UNAD is the Union of Associations and Institutions for Drug Dependent Care, founded in 1985, it is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation involved in the field of drug addiction and problems resulting from them.

UNAD es la red de entidades referente y líder en materia de adicciones, que fortalece a sus miembros y que interviene proactivamente en política social

Fondée en 1985, UNAD une organisation non gouvernementale, à but non lucratif impliquée dans le domaine de la dépendance et des problèmes qui en découlent.

Unión de Asociaciones y Entidades de Atención al Drogodependiente (UNAD)

L’IDPC s’est joint à un groupe de 18 organisations appelant la Commission européenne à remédier au manque de financement du travail mené dans les domaines de la demande de drogues et de la réduction des risques. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Civil society organisations sent an open letter to the EU Commission to criticise the new call for drug policy grant proposals that almost only focuses on law enforcement and excludes harm reduction.

Since the Drug Unit of the EU Commission was relocated to the Internal Security Department, civil society has been concerned about the continuous shifting of its approach towards a more repressive, law-and-order direction from a balanced, integrated model of drug policies.

The new call for proposals launched by the Commission is another step in this direction. Unlike the previous EC JUST drug policy grant calls, this funding mechanism almost only focuses on supply reduction. From its four objectives, three focuses on improving supply reduction, it has only one objective on drug prevention – while harm reduction is completely missing.

Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network (C-EHRN), an umbrella of European harm reduction organisations (Rights Reporter Foundation, the organisation operating this website, is a Steering Committee member) sent an open letter to Ilva Johanson, Commissioner of Home Affairs, and Fiona Sipala, the head of the Drug Unit of the EC, to address this issue.

“We write to you on behalf of Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network (CEHRN), representing 158 civil society organisations (CSO) working in the area of harm reduction drug policy in Europe. C-EHRN is part of Foundation De Regenboog Groep and, as such, is also represented in the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs.

Together with the undersigned networks, we would like to express our concern and disappointment with the current call of the Internal Security Grant concerning better law enforcement in the area of illicit drug trafficking. We believe this call does not reflect the principles of an evidence-based, integrated, balanced and multidisciplinary approach to the drugs phenomenon and is not in line with the Drug Strategy of the European Union. The call has a narrow focus on law enforcement interventions, with no objectives to improve complex public health and social services, including harm reduction.

For several years, the members and organisations we work with have benefited from the EC JUST Drug Policy grants launched by the European Commission. These grants demonstrated the balanced, evidence-based and multidisciplinary approach to drug policies in accordance with the core principles of the European Union. They provided an excellent opportunity for civil society organisations working in the field of drugs to cooperate internationally and exchange knowledge and good practices.
When the Drugs Unit was moved from the Justice Department to the Internal Security Department, civil society organisations were promised that this would not affect the balanced and multidisciplinary approach to drug policies of the EU Commission.
However, the apparent shift towards law enforcement and crime prevention proves different – with social and public health aspects slipping off the agenda.

The Internal Security call lays only limited emphasis on drug demand reduction and none at all on harm reduction. At the same time, no other EU Programme took over this responsibility, leaving drug demand and harm reduction behind, without any opportunity for EU funding and support.

This is an extremely concerning development. EU funding has become increasingly important in recent years because of the emerging funding crisis for harm reduction, especially in the Eastern part of the European Union. Since the 2008 economic crisis, funding for harm reduction has constantly been declining in most Member States.

Several essential services operated by CSOs have been closed down or curtailed due to budget cuts and the retreat of international donors.

On top of the funding crisis, CSOs experience a shrinking space for civil society in several Member States, where governments are increasingly hostile to those organisations that receive international funding or work with marginalised groups of society. With decreasing national and local funds, direct funding from the European Commission was often the only funding opportunity to improve advocacy and innovation in the harm reduction field for many organisations. This opportunity is now lost.

DG Home is the department within the EC responsible for developing and implementing a balanced, integrated and evidence-based EU Drug Policy. Such a balanced approach requires that funding mechanisms are available for all drug policy areas and not only for law enforcement and crime prevention programmes.

We, therefore, call upon the European Commission and DG Home to reinstall the funding mechanism for drug demand and harm reduction to ensure a balanced and evidence-based drug policy also in the future.

We look forward to your response and hope for your continued support for civil society in the area of drug policy and harm reduction.”

Drug Policy Network South East Europe [DPNSEE]

EU HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and Tuberculosis Civil Society Forum

Eurasian Harm Reduction Association [EHRA]

European Network of People Who Use Drugs [EuroNPUD]

Federation des Acteurs en Education en Promotion de la Sante de Guyane [AGRRR] International Drug Policy Consortium [IDPC]

International Network of People Who Use Drugs [INPUD]

Youth Organizations for Drug Actions [YODA]

La société civile demande un financement équilibré des politiques des drogues de l'UE

L’atelier de deux jours sera axé sur la pratique, interactif, et s'appuiera sur l'expérience et les besoins spécifiques des participants. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

Organised by UNAD, IDPC, RRF and AFEW International on behalf of the CSFD.

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) will organise an on-site workshop from 23th to 24th November in Madrid. Since advocacy is an important tool for civil society members to achieve their main goal of influencing public policies, this training workshop will bring together representatives from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the field of drugs in order to improve their capacities in formulating, implementing and evaluating advocacy actions.

The two-days workshop will be practical, interactive and builds upon the experience and the specific needs of up to 40 participants, which should come from EU member state, EEA, acceding, candidate or potential candidate country and be members of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs or related to one the members’ networks. Workshop language is mostly English. Travel and hotel costs will be covered for all participants, based on a pre-defined application process.

You can check all the information about the training workshop and the selection criteria in the document attached.

To join this event, please fill the registration form before 17th September: https://forms.gle/bgEzVw2oSnyXVFYw9

A final selection of participants will be made until 1st October. If you are selected, we will contact you to manage your trip. If you are not selected, we will inform you as well. A detailed agenda will be sent to selected participants in October.

For further questions, please contact Lola Capdepon at lola.capdepon@unad.org / unad@unad.org

Atelier de renforcement des capacités sur le plaidoyer de la société civile, organisé par le Forum de la société civile sur les drogues

En perspective du sommet des Nations Unies sur la drogue, des groupes de la société civile des quatre coins du monde ont publié une déclaration condamnant les gouvernements de ne pas reconnaître les conséquences dévastatrices des politiques punitives et répressivesen matière de drogue.


Dans une déclaration commune intitulée "Ungass 2016 : entre diplomatie et déni" promue par l'IDPC (International Drug Policy Consortium), quelque 200 ONG appellent les gouvernements à tenir compte de toutes les approches possibles pour sortir des politiques répressives et punitives en matière de drogues. Elles demandent que les gouvernements s'engagent fermement en faveur des droits humains, de la paix et de la santé au moment où ceux-ci se retrouvent à Vienne pour préparer le rapport final de l'UNGASS 2016.

Elles craignent en effet que les progrès constatés dans certains pays ne soient pas reconnus, voire complètement ignorés, et que l'UNGASS n'accouche d'une coquille vide.

Le directeur exécutif de l'IDPC, Ann Fordham, avoue qu'il est encore temps de sauver le processus avant la session de New-York, mais il faut que les gouvernements soient honnêtes envers eux-mêmes sur ce qui fonctionne et sur ce qui ne fonctionne pas, partant du fait que la guerre contre la drogue s'est révélée être un cuisant échec.

Abonnez-vous à l'Alerte mensuelle de l'IDPC pour recevoir des informations relatives à la politique des drogues.

Unión de Asociaciones y Entidades de Atención al Drogodependiente (UNAD)

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La société civile demande un financement équilibré des politiques des drogues de l'UE

Atelier de renforcement des capacités sur le plaidoyer de la société civile, organisé par le Forum de la société civile sur les drogues

Déclaration de la société civile - Le document final de l'UNGASS: Diplomatie ou négation de la réalité?