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30th September 2008
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Youth RISE Announce New Internship Opportunities
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Youth RISE (Resources, Information, Support and Education) is an international youth-driven network for reducing the risks and harms associated with substance youth. Youth RISE recognises that young people face a wide range of specific barriers when it comes to accessing harm reduction services, advocating for harm reduction interventions or engaging with harm reduction and drug policy organisations at a national, regional or international level.
The network was established at the 17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug-Related Harm in Canada, May 2006. A year later, the network received its first core funding from IHRA. Youth RISE is currently the only international youth network for harm reduction issues, providing cutting edge work on young people and substance use throughout the world.
Youth RISE has just announced two new unpaid, internship opportunities in order to support the work of the network – one for ‘Communications / Information Technology’ and one for ‘Fundraising / Partnership Development’. These positions will provide the successful applicants with the opportunity to work at an international level in youth engagement, harm reduction and drug policy issues. Interns will be able to gain invaluable experience working for an international youth organisation and working with international partner organisations and donors. Interns will also gain networking skills and an insight into grant processes.
The deadline for applications is Monday 6th October 2008. Please circulate this message to any young people who you think might be interested.
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26th September 2008
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IHRA and Human Rights Watch Host Side-Event at UN Human Rights Council
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On 16th September 2008, IHRA and Human Rights Watch held the first ever NGO side-event at the Human Rights Council to specifically address human rights and drug policy. The event – at the 9th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland – attracted representatives from World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Amnesty International, the International Drug Policy Consortium and a number of country delegations and UN journalists.
The Human Rights Council is the most senior political body at the United Nations dealing specifically with human rights. It is an inter-governmental body made up of 47 States, and was created in 2006 in order to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe, and to ensure that human rights obtained a higher status within the UN political structure. The Human Rights Council reports directly to the General Assembly and, as such, stands alongside the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council in representing the three central 'pillars' of the UN system - Security, Development and Human Rights. The Human Rights Council’s predecessor – the ‘Commission on Human Rights’ had a more junior position as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (where it sat alongside the Commission on Narcotic Drugs).
The event – entitled 'Ensuring Human Rights in Drug Policy: A Panel and Discussion on Human Rights and Public Health Challenges in Policies Relating to Drug Control' – was introduced by Annette Verster from WHO, who set out their position on harm reduction and noted that those countries which have adopted public health and harm reduction approaches to HIV prevention among injecting drug users had also been the most successful in addressing the epidemic.
The other speakers in the session included Susan Timberlake (Senior Human Rights and Law Advisor at UNAIDS) – who outlined the need for harm reduction interventions as part of a human rights based approach to HIV prevention, including the right to benefit from scientific progress (as contained in the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights). Catherine Cook (Research Analyst at IHRA) then highlighted the extent of injecting worldwide and the significant gaps in harm reduction that are evident in many parts of the world. Eric Schneider (Co-Director of ACCES and a member of the International Network of People who Use Drugs) addressed prohibition from a drug user’s perspective and detailed the many consequences of criminal justice approaches to drug policies, which he described as a “Is this a war on drugs, or a war on drug users?”. Rebecca Schleifer (Human Rights Watch) then detailed the wide range of human rights abuses that take place in the global war on drugs, and Professor Manfred Nowak (the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture) called on the Human Rights Council to consider drug policy as a cross-cutting issue worthy of its attention. He also noted that addressing poverty, HIV, children’s issues and gender equality had all taken onboard a rights-based approach at the UN level and that it was now time for the same to happen in relation to drug policy. Professor Nowak went on to state that this approach must be underpinned by the principles of non-discrimination, participation and, most importantly, accountability.
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This event coincided with meetings between IHRA and Human Rights Watch and various United Nations staff, Geneva-based NGOs and representatives of UN human rights treaty bodies. It was an important step in the developing work by both IHRA and Human Rights Watch to bridge the gap between the ‘Parallel Universes’ of the UN drug policy and human rights systems.
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26th September 2008
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Latest Developments and Priorities from the International Drug Policy Consortium
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The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) is a loose network of NGOs and professional bodies that come together to analyse national and international drug policy debates, and advocate for more humane and effective policies and programmes. In the last couple of years, IDPC has built up a global structure for communication – with 32 member organisations across all the continents, and over 20,000 individuals and organisations worldwide receiving regular email alerts.
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While maintaining its independence as an NGO network, the IDPC has been established to work closely with officials in governments and international agencies in a constructive way to find solutions to drug policy dilemmas and challenges that comply with our Five Policy Principles. This ‘critical friend’ function depends on the following:
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- Producing credible and challenging analyses of current policy impacts and future policy options. The IDPC and its members have produced a steady stream of reports and briefings on various aspects of drug policy – all of which are downloadable from our website - www.idpc.info.
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- Creating and promoting recommendations for policy improvements that are challenging and evidence-based, while at the same time being politically and institutionally feasible. Our policy recommendations are contained within a series of ‘advocacy notes’ that can also be downloaded from the website.
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- Developing close and respectful working relationships with policy-makers and officials in national governments and international agencies, through which our policy proposals can be constructively discussed and incorporated into the governmental process. At the time of writing, our network has strong and constructive relationships with 28 governments around the world, and with officials at the WHO, UNODC, and UNAIDS.
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In 2008, the IDPC advocacy focus is on the international drug policy debates being conducted at the United Nations, and through regional structures in Europe and Latin America.
In the United Nations, a review of the last ten years of global drug control is being conducted and culminates in a political meeting in Vienna in 2009. The IDPC has produced a series of briefing documents on this process, and has been closely involved with progressive governments to promote a positive outcome from the review. IDPC aims to ensure that this review acknowledges the limitations and unintended consequences of a law enforcement-based approach to drug control, while promoting an approach that gives a much greater priority to the health and social aspects of the problem – including a clear acceptance and promotion of harm reduction. While there are signs that this principle is now receiving widespread support, several countries are still resisting open support for harm reduction measures (despite their unequivocal acceptance in other UN bodies), so there are battles to be fought on this issue before March.
At the European Union, the 27 member states have increasingly sought to agree shared principles and activities that govern and strengthen their national drug strategies and programmes. This process has been enshrined in a series of EU-wide drug strategies and action plans. The current strategy runs from 2005 to 2012, and is currently going through its mid-term review. While this strategy is broadly in accordance with IDPC’s Five Policy Principles, an advocacy note has been written on this mid-term review and calls on the EU to be more rigorous in its scrutiny of the cost effectiveness of supply reduction activities, to be more active in promoting their balanced and rights-based approach in international debates, and to find more robust mechanisms for involving civil society in future policy debates.
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Finally, in Latin America and Asia, IDPC and its members are encouraging a higher level of drug policy debate amongst the relevant governments, and have supported a number of initiatives to stimulate and facilitate such debate. IDPC members have also been working hard to provide governments in these regions with new ideas with which to tackle the drug problems in their territories.
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26th September 2008
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WHO-EURO Releases Dublin Declaration Progress Report
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The World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe has recently released a comprehensive report entitled ‘Progress on Implementing the Dublin Declaration on Partnership to Fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia’. This landmark report contains 15 thematic sections – each addressing the many political actions agreed in the Declaration – and nine country reports. It was written and reviewed by more than 75 experts from the field - including Damon Barrett and Rick Lines from IHRA’s HR2 (Harm Reduction and Human Rights) programme.
In February 2004, under the auspices of the Irish presidency of the European Union (EU), the governments of Europe and Central Asia gathered in Dublin, Ireland to express their concerns about the region’s HIV epidemic and to reaffirm their commitment to act collectively in response to HIV and AIDS. This commitment is reflected in the ‘Dublin Declaration’, which was adopted as a result of this meeting and set out a range of actions with a special emphasis on political leadership.
Four years after the Declaration was adopted, this initial progress report takes stock of the situation across the region. It discusses which indicators can best help us to understand current efforts to combat HIV, how to interpret the most recent data collected for these indicators, and how to improve HIV efforts.
The resulting 300-page document has been edited by Srdan Matic, Jeffrey V. Lazarus, Stine Nielsen and Ulrich Laukamm-Josten from WHO-EURO. A shorter policy brief – summarising the key findings – is also available in English and Russian.
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25th September 2008
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September 2008 Article of the Month: UN Reference Group Launch New Data on Injecting Drug Use and HIV
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Mathers BM, Degenhardt L, Phillips B, Wiessing L, Hickman M, Strathdee SA, Wodak A, Panda S, Tyndall M, Toufik A & Mattick RP, for the 2007 Reference Group to the UN on HIV and Injecting Drug Use (2008) Global Epidemiology of Injecting Drug Use and HIV Among People who Inject Drugs: A Systematic Review. The Lancet, 372.
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The Reference Group to the United Nations on HIV and Injecting Drug Use has published the results of a comprehensive global evidence review, and have concluded that there are 15.9 million injecting drug users (IDU) around the world, around three million (one in five) of whom could have HIV. Almost 40% of the IDU were estimated to be living in China, the USA and Russia. In addition, nine countries have HIV rates amongst IDU of 40% or more – Argentina, Brazil, Burma, Estonia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Ukraine and Thailand (the location for Harm Reduction 2009: IHRA’s 20th International Conference.
The report indicates that – although there are huge discrepancies worldwide – HIV as driven by injecting drug use is a widespread, global dilemma. The authors call for increases in the coverage of harm reduction and HIV prevention activities for injecting drug users (such as needle exchange and substitution treatments), as well as increases in the coverage of HIV treatment and care. In an accompanying commentary in The Lancet, Kamyar Arasteh and Don Des Jarlais state that “if HIV-prevention efforts are implemented on a large scale… it is possible to avert HIV epidemics… Thus, it should be an imperative – for both resource-constrained countries and international donors – to implement large-scale evidence-based programmes for HIV prevention”.
The Reference Group reviewed over 11,000 documents (including published research, government papers and non-government reports), and also held consultations with world experts in the field. The new estimate for global injecting drug users (IDU) is a significant increase on an 2004 estimate of 13.2 million – reached by the former Reference Group work which was undertaken by IHRA’s Executive Director Professor Gerry Stimson. The new data also indicates that the number of countries reporting IDU has increased from 103 countries in 1998 to 130 countries in 2004 to 148 countries in 2008. The new data are similar to IHRA’s recent Global State of Harm Reduction report, which reported IDU in 158 countries.
However, the authors warn that the true extent of the problem is still largely unknown, as “existing data are far from adequate, in both quality and quantity”. In particular, several countries at risk (including many in Africa and the Middle East) are not reporting on the problem.
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24th September 2008
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Funds Available for Harm Reduction Projects in the Middle East and North Africa
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The Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA) has just announced a new call for proposals for harm reduction projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Since June 2007, the MENAHRA project – with the assistance of IHRA and the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO-EMRO) – has been building capacity for harm reduction through three sub-regional ‘Knowledge Hubs’ (in Iran, Lebanon and Morocco). The programme of work is now expanding further by funding smaller harm reduction projects across the region.
Funding is available both for existing harm reduction organisations who wish to expand their work and to local organisations who wish to move into harm reduction. In order to gain funding, projects should aim to demonstrate the feasibility, implementation and/or effectiveness of harm reduction interventions in the region. The aim is that these projects will serve as models for harm reduction development in the region – and thus encourage others to start harm reduction projects and help build harm reduction capacity.
Following an earlier call, the application procedure for funding has now been simplified and initial ideas can be submitted using a short ‘Grant Enquiry’ form. Technical advice is also being made available for organisations that require support to develop their ideas and proposals. Preference will be given for applications under $50,000 per annum, and organisations may apply at any time (there are no closing dates for the application process).
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For further details about this call for proposals and how to apply, please visit the MENAHRA website – www.menahra.org or contact asd@emro.who.int – marking your email for the attention of Joumana Hermez.
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19th September 2008
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Call for Comments: UNODC / WHO / UNAIDS Policy Statement on HIV in Prisons
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The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) have developed a draft policy statement on the issue of HIV testing and counselling in prisons and other closed settings. In September 2008, they disseminated a final draft for comments and feedback from key partners around the world.
The Policy Statement has been developed from a background document prepared by Ralf Jürgens, an expert meeting held in September 2007, and a number of further consultations. A ‘call for comments’ has now been issued - the final stage of development for this important document – and, to ensure wider dissemination, the final draft is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. To receive the draft documents and the pro forma for providing feedback, please contact hivtc@who.int. Comments must be submitted before October 7th 2008.
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17th September 2008
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INPUD Invite Comments on New ‘Consensus Position’
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Following a summer of discussions and debate, the Board of the International Network of People who Use Drugs (INPUD) has released a ‘Consensus Position’ to guide the future of the organisation. This document has been produced following a lengthy process of consensus building amongst the numerous INPUD members and stakeholders. It sets out a strategy for taking INPUD forward over the next 18 months – up to the IHRA conference in 2010. Once approved, this strategy will empower the expanded INPUD Board to lead the organisation with a clear mandate from its membership.
At present, the ‘Consensus Position’ is a draft document (‘Version 8’), and the INPUD Board would like to welcome any comments or feedback from those with an active interest in the Network. This consultation process will be open until 19th October 2008. A final draft will then be written and presented to attendees at an INPUD General Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark on 31st October 2008, where it is hoped that the document will be agreed and ratified.
One of the secondary aims of this consultation process is to develop a comprehensive database of drug user activists and drug user groups from around the world. The INPUD Board is asking all of the organisation’s partners and supporters to disseminate this document as widely as possible and help INPUD to reach as many activists as possible.
Feedback, comments and responses can be submitted to Matthew Southwell – or sent by fax or post (please see Page 12 of the document for more details) – by 19th October 2008. Alternatively, comments or concerns can be raised in person at the General Meeting.
INPUD was established in 2006 with funding and support from the International Harm Reduction Association. Over the last two years, under the guidance of Stijn Goossens (the Executive Director), INPUD has established an advocacy role for people who use drugs at major international platforms. However, at a series of INPUD side-meetings during Harm Reduction 2008, concerns were raised about the structure and representativeness of the organisation. As a result, this ‘Consensus Position’ has been created, with the aim that INPUD can re-group and re-launch in time for the International Drug User Day (on November 1st).
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 Click here to view the INPUD ‘Draft Consensus Position (Version 8)’ [PDF:675KB]
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17th September 2008
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Where’s the Methadone?
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 To raise awareness about the worldwide lack of access to methadone and buprenorphine – proven, effective substitution medications for opiate dependence that are on the WHO Essential Medicines List – the International Harm Reduction Development (IHRD) programme of the Open Society Institute launched a ‘Where’s the Methadone?’ campaign at the XVII AIDS Conference in Mexico City.
Methadone and buprenorphine are lifesaving medications that help prevent HIV and help those on AIDS treatments stay on them, yet they are currently available to less than 10% of people who need them. In order to promote these effective treatments, two Mexican wrestler superheroes – ‘Methadone Man’ and ‘Buprenorphine Babe’ – took the Conference by storm and provided posters, postcards and information to the 20,000 delegates.
Please visit www.wheresthemethadone.org or www.wheresthebupe.org to join the campaign. The websites are available in English, Russian and Spanish, and provide further information about methadone and buprenorphine and their benefits for people who use drugs and society in general. Visitors to the website can also sign a petition calling for humane and effective drug treatment, link to the ‘FaceBook’ campaign , and sign up for updates.
Millions are waiting for their medicine. Please help Methadone Man and Buprenorphine Babe stop HIV in its tracks!
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3rd September 2008
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Harm Reduction 2009: Registration and Abstract Submission Opens
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The online registration system for Harm Reduction 2009: IHRA’s 20th International Conference is now open – along with the abstract submission system – and the delegate fees have been announced. Registration and abstract submission for the conference are easy, online processes designed to handle all delegate needs and enquiries in a secure and efficient manner.
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Click Here to Register Now!
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Due to continued re-investment from the previous successful events, the delegate fees for Harm Reduction 2009 have been kept at the same level as – or reduced from – the 2008 conference, despite an increase in the core event costs. There are also discounts available for delegates whose payments clear before January 22nd 2009 (the ‘Early Bird’ deadline), Thai nationals, students, members of drug user organisations, delegates from ‘Low’ or ‘Middle income countries, and paying IHRA members.
Delegates are also encouraged to submit abstracts for presentation at the event, and the conference organisers are particularly interested in receiving abstracts from delegates (especially those from Thailand and South-East Asia) who are involved in delivering innovative harm reduction services, have some new and ground-breaking research to report on, have an example of an effective or successful advocacy campaign, or wish to discuss or debate a particular area of harm reduction policy.
Abstracts must be submitted in English, be no longer than 300 words and be submitted before November 10th 2008. IHRA has created a short ‘Guide for Developing and Submitting an Abstract’ to assist in this process – including information about the conference, how abstracts are reviewed and chosen, and suggested abstract formats.
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3rd September 2008
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Argentine Conference on Drug Policy: Conclusions and Perspectives
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The ‘VI National Conference on Drug Policy’ took place at the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires in August 2008 and attracted over 450 delegates. The event was organised by Intercambios Civil Association and supported by the Open Society Institute, and attended by legislators, judges, policy makers, professionals from the judicial system and health institutions, representatives of NGOs, and people who use drugs.
In order to feedback from the conference, Intercambios have uploaded a report – entitled ‘Conclusions and Perspectives’ – onto their website alongside details of the programme, agenda, presenters and sponsors. The report is a run down of the main sessions and key speakers – including the Argentine the Vice Minister of Health (Juan Carlos Nadalich) and the Minister of Justice, Security, and Human Rights (Aníbal Fernández), who declared that “Drug policy in this Government has a course… a strong policy of harm reduction”.
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