The UNITE Global Summit will focus on the network's 3 core strategic themes:

UNITE Global Summit 2022

The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union on behalf of the EU, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Aidsfonds are pleased to invite you to a panel discussion on

“Closing inequality gaps for people who inject drugs: Promoting community-led responses for rights-based and people-centered health services”

Wednesday, 30th November 2022, 14:00 – 15:45 Central European Time

, National Drug Coordinator of the Czech Republic, Office of the Government, Czech Republic

, Director for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs, UNODC

, Representative of the European Commission

, Director, Division for the control of HIV, STIs, Viral Hepatitis and TB, Ministry of Health, Spain

, Head of Health and AIDS Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands

For further queries on the content of the meeting, please contact Ms. Camilla Contorni (camilla.contorni@un.org) and Ms. Everine Akello (akelloe@unaids.org).

Closing inequality gaps for people who inject drugs: Promoting community-led responses for rights-based and people-centered health services

On the occasion of World AIDS Day 2022, the chairs of the informal

 Group of Friends of HIV Prevention for People Who Use Drugs and People Living in Prison Settings 

UNODC Group of Friends for Gender Equality

 would like to cordially invite you to the event, 

"EQUALIZE": Addressing barriers to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment among women who use drugs and women in prisons

This event, marking World AIDS Day 2022, will raise awareness about the barriers faced by women who use drugs and women in prison in accessing services related to HIV, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), viral hepatitis, and sexual and reproductive health. The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day – “Equalize” – reflects the need to move from recognizing the inequalities that impede the global response to AIDS to acting on them. This World AIDS Day observation will include perspectives on the barriers to ending HIV/AIDS among women who use drugs and women in prisons.

Thursday, 1st December, 16:00 – 17:00 CET in hybrid format

Virtual attendance can be freely accessed with the Teams link.

From the outset, the European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies has been about stimulating and promoting high-quality scientific debate, showcasing leading European addiction research in the specialist areas of illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling and other addictive behaviours. Lisbon Addictions is a multidisciplinary conference that provides a forum for networking across the addictions field.

LxAddictions22 will showcase cutting-edge research to help characterise, understand and respond to addiction and addictive behaviours today. Providing opportunities for early-stage researchers to enhance their careers (through dedicated showcase sessions, networking activities and mentoring) is among the priorities of the Programme and Organising Committees.

The event is organised by: the Portuguese General-Directorate for Intervention on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (SICAD); the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA); the journal Addiction/Society for the Study of Addiction (Addiction/SSA); and the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE). More about organisers and partners >>

The next conference will take place from 23-25 November 2022.

More about the call for abstracts.
More about registration.

Early-bird fee: EUR 450 (until 31 March 2022)

Regular fee: EUR 550 (from 31 March 2022 until 31 July 2022)

Late registration: EUR 650 (after 31 July 2022)

PhD student fee: EUR 250 (until 31 March 2022)

Lisbon Addictions Conference

ISSDP will be holding a one-day, in-person meeting in Lisbon on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 prior to the 2022 Lisbon Addictions Conference, to a) provide an opportunity for ISSDP members to see each other again in person and b) to present and discuss drug policy research that is not covered in the main Lisbon addictions conference.

ISSDP one-day side-event conference to Lisbon Addictions

We are currently finalising the conference plan for HIT Hot Topics 2022, and all we want to do is tell you how much of a 

 it’s going to be to share it with you. Of course we are also planning to have all our usual side events.

For now though, we know that there of those of you who already know and trust that we’ll put on a great event and that you are eager to secure your place. Because of that, we are opening our usual “Super Early Bird” registration at a special discount; don’t forget that this discount ends once we start announcing our speakers.

HIT Hot Topics 2022

The researcher-policymaker dialogue: International feminist criminology and the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 

(Thursday, 17 November - 10:00 to 12:20 / Atlanta, Georgia, United States) with a presentation on 

Advocating for drug policy change at the UN CSW

. The panel is composed by the following presentations:

International Feminist Criminology and the United Nations - 

Rosemary Barberet, Sheetal Ranjan and Dawn Beichner / Through our roles as liaisons to the United Nations via our organizations’ ECOSOC status, Rosemary Barberet (International Sociological Association, Criminologists Without Borders), Sheetal Ranjan (Division on Women and Crime – American Society of Criminology), and Dawn Beichner (World Society of Victimology)., we have established an ongoing collaboration and working methods in providing a researcher-practitioner-policymaker dialogue at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This involves strategically organizing globally representative parallel events through the NGOCSW coalition, disseminating the results, and publishing the best presentations in our discipline’s journals. Each of the collaborative panels centers on aspects of international feminist criminal justice: the role of women/girls as offenders, victim/survivors, and students and professionals working in criminal justice professions. In addition, some of the presentations address CSW priority themes, which change every year. CSW has become the global gathering place for feminists and attracts over 50,000 participants each year, including activists, academics, scholar-activists, practitioners, and policymakers. Quite simply, we believe in building bridges between this scholarship, academic journals, and the United Nations audience.

- Houry Geudelekian, Chair of NGO Committee on the Status of Women (NGO CSW/NY), New York / NGO CSW/NY was founded in 1972 under the auspices of the Conference of NGOs (CoNGO) and is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2022. It was formed in preparation for the International Women’s Year (1975), the UN Decade of Women (1975-1985), and the First World Conference on Women held in Mexico City in 1975. Its mandate was to provide a forum for exchange of information, facilitating a corporation among its member organizations and later, assisting the international community in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action (after its adaption during the fourth International Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995) and other UN agreements. While NGO CSW/NY has developed and grown since 1972, it has been a key platform for international advocacy toward the promotion of women’s human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. This presentation will cover how academic NGOs such as the American Society of Criminology can provide input at international fora, as well as the gains made by NGOCSW in areas relating to women, crime and justice.

Advocating for Drug Policy change at CSW 

- Marie Nougier, Head of Research and Communications, International Drug Policy Consortium, London / Since 2008, Marie Nougier has been responsible for the communications and publications work stream of International Drug Policy Consortium, and engages in networking, civil society capacity building activities, and policy advocacy engagement, in particular at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Marie also supports IDPC’s activities in Latin America, where she helps coordinate a project to reduce the incarceration rate of women for drug offences. Marie is also a member of the Core Group of the EU Civil Society Forum on Drugs. Her language skills in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese are an asset for the development of a multilingual center of expertise at IDPC. Marie has a Masters’ Degree in international law, human rights, and the law of armed conflicts. She will address how evidence and research on women, drugs and incarceration can have an impact in international policymaking for a such as the CSW and the CND.

Gender-Based Violence: Global Knowledge, Global Action 

- Kalliopi Mingeirou, UN Women / This presentation will discuss how research has been used within the work of the United Nations and how researchers can improve their dialogue on these issues with the international community in the future.

Translational Research on Violence Against Women and the Role of Academic Journals 

- Claire M. Renzetti, University of Kentucky and Editor, 

There is a disconnect between research, practice, and policy in the criminological field. Often, very broad evidence-based ideas need to be reduced to actionable sentences that can fit into policy documents. This presentation examines the dialectical relationship between research and public policy by examining how research on violence against women has influenced various policy and legal reforms throughout the world, while specific policies and laws have prompted empirical research. Academic journals, as the primary venue for the dissemination of empirical research have a role – indeed, a responsibility – to publish research that does not simply satisfy academic curiosity, but instead, is purpose-driven, translational research. The presentation offers recommendations for how journals may achieve this goal.

265 Peachtree Center Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30303


$231 single & double (plus tax); additional person $20/night

Online reservations:
– Attendee
– Government Attendee

Ethics of Participation In and Guidelines for Participants

2022 American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting

Key topics: LEARNINGS FROM COVID, INTERNATIONAL NIGHT ADVOCACY MEETING, DRUG CHECKING, SEXUAL HEALTH & SEXUAL VIOLENCE, STRUCTURAL PREVENTION, SPACES OF THE FUTURE, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, DRUG POLICY, CULTURE, PARTICIPATION & INTEGRATION, TECHNICAL SOUNDPROOFING, SUSTAINABILITY, DEALING WITH MEDITERRANIZATION, ALCOHOL, OPEN SPACES, META & NFT …

The NIGHTS – the most important international conference on urban leisure culture – offers the ideal platform during 2 ½ days to combine expertise from the fields of culture, urban development, health & safety and economics. The objective is to jointly develop possible development paths for the nocturnal city of tomorrow, regardless of thematic and structural boundaries. In this way, the city will offer conditions that are as lovable and livable as possible, as well as being conflict-free and future-oriented.

NIGHTS 2022: International Nightlife Conference

Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)

 will hold its seventy-second regular session to be held at OAS headquarters in Washington D.C., 8-11 November, 2022. The agenda will include panels and presentations on a variety of drug related topics; the presentation of the CICAD Executive Secretariat’s Work Plan for 2023; the presentation of reports and election of 2023 authorities for CICAD experts groups; and the presentation of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism national reports on Measures to Control and Counter the Illicit Cultivation, Production, Trafficking, and Distribution of Drugs, and to Address their Causes and Consequences (supply reduction). The CICAD Executive Secretariat will also present its Report on Drug Supply in the Americas 2022.

72nd regular session of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)

To better understand the role of Afghan women in opiate trade in Afghanistan and following the publication of the “Voices of Quchaqbar” report, the UNODC’s Afghan Opiate Trade Project, under the framework of CRIMJUST initiated the current study, utilising a similar methodology to interview Afghan women. This study investigates Afghan women's role and involvement in the drug trade, motivations for entering and remaining in the drug trade, the business model and drug trafficking networks.

Mr. Michael Osman, Head, Afghan Opiate Trade Project, Border Management Branch, 

Mr. Alan Cole, Chief, Border Management Branch, UNODC

Representative, Research and Trend Analysis Branch, UNODC (tbc) 

Representative UNODC Country Office for Afghanistan - tbc • Representative UNODC Gender Team – tbc 

Introduction, overview of the study and presentation of the key findings 

Mr. Michael Osman, Head, Afghan Opiate Trade Project, Border Management Branch, UNODC 

Ms. Monika Roszkowska, Research Officer, Afghan Opiate Trade Project, Border Management Branch, UNODC

Launch of the UNODC report on Afghan women and the opiate trade

: Oct 27, 10am - 12pm ET / 27 de oct 9am-11am Bogotá

Isabel Pereira, Deputy Director, Dejusticia; @Dejusticia_en @Dejusticia 

Santiago Tobón, Visiting Professor, University of Chicago; Professor, Economics, EAFIT; @SantiagoTobon @EAFIT 

María Alejandra Vélez, Director, Center for the Study of Security and Drugs, Universidad de los Andes; @MajaVelez @CesedUniandes 

Ana Arjona, Associate Professor, Northwestern University; @anamarjona @PoliSciatNU @redesdal 

Ken Frankel, President, Canadian Council for the Americas; @knfrankel @CCACANADA

Colombia drug policy reform: a suggested roadmap

Yong-an Zhang - International Center for Drug Policy Studies ICDPS, Shanghai University (Chair)

Khalid Tinasti CCDP, Geneva Graduate Institute (Switzerland) ICDPS, Shanghai University (Moderator)

Gloria Lai, International Drug Policy Consortium Asia (Thailand)

Luciana Pol, Centro de Estudos Legales y Sociales (Argentina)

Deborah Alimi, Paris University Panthéon-Sorbonne (France)

Adeolu Adebiyi, West Africa Commission on Drugs (Nigeria)

Nazlee Maghsoudi, University of Toronto (Canada)

Past Events