Upcoming Webinar from Scottish Drugs Forum

WEBINAR – Learning together: Progressing Decriminalisation in Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Poland and Maine.

There has been substantial progress in the discussion and implementation of decriminalisation of drugs in the past 10 years. The issue is more broadly discussed and is more central to wider discourse around drug use and drug harms. Despite this progress, there remain barriers to ending criminalisation and preventing the consequent harms for people who use drugs and wider society.

SDF will be hosting a webinar to coincide with the publication of a new report, Working To Decriminalise People Who Use Drugs: Learning From Decriminalisation Efforts In 5 International Jurisdictions. This report has been prepared for Ana Liffey Drugs Project by the Scottish Drugs Forum with support and funding of The Open Society Foundation. The report evaluates the recent decriminalisation and advocacy efforts in Scotland, Poland, Norway, Ireland and Maine (USA). These jurisdictions were selected as they had hosted decriminalisation advocacy projects funded by Open Society Foundation (OSF).

This webinar will cover the international policy context of decriminalisation and the findings from the report. Panel members will share the learning from good practice examples from their jurisdiction.  There will be an extended discussion of the challenges and learning from implementing these changes.

Chair – Tony Duffin, Ana Liffey Drug Project, Dublin, Ireland

Introduction – Matt Wilson, Open Society Foundations

Presentations:

Panel discussion Chair – Dave Liddell, Scottish Drugs Forum
Panel:

Online Launch Data Report 2022

Civil Society Monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe

Webinar Announcement

Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network is hosting an online launch and discussion of the fourth annual report of its civil society-led monitoring of Harm Reduction in Europe. The webinar will take place on the 23rd of February, 2023, from 16:00h to 17:00h CET.

2022 was one of the most consequential in recent European history, witness to a series of overlapping crises: the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fast-growing population displacements, the MPOX outbreak, shrinking civil society spaces and the deepening of socioeconomic inequalities, among others.

Within this context, C-EHRN’s monitoring activities have been embedded with increased urgency. Whilst the effects of these developments have been felt in nearly everyone’s life, people who use drugs, as well as other marginalised and underserved communities, have particularly and disproportionately experienced its negative consequences. Equally, harm reduction organizations in Europe have been put to the test.

In combination with advocacy, the application of civil society-led monitoring tools is crucial to hold governments accountable and to improve the care and support that people who use drugs receive and their environments.

Together with more than one hundred organizations and individuals from thirty-four European countries, C-EHRN set up for itself the task to provide an in-depth look at Harm Reduction in Europe. To this end, the annual 2022 Data Report focused on three main themes: harm reduction essential services, Hepatitis C, and new drug trends. In addition to the data collected, this year C-EHRN conducted in-depth interviews with all its Focal Points, allowing for a richer picture of the developments from last year.

During this webinar, C-EHRN will launch and discuss its annual 2022 Data Report, including key findings, results and opportunities for civil society advocacy, service provision and policy development.

The webinar is open to harm reduction activists and service providers, civil society representatives, researchers, policy-makers and the media. The event will be held in English.

Further information:

Roberto Perez Gayo
rpgayo@correlation-net.org

Drug Reporter Interview with Tony Duffin

40 Years in the Frontlines of Harm Reduction in Ireland – Drug Reporter Interview Tony Duffin.

Ana Liffey Drug Project is a leading harm reduction NGO in Ireland who recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the organisation; to commemorate the occasion Peter Sárosi interviewed its CEO and C-EHRN Steerring Committee member, Tony Duffin, about recent developments in harm reduction and drug policy reform in the country.

In our day-to-day work, as a harm reduction service we listen to the people who use our services. We listen for drug use trends; we talk to peers and partner agencies.

Tony has worked in the Design, Delivery and Provision of ‘Low Threshold – Harm  Reduction’ Health Services for a range of socially excluded and marginalised groups of people since 1993. He has held the position of CEO of Ana Liffey Drug Project since November 2005; Ana Liffey is Irelands first drug service established on the principles of Harm Reduction. Prior to this, Duffin worked in the addiction field, including playing a key role in opening Ireland’s first emergency accommodation for young people who inject drugs; and Ireland’s first wet residential service for entrenched street drinkers. In recent years, Duffin has made a crucial contribution in advocating for the ‘Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act 2017, which was signed into law on 16th May 2017.

The Final Push to Eliminate Viral Hepatitis

The event report and the Call to Action for the EU to lead on viral hepatitis elimination by 2030, are now available.

On 25 October 2022, the MEP Friends of the Liver Group hosted the event “The final push to eliminate viral hepatitis – how can the EU lead the successful achievement of this global public health priority?”, with support from the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) as Secretariat of the Group, and the ACHIEVE Coalition.

The key takeaway from this panel discussion was the importance of different stakeholders speaking with one voice while working towards elimination. In keeping with the WHO 2030 Goal of Viral Hepatitis Elimination, panellists and audience members alike called for the explicit inclusion of this goal in the New EU Global Health Strategy.

Now, the event report has been published alongside the call to action. The Call was endorsed by the two Co-Chairs of the MEP Friends of the Liver Group, Cyrus Engerer MEP and Pietro Fiocchi MEP, as well as by the Group Members Dr. Cristian-Silviu Busoi MEP, Dr. Andrey Kovatchev, and Frances Fitzgerald MEP. 

The goal is for the Call to be shared with the European Commission, selected Member States, as well as the interested public to shape future policy and funding initiatives.

Call for Rights-Affirming Drug Policies

For the third year in a row, 100+ NGOs urge UNODC Director to mark International Human Rights Day by calling for rights-affirming drug policies.

CEHRN have co-signed the below letter directed to Ms Ghada Waly (Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), ahead of International Human Rights Day;

To: Ms Ghada Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

30th November 2022

Dear Ms. Waly

Subject: Open letter on occasion of International Human Rights Day 2022

We urge you to mark International Human Rights Day 2022 by calling on Member States to change drug policies and practices to fulfil the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to place human rights at the centre of all dimensions of UNODC’s work

We are writing to you ahead of International Human Rights Day on 10th December 2022, which will celebrate the legacy and relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ahead of its 75th anniversary. For the past two years, dozens of civil society and community organisations have called on you to issue a statement on International Human Rights Day urging Member States to change drug laws and practices that undermine health and human rights. We reiterate this petition once again, as we call on you to mainstream human rights into all dimensions of UNODC’s work.

The human rights catastrophe brought about by punitive drug policies is well documented by the United Nations system. Every year, UN human rights experts pay increasing attention to the human rights consequences of drug policies, and more are announced to come soon. The recent and unprecedented joint statement released on 26th June 2022 (UN World Drug Day) by 13 UN human rights special mandates, in particular, notes that ‘the UN system, the international community and individual Member States have a historical responsibility to reverse the devastation brought about by decades of a global “war on drugs”’. The joint statement calls on all UN agencies to ‘ground their drug policy responses in international human rights law and standards’, and to ensure that their ‘financial and technical assistance on drug policy’ promotes responses that are ‘gender responsive’ while ‘actively seeking to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms’.

 

As the lead UN agency on drug-related matters, this call concerns UNODC most of all.

Furthermore, both the 2016 UNGASS Outcome Document and the 2019 Ministerial Declaration – alongside the UN System Common Position on drugs – commit the international community to ensure that drug policies are aligned with human rights obligations. As explained by the INCB on the occasion of the 2020 International Human Rights Day, ‘Human rights are inherent and inalienable. The world drug problem cannot be lawfully addressed without ensuring the protection of human rights’. The recent intersessional meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs showcased the growing centrality of human rights at the Commission, as well as the increasing presence of human rights bodies and experts in Vienna.

 

Taking into consideration the theme of this year’s International Human Rights Day, we urge you once again to mark this occasion with a strong statement, calling on states to reform drug laws, policies and practices in order to align them with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To be credible, such a statement should call on Member States to:

  • Abolish the death penalty in all circumstances. Imposing capital punishment for drug offences has been found to be contrary to international human rights law by the Human Rights Committee, and the Human Rights Council.
  • Put an immediate end to extrajudicial killings committed in the name of drug control, as has been repeatedly called for by the Human Rights Council and UN human rights experts.
  • Acknowledge the disproportionate impact of drug laws and drug control on people marginalised on the basis of their gender, race, ethnicity, and socio-economic status.
  • Promote the end of all criminalisation and punishment for drug use and related activities, as called for by the UN System Common Positions on drugs and on incarceration, OHCHR, UNAIDS, and UN human rights bodies
  • Permanently close compulsory drug detention centres, including those that masquerade as ‘rehabilitation’, and implement voluntary, evidence-informed, and rights-based health and social services, as recently called for by sixteen UN agencies, including UNODC.
  • Stress the urgent need to provide accessible, affordable, and adequately funded harm reduction services– including by well-funded peer-led services –, to fulfil the right to health and the right to life of people who use drugs. This is also central to UNODC’s core role as lead UNAIDS co-sponsor regarding prisons and HIV amongst people who use drugs.
  • Take immediate measures to address prison overcrowding, as already recommended by your own agency, the UN Common Position on incarceration and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with the basic principle that prisons should only be used as a last resort in all circumstances.
  • Ensure that people who use drugs are not subject to arbitrary detention, torture, or ill-treatment – whether in state custody or in public or private drug services.
  • Make sure that drug policies incorporate a gender-sensitive perspective, by tailoring drug services to the specific needs of women, and by ensuring that criminal laws take into account the circumstances of women involved in drug offences, as most of them come from backgrounds of poverty, marginalisation, and oppression.

As the lead UN agency in drug-related matters, UNODC has the responsibility to promote drug policies that respect, protect, and fulfil human rights, including where appropriate to clearly speak out for their reform, in line with the commitments made in the UN System Common Position on drugs.

 

In that regard, we also call on you to use your leadership at UNODC to place human rights at the centre of all dimensions of the agency’s work. This should include not only providing technical guidance to member states, but also:

  • Ensuring that UNODC’s operations do not contribute to, fund or facilitate the implementation of policies in contravention of international human rights laws and standards
  • Mainstreaming reporting on the human rights consequences of drug policies, including by remedying the current absence of human rights in the World Drug Report;
  • Stepping up UNODC’s involvement in human rights cases that require urgent action, in close cooperation with civil society and with other UN entities, including where appropriate through public statements and diplomatic interventions;
  • Working as the lead of the Task Team responsible for the implementation of the UN System Common Position on drugs to update the Task Team’s excellent 2019 report as a key contribution to the 2024 mid-term review of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration.

We look forward to your response, and to discuss these concerns and recommendations with you.

 

Yours sincerely,

Ann Fordham
Executive Director
International Drug Policy Consortium

EU Joint Action on Cancer and NCD prevention

ACHIEVE call for hepatitis inclusion in the upcoming Joint Action on Cancer Prevention and NCDs, in line with EU4Health 2022.

The ACHIEVE coalition have sent a letter to the Norwegian Directorate of Health to ask for an inclusion of viral hepatitis detection and linkage to care within the Joint Action Cancer Prevention and NCDs. This inclusion would be in line with the Commission’s project description in the EU4Health 2022 work programme.

 

Whilst the presentation by the Norwegian Directorate of Health highlights a number of cross-cutting themes including physical activity, tobacco, nutrition and alcohol, viral hepatitis detection and linkage to care is not mentioned.

 

C-EHRN signed the letter alongside European AIDS Treatment Group, EASL, ELPA, Liver Patients International, Viral Hepatitis Prevention Board, World Hepatitis Alliance, Hepatitis B and C Public Policy Association and ISGlobal.

INPUD Policy Statement

INPUD have released a policy statement in response to the Conceptual Zero Draft Instrument.

The Conceptual Zero Draft Instrument is on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR), and negotiations are currently underway for the finalization of the instrument.

INPUD have released a statement in reponse to the draft, discussing  the impacts of marginalisation and criminalisation, support for community-led and peer-based responses, strengthening policy and service delivery responses, and community engagement and accountability.

‘This statement is a response to the proposed new instrument from INPUD on behalf of people who use drugs globally and is informed by recent community-led research on PPPR among our networks and communities, as well as research conducted by INPUD during the Covid-19 pandemic.’

FENIQS EU: Call for Participation

We are calling Civil Society Organizations to apply for a guided and supported training to implement quality standards in drug demand reduction.

The call is specifically for Civil Society Organisations from the areas of prevention, treatment / social reintegration and harm reduction.

The FENIQS EU project, will train and provide guidance to nine service providers in the areas of drug prevention, treatment, and harm reduction. The 1-day training will be based on the Quality Standards Implementation Toolkit prepared within the project, and delivered in locations of participant organisations.

The training will provide a general introduction to quality standards, and guide service providers through the steps necessary for their implementation. It will address issues like diagnosis and needs assessment, goals of quality standards implementation, choosing the standards to be applied, evaluating the services and quality standards, communication, and sustainability. Possible challenges that may be encountered at each of the steps will be also addressed.

Deadline for applications – 31st December 2022

INHSU 2022 Report

We are pleased to share the report from the INHSU 2022 conference.

Over three days in Glasgow, the INHSU 2022 conference took place; The 10th International Conference on Health and Hepatitis Care in Substance Users. The conference brought together professionals in the field to share the latest developments in the field.

We want to thank CEHRN Consultant Graham Shaw who collected the notes from the conference to create this report.

#CEHRNAthens22 Article and Video by DrugReporter

During the #CEHRNAthens22 meeting, DrugReporter made an informative video of the visit to the drug consumption room OKANA.

Péter Sárosi has written an informative article about his experience at the CEHRN Athens meeting earlier this month, alongside a video showing an inside look at the OKANA drug consumption room.

The Organisation Against Drugs (ΟΚΑΝΑ) was established pursuant to Law 2161/93 which was passed unanimously by the Greek Parliament, and has been operational since 1995 as a legal person that is governed by private law and reports to the Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity.

Its constituent instrument stipulates that OKANA shall:

  • plan, promote, coordinate and implement a national policy on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts
  • address the drug problem at a national level, provide valid and documented information, and raise public awareness
  • establish and effectively manage prevention centres, treatment units and social and professional reintegration centres

OKANA has always endeavoured to combine the roles of national coordinator and services and programmes provider in the fields of prevention, treatment and reintegration.

We are thankful to OKANA for inviting us to have a look at their way of working, and showing us their innovative technology used on site. Their drug consumption room is the first of its kind in Greece, and we hope sharing the amazing work they are doing will bring new opportunities for more, much needed, drug consumption rooms to open in Greece.