperation.

DPNSEE staff members, as well as representatives of the two Network’s member organisations (Prevent and Re Generacija) and few other civil society organisations from Serbia, were part of the Balkan Working group. The group made conclusions and gave recommendations on several topics such as Policy, Research, Prevention and Treatment regarding the challenges, needs gaps and opportunities. It was concluded that for the matter of the policy there are National strategies in the region but there is no specified budget for their implementation. Regarding prevention it was concluded that there is no enough evidence based treatment programs, and not enough prevention programs integrated in the curriculum of schooling systems, that could adequately address the needs. For the matter of the research, there is not enough funding and resources, and it is seen as a missing ring. Throughout whole discussion it was highly recognized that the leave of the Global Fund and lack of readiness of the Government to support and make services sustainable as a biggest problem. Lack of programs for rehabilitation and re-socialization is recognized along with lack of harm reduction programs, but mostly by the NGOs that were invited to participate in the discussion.

Second day continued with presentation from the members of the Paris Pact, and presentations that were oriented on emphasis of a multi-sectorial approach in the treatment and care of drug addicts.

The members of the DPNSEE stuff and representatives of DPNSEE member organizations had a lot of contacts with country representatives at the Workshop. They were approached by the delegates from Uzbekistan and The Russian Federation, expressing interest in work of the civil society organisations in the region of South East Europe and wish to connect and cooperate more in the future.

The expert meeting closed with review of the expert recommendations, a summary of conclusions and discussion in order to assess progress and consider putting priority conclusions with concrete and measurable proposals for the enforceable improvement.

 

DPNSEE sings the IDPC open letters regarding the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders in the Philippines.

Posted on by Milutin

LONDON (2nd August 2016) – Civil society groups from across the globe, including prominent human rights NGOs, have called on UN drug control authorities to urge an immediate stop to the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug offenders in the Philippines. Since 10th May 2016, more than 700 people have been killed by police and vigilantes in the Philippines for being suspected of using or dealing drugs, as a direct result of recently-elected President Duterte’s campaign to eradicate crime within six months.

Until now, however, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) – the UN agencies responsible for global drug control – have failed to condemn the Philippines for these gross human rights violations committed in the name of drug control.

Over 300 non-governmental organisations, DPNSEE among them, yesterday sent an open letter to the UNODC Executive Director, Mr. Yury Fedotov, and the INCB President, Mr. Werner Sipp, asking them to take immediate action aimed at putting a stop to the extrajudicial killings.

“We are calling on the UN drug control bodies to publicly condemn these atrocities in the Philippines. This senseless killing cannot be justified as a drug control measure”, said Ann Fordham, Executive Director of the International Drug Policy Consortium. “Their silence is unacceptable, while people are being killed on the streets day after day”, she continued.

– The open letter asks the UNODC and the INCB to call on President Duterte to:Immediately end the incitements to kill people suspected of using or dealing drugs,
– Act to fulfil international human rights obligations, such as the rights to life, health, due process and a fair trial, as set out in the human rights treaties ratified by the Philippines,
– Promote evidence-based, voluntary treatment and harm reduction services for people who use drugs instead of compulsory rehabilitation in military camps, and
– Not to reinstate the death penalty for drug offences.

 

You can read the Open Letters

Open letter to Y.Fedotov

Open letter to W.Sipp