Presentations from the conference “The art of the possible: advancing drug policy reforms in Latin America”, hosted by TNI, WOLA and the George Washington University on May 6th 2010, are now available online.
Several UN agencies and other groups have recently issued statements opposing drug detention centres and calling for their closure. In response to a letter from Human Rights Watch, UNAIDS head Michel Sidibe called for the “earliest possible closure of detention centres.” The World Health Organization also sent its own letter reiterating the UNAIDS stance.
Whether it's Afghanistan or Colombia, drug-producing countries face strikingly similar challenges: severe control policies push communities deeper into poverty, worsen conflicts, cause rights violations, uproot people, and damage the environment. Harm reduction strategies are cheap, effective and easy to implement. Yet rarely have they been implemented by countries producing illicit crops.
On May 11th, the first edition of “Drug policy, HIV and human rights – contributions for reflection and action”, a new virtual training course in Spanish, was launched with the goal of organising and training Latin American activists.
Brett Davidson (Open Society Institute’s Public Health Programme, Cape Town) interviewed István Gábor Takács, from the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU). István has produced more than 200 short advocacy videos as part of HCLU’s successful video advocacy programme.
The International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (ICSDP) is an international network of scientists, academics, and health practitioners committed to improving the health and safety of communities and individuals affected by illicit drugs. The ICSDP conducts scientific research in the form of systematic reviews, evidence-based drug policy guidelines, and research collaborations with scientists and institutions across continents and disciplines.
President Obama has released the Administration’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy, which establishes five-year goals for reducing drug use and its consequences through a balanced policy of prevention, treatment, enforcement, and international cooperation.
HCLU is now calling for applications to the “The Dark Side of Drug Policies” scholarship for journalists who are prepared to work on an investigative report about a specific problem generated by drug policies in their countries. The aim of the scholarship is raise media awareness on the consequences of drug control policies at the local or national level.
During the negotiations on the EU resolution in view of CND 2010, the Italian government tried to challenge the European wide position on Harm Reduction. This fact has raised a harsh debate between the Italian Drug Policy Department and a group of Italian NGOs. The controversy was reported in the Italian national paper Il Manifesto (article by Salvina Rissa), and Italian NGOs released a statement, available below.
Welcome to the new Facebook fan page dedicated to methadone. Through this page, we can collaborate with fellow NGOs to create a large group that will attract press attention and engage the public in the struggle around access to OST in many countries, Russia and Scotland being the most pertinent current examples.
The Washington Office on Latin America announces the third annual WOLA-Duke Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America for the best current, non-fiction book published in English on human rights, democracy and social justice in contemporary Latin America. The author of the winning book will receive a $1,000 cash prize.