 Thursday, 5 February 2026. 11:00 – 12:15 CET

People who inject drugs remain disproportionately affected by HIV, viral hepatitis, overdose, and other injection-related harms. Needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) are a cornerstone of evidence-based harm reduction and are proven to prevent HIV and hepatitis C transmission, reduce injection-related infections, and serve as a critical entry point to broader health and social services.

Despite decades of evidence and strong WHO recommendations, NSP coverage remains insufficient in many countries. Structural barriers such as criminalization, stigma, discrimination, and under-financing continue to limit access, coverage, and quality.

This new WHO operational guide translates normative guidance into practical, step-by-step direction for planning, implementing, monitoring, and scaling up NSPs across diverse contexts, with a strong emphasis on community leadership, human rights, and health system integration.

The webinar will present the key WHO recommendations and guiding principles for effective implementation of NSPs, introducing the five-module framework outlined in the new operational guide. It will highlight the central role of community-led and peer-based approaches, explore common implementation challenges and enabling factors – such as policy, financing, and health system integration – and share global perspectives on how NSPs contribute to achieving the 2030 HIV and viral hepatitis targets.

The webinar is intended for national and sub-national programme planners and policymakers, service providers delivering NSPs and harm reduction services, and community-led organizations and networks of people who use drugs. It will also be relevant for donors and technical partners, as well as researchers and advocates working in HIV, viral hepatitis, overdose prevention, and drug policy

Tereza Kasaeva, Director, Department for HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, and Sexually Transmitted Infections, WHO

Antons Mozalevskis, Technical Officer, Department for HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis, and Sexually Transmitted Infections, WHO

Annie Madden, International Network of People who Use Drugs

Lisa Maher, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales

Moderator: Niklas Luhmann, Île-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS)

WHO Operational guide for needle and syringe programmes for people who inject drugs - Global webinar

Wednesday, 25 February 2026 / 14:00 - 15:00 (London) - 

The tenth edition of the IDPC webinar on the regular session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) focuses on its 

, which will take place in Vienna from 9-13 March 2026.

The webinar will shed light the key issues that are likely to structure the debates, discuss tabled resolutions and opportunities for engagement, and showcase the experience of IDPC network members in navigating and leveraging this forum for political advocacy.

This event will be available in English, Spanish and French.

CND 69: Key issues and opportunities

The 68th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) takes place at the Vienna International Centre (VIC) between 9-13 March 2026. For general information on the CND, check out the dedicated section of our website on 

Side events at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) 69th session (9–13 March 2026) are open to Member States, UN entities, intergovernmental organisations, and NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC. Events must be thematically relevant to the work of the Commission, and each organiser may submit only one application.

Applications for CND side events are open from 5 to 23 January 2026 

and are considered on a first come, first served basis, with priority given to Member States. Proposals must include a title, description, organiser details, and the event modality (in-person, online or hybrid). Only co-organisers listed at the time of submission will appear in the official programme.

Side events are self-serviced by organisers and can be held in-person, online or in hybrid format. Event links for online or hybrid meetings must be submitted by 25 February 2026 and will be published in the UN Journal. Interpretation services are not provided.

69th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)

“Accelerating crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: protecting people and planet and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the digital age.”

The Fifteenth Crime Congress will be held from 25 to 30 April 2026 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates under the overall theme “Accelerating crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: protecting people and planet and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the digital age”, in line with the General Assembly resolution 

High-level segment (Heads of State, Ministers, etc.)

Single declaration, later reviewed by the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

Regional preparatory meetings starting in 2025

Emphasis on participation of least developed countries, civil society, academia, and NGOs

Encourages early preparation by Member States and creation of national preparatory committees

15th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

 convenes thousands of participants from across the world to address the growing impact of digital technologies on human rights. Through panels, workshops, roundtables and closed-door meetings, the summit provides a space for collective strategy-building across sectors and regions.

Over more than a decade, RightsCon has grown into the world’s leading global forum on digital rights, rotating across regions and adapting to the evolving political, technological and regulatory landscape. Its programme reflects the complexity of today’s digital environment, from surveillance and censorship to platform accountability and emerging technologies.

The 2026 edition will take place in Lusaka, Zambia, marking a return to the African continent and the first RightsCon hosted in South-Central Africa. The summit will be held in person and online from 5 to 8 May 2026, building on discussions and outcomes from RightsCon 2025 in Taipei.

RightsCon 2026 aims to strengthen global solidarity, amplify regional perspectives, and support coordinated action to defend human rights in an increasingly digitised world.

Drugs, Data & Justice: Resisting Algorithmic Policing, Building Community Safety

The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), Conectas Direitos Humanos, Statewatch, and European Digital Rights (EDRi) 

convene this roundtable to examine how artificial intelligence and other digital technologies are reshaping drug policy, law enforcement, and access to public services — often with harmful consequences for marginalised communities.

The session will explore the expansion of algorithmic policing, biometric surveillance, and welfare profiling in the name of drug control, and how these systems intensify racialised surveillance, exclusion, and institutional violence. Drug policy reform advocates, harm reduction practitioners, people who use drugs, digital rights activists, and sex workers’ rights advocates will share concrete case studies from Oceania, Europe, and Latin America, highlighting both harms and resistance strategies.

Through facilitated discussion and breakout groups, participants will identify current digital implementations, assess existing advocacy and accountability approaches — including litigation, oversight, and narrative change — and explore community-driven, care-based alternatives that advance harm reduction and community safety. The session aims to distil 5–7 actionable strategies and lay the groundwork for sustained cross-movement collaboration at the intersection of digital rights and drug policy.

RightsCon 2026

The struggle for drug policies that are accountable, evidence-based and rights-affirming stands at a crossroads. Despite important wins worldwide, many governments are once again retreating into punishment and repression. While painful, this backlash does not weaken our resolve — it sharpens it. 

We must organise differently, resist strategically, and deepen community engagement to galvanise action.

Support. Don’t Punish 2026 Global Day of Action

, centred around 26 June, is a powerful moment of transnational solidarity. The day brings together communities, movements, and allies to accelerate our commitment towards responses that prioritise care, dignity and justice.

Since 2013, the campaign has grown from a small mobilisation into a decentralised and grassroots-centred movement spanning hundreds of cities worldwide. Each action, whether a march, community dialogue, artistic intervention or direct policy engagement, reflects local priorities. Yet, together, they form a collective demand for change that is impossible to ignore.

This year, we ask you to prepare not for a symbolic day, but a moment of practical and political organising

. To amplify community leadership, confront stigma and criminalisation, and defend rights and democracy at a time when they are increasingly threatened.

, to map actions around the world and provide as much financial and practical support as possible. With resources under strain, thoughtful and strategic preparation will be essential.

You can also strengthen this work by donating to the campaign’s

. All contributions go directly to support grassroots organising in the Global South, where funding is most limited and the harms of repression most severe.

Support. Don’t Punish Global Day of Action 2026

Scientific progress over the 40-plus years of the HIV response has transformed HIV into a manageable condition if you have access to treatment. By the end of 2024, the number of AIDS-related deaths had dropped by 54% and new HIV acquisitions by 40% since 2010. HIV treatment is now so effective that the virus can be undetectable and, therefore, untransmittable. We have highly successful long-acting HIV prevention options, including the injectables, lenacapavir and cabotegravir, with a long-acting oral prevention technology on the horizon.

Despite these gains, UNAIDS data suggests stagnant progress in recent years: 1.3 million people acquired HIV and 630,000 people died of AIDS-related causes in 2023 and again in 2024. There continue to be huge gaps in HIV prevention and treatment: 9.2 million people living with HIV were not getting life-saving medicines in 2024. This is because old barriers to HIV services persist. Among them are stigma and discrimination, criminalization and structural inequalities between populations and countries.

In early 2025, the suspension of US foreign aid, including PEPFAR, triggered a funding crisis that threatens to widen those gaps. This underscores the urgent need for countries to strengthen domestic financing, improve efficiencies and prioritize sustainability.

We have to work together to prevent the current crisis from rolling back progress.

Join the International Aids Society at the 26th annual AIDS conference in Rio de Janeiro and virtually from July 26-31, 2026, for vital conversations to rethink, rebuild and rise.

AIDS 2026 - 26th International AIDS conference

The reconvened 69th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs is expected to take place on 3-4 December 2026 in Vienna, Austria.