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27th June 2008
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Human Rights Take Centre Stage on ‘International Day Against Drug Abuse’
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The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, has used the UN-sponsored International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (June 26th) to focus on the rights of people who use drugs and people in prison for drug offences, declaring that “No one should be stigmatised or discriminated against because of their dependence on drugs”. In his statement, the Secretary-General called on member states “to ensure that people who are struggling with drug addiction be given equal access to health and social services”, and reminded them of their responsibility “to fully respect the rights of prisoners who are drug dependent or are in custody for drug-related crimes… especially their rights to life and a fair trial”.
A few weeks earlier, at a High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York, a group of organisations – including IHRA – drafted an open letter to the UN raising concerns about the International Day, which takes place on June 26th each year. The official aim of the International Day is to ‘inspire people and mobilise support for drug control’, but many governments use it to publicise repressive drug control efforts such as executions, arrests and seizures. According to the open letter, “The current split in the United Nations between addressing drug use through a public health approach versus a law-enforcement approach causes confusion. It is critical that UN systems speak as one”. The letter calls on governments to use the International Day to give greater emphasis to evidence-based harm reduction strategies to combat HIV among people who use drugs and protect their human rights.
IHRA has welcomed the Secretary-General’s statements. Professor Gerry Stimson (the IHRA Executive Director) said that, “Human rights protection must underpin drug law and policy. We are extremely pleased that the Secretary-General has focused on the rights of people in prison and people who use drugs, so often overlooked in the global war on drugs”. This statement represents the latest in a series of positive messages from the UN, and another encouraging step towards a conducive global environment for harm reduction and the human rights of people who use drugs.
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The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has also used the ‘International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking’ to launch their annual flagship publication: ‘The World Drug Report 2008’. This report aims to provide an overview of the world drug situation and emerging trends, and points to significant reductions in drug use over the last 100 years – a claim that has been roundly criticised by the Transnational Institute as “rewriting history”. However, in the report’s preface, Antonio Maria Costa (the Executive Director of UNODC) clearly states that “Protecting public security and safeguarding public health should be done in a way that upholds human rights and human dignity… Although drugs kill, we should not kill because of drugs. As we move forward, human rights should be a part of drug control”.
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In the report, the UNODC clearly states that “the Charter of the United Nations takes priority over all other instruments… [meaning] that the drug Conventions must be implemented in line with the obligations inscribed in the Charter. Among those obligations are the commitments of signatories to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms”. This closely resembles the central argument behind ‘Recalibrating the Regime’ – a joint report published in March 2008 by IHRA, Human Rights Watch, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Beckley Foundation to highlight the need for a human rights-based approach to international drug policy.
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 Click here to view IHRA’s ‘Recalibrating the Regime’ report [PDF:965KB]
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The UNODC report also states that, in relation to the use of the death penalty for drug offences, “The recent General Assembly moratorium on the application of capital punishment [adopted in November 2007] is a way forward, but the gaps between international standards and the law of individual nations need to be bridged by means of negotiation and the promotion of good practice in this difficult area”. This ‘gap’ in international and national standards is all too clearly illustrated by reports that China and Indonesia have marked June 26th 2008 with death sentences being handed down and executions carried out for drug offences.
The World Drug Report 2008 commentary follows two recent speeches by Mr. Costa clarifying UNODC’s position on the death penalty for drug offences, one at the 51st Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (in March 2008) and one at Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference (in Barcelona in May 2008). IHRA’s HR2 (Harm Reduction and Human Rights) programme and Human Rights Watch have been working closely with UNODC on this important issue in recent months.
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Click here to view IHRA’s ‘Death Penalty for Drug Offences’ report [PDF:599KB]
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19th June 2008
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IHRA at the 2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS
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In June 2008, the United Nations General Assembly convened a High Level Meeting on AIDS at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York City, with the broad theme of 'Uniting the World Against AIDS'. Government delegations and civil society organisations from around the world came together to review the current situation in respect to the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. The discussions focused on the important progress that had been made to date, the challenges that still remain, and recommendations for ensuring a sustainable response for the future.
On Day 1 (11th June), representatives of civil society organisations addressed government delegates at a session entitled ‘Action for Universal Access 2010: Myths and Realities’. The hearing was chaired by H.E. Srgjan Kerim (President of the UN General Assembly) and Mr. Ban Ki-moon (the UN Secretary-General) made some opening remarks, after which civil society speakers addressed a range of issues including harm reduction, sex work, women and girls, children living with HIV, access to treatment and men who have sex with men. IHRA’s Senior Policy Adviser Rick Lines was selected as a secondary speaker on harm reduction and injecting drug use.
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On Day 2 (12th June), a group of civil society organisations – including IHRA – collaborated to draft an open letter to senior UN officials to raise concerns about the UN-sponsored International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26th each year. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the goal of the International Day is to “inspire people and mobilize support for drug control". However, many governments use June 26th to highlight repressive drug control efforts by publicising executions, arrests and drug seizures. The open letter called for the UN to "speak with one voice” and use the International Day to encourage countries to focus on health responses, harm reduction and human rights.
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At the end of the two-day meeting, it was agreed that, despite progress in some areas, “the AIDS epidemic continues to outpace the response”. The Civil Society Declaration released at the closing of the High Level Meeting expressed disappointment that relatively few heads of state were in New York City and that “many governments, from both resource-rich and resource-poor countries, failed to report the reality on the ground”. In his closing statements, H.E. Srgjan Kerim told delegates that “History will judge how effectively we rose to the challenge of AIDS… We must not lose the momentum”.
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18th June 2008
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Over 1,200 Attend ‘Harm Reduction 2008’ in Barcelona
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‘Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference’ took place in May in Barcelona. The conference was, once again, very successful - attracting 1,280 people from 77 different countries around the world. Amongst the delegates were senior UN officials, national and international policy makers, leading drug user activists, front-line workers and researchers. In total, there were around 70 sessions over five days, covering a range of different topics – in keeping with the conference theme, ‘Towards a Global Approach’. Overall, there were 250 presentations and 300 poster exhibits.
After numerous ‘satellite events’ on Sunday 11th May, the conference was opened with a keynote address by Professor Paul Hunt, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health. Professor Hunt delivered the strongest statement to date on harm reduction and human rights from a UN human rights monitor, describing the lack of regard for human rights in the international drug control system as ‘bizarre’ and ‘inexcusable’. He concluded his speech by urging harm reduction, drug policy advocates and drug user activists to incorporate UN human rights mechanisms and monitors into their work.
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Monday 12th May began with the first Plenary Session presenting the ‘Global State of Harm Reduction’. This session included speakers from Africa, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD), and introduced some of the general themes in the conference programme. The session also launched a major new report from IHRA entitled Global State of Harm Reduction 2008: Mapping the response to drug-related HIV and hepatitis C epidemics. This session was followed by three Major Sessions covering harm reduction best practice in the host country, hepatitis C, and ‘Evidence in Harm Reduction’ (including an excellent presentation from Thomas Kerr on the politics surrounding the drug consumption facility in Vancouver, Canada).
The afternoon programme included sessions on cannabis, prisons, substitution treatment, advocacy, and research on HIV risks, and a ‘Double Concurrent’ in the afternoon on ‘Universal Access to HIV Prevention and Treatment for Drug Users’ (supported by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) which included eight high-profile speakers. There was also a lively early evening session debating the evidence behind ‘Ibogaine’ as a drug treatment.
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Tuesday 13th May opened with a multi-media Plenary Session on gender issues in harm reduction, which incorporated video footage with questions to a panel of speakers from around the world. This was followed by Major Sessions on gender barriers, alcohol harm reduction, and ‘Discrimination Versus Rights’ (a ‘Users Choice’ session organised by INPUD). The afternoon programme included the launch of ‘DRUM’ (the International Network of Drug Related Media), a lunchtime session on tuberculosis and HIV (supported by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), Concurrent Sessions on young people, overdose prevention, alcohol, tobacco and research on drug use prevalence, and an early evening session on drug consumption rooms around the world.
On Wednesday 14th May, there was a Plenary Session and a Major Session on human rights and harm reduction, which will be the main conference theme for Harm Reduction 2009 in Thailand. The rest of the day’s programme included sessions on hidden harms, stimulant drugs, engaging the police, prisons, ARV for injecting drug users, ethno-epidemiology and tobacco. There were also two afternoon sessions on harm reduction and commercial sex work – highlighting peer-led best practice in this field and the harms of the prohibition of sex work.
The final day – Thursday 15th May – opened with a keynote address from Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Mr. Costa stated that health was the ‘first principle’ of the international drug conventions, but conceded that his organisation needed to go back to ‘square one’ to realise this. He called for a focus on ‘Three HRs’: Harm Reduction, Health Responses and Human Rights.
This was followed by the final Major Sessions on nursing and harm reduction, crack cocaine, and harm reduction research, and the Closing Session – in which the Conference Rapporteur team reviewed the preceding five days, and the 2008 IHRA Awards were presented.
The 2008 International Rolleston Award was won by Dr. Andrew Ball, Senior Strategy and Operations Advisor in the Department for HIV/AIDS of the for the World Health Organization (WHO) and a long-time supporter of harm reduction – both within WHO (since 1991) and in the wider community (where he has supported the development and expansion of harm reduction programmes in a wide range of low and middle income countries).
The 2008 National Rolleston Award was won by Àmbit Prevenció, a Spanish NGO whose aim is to deliver support and HIV prevention to people who use drugs through needle exchanges, workshops and outreach.
Finally, the 2008 Travis Jenkins Award was presented to Theo van Dam of the Netherlands, in recognition of his efforts to teach people who use drugs to defend their rights, and his pioneering work within the European drug-user activism movement – including helped to establish the ‘International Drug Users Day’.
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In addition, a new award was also presented in Barcelona – the Bonnie Devlin Memorial Scholarship. This award was developed as a tribute to Bonnie Devlin, a women who was not only instrumental in the organisation of the 1996 International AIDS Conference and the 2006 IHRA Conference (both in Canada), but also in the development of community programmes, services and research for people affected by drug use. In Barcelona, this award was presented to Ananda Pun – the chair of the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) and also of Recovering Nepal (a national network of people who use users) – for his tireless efforts, in the face of such adversity, in the development of peer-based community HIV and harm reduction programmes in Nepal and Asia.
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Overall, Harm Reduction 2008 was a very successful and engaging event. In addition to the mainstream programme, there were also around 30 films screened as part of the 5th International Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festival, including ‘Harm Reduction Video: Cambodia – Injecting Drug Use’, the recipient of the 2008 Film Award. There were also a large number of important side-meetings for IHRA, the regional harm reduction networks, the UN officials and INPUD.
A full archive from Harm Reduction 2008 in Barcelona will be available on the conference website soon – www.IHRAconferences.net – including presentations, photos and reports. In the meantime, preparations have already begun for Harm Reduction 2009: IHRA’s 20th International Conference – scheduled for April 19th to 23rd 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand, and we hope to see you all there.
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18th June 2008
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Warwick 2008: What About Harm Reduction?
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The Conference Consortium – in partnership with IHRA, the UK National Treatment Agency, DrugScope, Offender Health and the Coventry and Warwick Partnership Trust – have organised a UK event entitled ‘Drugs, Alcohol and Criminal Justice’. This is the third event in this annual series, and has been dedicated to the question: ‘What About Harm Reduction?’ – as the Consortium seek to re-affirm the importance of harm reduction in the light of the new UK drug strategy.
The conference, at Warwick University on the 17th and 18th July 2008, will review how harm reduction applies to people working across the UK’s substance misuse and criminal justice sectors – including those in community drug treatment, arrest and the courts, prison and probation or aftercare – and how it can be practically implemented in their day-to-day work. The conference will also reflect back from Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference in order to inform delegates about the existing best practice from around the world.
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Please contact Michelle Vatin at the Conference Consortium for more information.
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13th June 2008
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WHO Improving Access to Controlled Medicines
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed an online database to help improve global access to essential controlled opiate medications – methadone, buprenorphine and morphine. This new resource includes data on the available forms and formulations of the medicines, procurement issues, registration procedures, and prices – all supplied by the pharmaceutical companies producing and distributing these products.
The ‘Opioid Substitution Therapy and Morphine Database’ has been created by the WHO HIV Department in collaboration with the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the WHO Department of Medicines Policy and Standards. The database will provide free and easy information to countries and organisations that are looking to purchase these essential medicines, thus improving access for vulnerable populations such as people who use drugs.
Across the world, millions of people are being denied access to effective medications. For example, despite over 60 countries having opiate substitution therapy programmes, a huge number of drug users around the world are being denied access to proven medical treatments such as methadone and buprenorphine which can help them overcome or manage their addictions. This is because these medicines are classed as narcotics and, as such, are controlled substances under the international drug control conventions. As a result, access is poor or non-existent in many countries for a range of reasons – including prejudice, fears of dependence, cost, inadequate information (at both national and international levels) and regulatory barriers in terms of procurement, manufacture, storage and distribution.
The Database is the latest effort from the WHO to improve access to opiate medicines around the world. In 2005, WHO added methadone and buprenorphine to the WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines in order to advocate for their global availability. Then, in 2006, WHO convened a two-day global consultation meeting to discuss the issues around controlled medications and to develop the ‘Access to Controlled Medications Programme'. IHRA is currently working alongside WHO on this proposed programme, with a funding announcement anticipated shortly for a project in Europe.
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13th June 2008
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Update from the International Drug Policy Consortium
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The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) – a coalition of drug-related NGOs from around the world, including IHRA – have recently updated their website to include a specific section relating to the United Nations ten-year review of the global drug control system. This section contains official documents, IDPC materials, and related publications that are relevant to the UN review which will culminate in a high-level political meeting in Vienna in March 2009.
In April 2008, the secretariat role for the IDPC transferred from the Beckley Foundation to Release – the London-based NGO focusing on drugs, the law and human rights – who will now co-ordinate financial, administrative and communications work for the Consortium.
The IDPC is also expanding their network of consultants around the world who work with governments to promote the development of humane and effective drug policies in accordance to the IDPC’s Five Policy Principles:
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- Drug policy decisions should be more informed by the best available evidence
- Drug policies should shift focus and priority from reducing the scale of the drug market to reducing its negative consequences
- Efforts to reduce the supply of drugs should not focus on the punishment of growers
- Efforts to reduce the demand for drugs should not focus on the punishment of users
- The UN system should develop a more co-ordinated and cohesive approach to drug policy issues
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There are currently consultants in Europe (Mike Trace and Grazia Zuffa), Asia (Gabor Somogyi), Latin America (Coletta Youngers) and the Caribbean (Dr Marcus Day).
As always, the IDPC website also contains links to numerous publications from member organisations, as well as key meetings hosted by the Consortium and others.
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10th June 2008
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Methadone Maintenance Therapy Starts in Ukraine
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In May 2008, following extensive campaigning from the harm reduction community, new programmes of methadone maintenance therapy for people who inject opiate drugs have started in the Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Odessa and Zaporizhzhya. The programmes are being implemented by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance with funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
According to IHRA’s recent Global State of Harm Reduction report, 63 countries around the world currently have medically assisted substitution therapy programmes in place. The expansion of programmes in Ukraine represents a further step towards IHRA’s goal of developing a globally conducive environment for harm reduction.
Despite Ukraine having an estimated 325,000 to 425,000 injecting drug users – and one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in Europe – initiating the implementation of substitution treatment has been a long battle. Since 2003, international donors and civil society have been extensively lobbying the Government, yet the importation of methadone was only authorised by state law in 2007. Ukraine had already started pilot substitution therapy programmes in 2005 using buprenorphine. However, methadone is a significantly cheaper medication than buprenorphine, and it is hoped that the cost savings of these new programmes will allow greater access – with over 2,000 patients receiving methadone maintenance therapy from 38 healthcare facilities across Ukraine by September 2008.
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10th June 2008
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IHRA Moves London Office
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In June 2008, IHRA moved the location of their London Office from Bermondsey Street to:
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Unit 704
The Chandlery
50 Westminster Bridge Road
London
England
SE1 7QY
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The new contact telephone number for the London Office is +44 (0) 207 953 7412, and the new fax number is +44 (0) 207 953 7404. All IHRA email addresses remain the same, as does the address of IHRA’s Melbourne Office.
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10th June 2008
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UNODC Call for Greater Focus on “Three HRs”
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In May 2008, Antonio Maria Costa (Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) delivered a keynote speech at Harm Reduction 2008: IHRA’s 19th International Conference, and stated that health is the “first principle” of the international drug conventions. Mr. Costa also noted that an “unintended consequence” of the international focus on law enforcement and security in the last few decades has been a lack of focus on health. There is a need, he said, to go back to “square one” to make the drug conventions “fit for purpose”.
Mr. Costa recognised that public health had been given mere “lip service” in the past, with disproportionate spending on law enforcement being a clear reflection of this. As a consequence, individual people who use drugs have been neglected. Mr. Costa called for a comprehensive package of interventions – including law enforcement, alternative development, education, prevention, treatment and harm reduction. He summed up this comprehensive package by calling for a focus on “three HRs”: Harm Reduction, Health Responses, and Human Rights.
Mr. Costa’s speech at the conference in Barcelona closely followed his address at the 51st session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March 2008. He noted that the UNODC is not “a human rights agency”, but recognised that human rights are intrinsic to its mandate and closed his speech by again calling for an end to the death penalty for drug offences. Previously, Mr. Costa had stated that “although drugs kill, I do not believe we should kill for drugs”. In Barcelona, he went even further and stated that the death penalty should only be used for the “most serious crimes”, while welcoming the work of IHRA and Human Rights Watch in bringing the issue of the death penalty to his attention.
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Click here to view Mr. Costa’s keynote speech [PDF:37KB]
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3rd June 2008
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New Harm Reduction Coalition Launched for Police
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In May 2008, the Burnet Institute's Centre for Harm Reduction launched a new network and resource centre for police personnel who are in support of harm reduction: the Coalition Of Police Supporting Harm Reduction (COPS HR).
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‘COPS HR’ has been established to provide a forum for information sharing, debate, discussion and interaction between police officers and others – whether they are existing supporters of harm reduction or not. The new network will provide:
• Advice and support for police and other officials working within the criminal justice system who wish to know about policies and practices that are consistent with harm reduction
• Access to police training and education material and other resources
• A forum for problem-solving, sharing of experiences, information and ideas
• Examples of police policies and good practice that support harm reduction
• Advocacy tools for harm reduction with police
• Assistance for individuals and organisations who are working with police to help them develop positive working relationships focusing on more effective responses to drug issues in their community
‘COPS HR’ is managed and maintained by Greg Denham, Senior Technical Advisor for Law Enforcement at the Centre for Harm Reduction (and a former police officer with over 22 years experience). For more information, access to the online resources, or to register for the network, please visit www.burnet.edu.au/home/chr/copshr or email the COPS HR Team.
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