The Security Council, on 8 December, focused on the issue of drug trafficking as a threat to international peace and security. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned in his speech that "drug trafficking is evolving into an ever graver threat that is affecting all regions of the world".
Hungary is to adopt a progressive national drug strategy in December 2009, but the opposition is using the UN Political Declaration to prevent its adoption.
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has urged Poland to scale up access to antiretroviral therapy for drug users living with HIV and to increase the availability of substitute drug dependence treatment, especially for people in detention.
The International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy was lauched on Human Rights Day 2009 (10th December). The Centre is dedicated to developing and promoting innovative and high quality legal and human rights scholarship on issues related to drug laws, policy and enforcement.
A call for papers that bring the experiences of children and young people of the drug war. The editor is looking for original, well-written and engaging essays. They may be based on existing research, interviews, personal experiences or they may be more narrative or journalistic in style. The deadline for proposals is Friday 29th January 2010.
The web portal is a tool for activists, community organizations, researchers, policy-makers, journalists, health workers and anyone who seeks quick and easy access to a wide range of resources about HIV, human rights and the law.
The European network Correlation is currently drafting a manual on harm reduction methodologies. Correlation is therefore seeking projects and organisations in Europe and abroad with experience in the field of outreach/early intervention AND/OR peer support for drug users.
WOLA's Senior Associate for Drug Policy, John Walsh, testified at a hearing on "Assessing U.S. Drug Policy in the Americas" at the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
The First Regional Harm Reduction Conference of the Middle East and North Africa region was a great success. The event hosted by Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA) took place in Beirut from the 16th to the 18th November 2009.
Harm reduction, human rights and drug user advocacy groups have sent a letter to UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe expressing their strong concern about his speech at the opening plenary of the Eastern European and Central Asian AIDS Conference. Mr Sidibe has responded reaffirming UNAIDS support for comprehensive harm reduction and decriminalisation of people who use drugs.
At a conference on international human rights in Hanoi, Anand Grover, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, called for the decriminalisation of drug use and an end to compulsory drug rehabilitation camps in Asia.
Transform Drug Policy Foundation are to launch their internationally groundbreaking book, ‘After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation’ on 12th November 2009 in London, UK and Albuquerque,New Mexico. The book is also being launched in mainland Europe, South America, Australasia and Asia.