Aksion Plus is an Albanian organisation that aims to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS through education of youth and by raising awareness among the general population, especially vulnerable groups such as drug users, sex workers and street children.

Aksion Plus es una organización albanesa que tiene como objetivo de acabar con la propagación del VIH/SIDA mediante la educación de los jóvenes y la sensibilización de la población en general, especialmente los grupos más vulnerables como los usuarios de drogas, trabajadores sexuales y niños viviendo en la calle.

Aksion Plus est une organisation albanaise visant à stopper l’expansion du SIDA par le biais d’interventions éducatives et de prevention parmi la population, et surtout parmi les groupes les plus vulnérables (usagers de drogues, prostitué(e)s et enfants des rues).

Aksion Plus

To: Ms Ghada Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Subject: Open letter on UNODC statement on International Human Rights Day 2021

We urge you to mark International Human Rights Day 2021 by calling on Member States to change drug policies and practices that violate human rights and perpetuate inequality and discrimination.

We are writing to you ahead of International Human Rights Day 2021, which will take place on the 10th December amidst escalating global demands for the reform of laws and practices that entrench racial discrimination and social inequality, including drug policies. Last year, IDPC – together with dozens of other civil society and community organisations – called on you to issue a statement on International Human Rights Day urging Member States to change drug laws and practices that undermine health and human rights. A year later, we ask you to seize this day as an opportunity to show UNODC´s alignment with other UN entities in calling for an end to drug policies and practices that perpetuate inequality and discrimination, and violate human rights.

For decades, punitive drug policies have driven widespread human rights abuses, as has been amply documented by the UN. These include the death penalty for drug offences; extrajudicial killings; arbitrary detention, often masquerading as ‘rehabilitation’; the denial of access to life-saving harm reduction services; widespread barriers to accessing controlled medicines for pain relief; the criminalisation of people who use drugs, subsistence farmers and others groups in situations of vulnerability; corporal punishment; and mass incarceration. In all of these cases, draconian drug policies have disproportionately affected people marginalised on the basis of their gender, race, ethnicity, and economic status, thus entrenching inequality and discrimination.

Along 2021, a broad range of UN entities called on Member States to reform drug policies with discriminatory outcomes. In June 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released a landmark study on arbitrary detention and drug polices, which found that ´

the war on drugs may be understood to a significant extent as a war on people. Its impact is often greatest on those who are poor, but also frequently overlaps with discrimination in law enforcement directed at vulnerable groups

´. At the same time, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a new ‘Agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and equality´, highlighting that ´

The discriminatory application of criminal law must be tackled at every stage, including by reforming drug-related policies

´. The High Commissioner´s proposal led to Human Rights Council Resolution 47/21, which contains key commitments to uproot systemic racism in the law enforcement and criminal justice systems. The Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, adopted in June 2021, also showcased the international community´s commitment to ending inequalities as a step towards ending AIDS. Lastly, the new UN system Common Position on Incarceration, led by UNODC in partnership with other UN entities, notes ‘

the overrepresentation of minority and marginalized groups among prisoners, many of whom are charged with petty and nonviolent offences

support reform efforts aimed at ensuring proportionate and individualized sentencing and alternatives to conviction or punishment in appropriate cases, including for minor drug-related offences

These various commitments emerging across the United Nations are aligned with the 2018 Chief Executives Board’s UN System Common Position on drug-related matters, which makes clear that ‘

should be designed and implemented by States in accordance with their human rights obligations

’, and commits all UN agencies, including UNODC, to support drug policies ‘

that put people, health, and human rights at the centre

Similar human rights concerns have been highlighted in the just-released Global Drug Policy Index, which measures and ranks the national drug policies of 30 countries according to how well they align with the UN system Common Position on Drugs and its Task Team report of March 2019.

The theme of the 2021 International Human Rights Day is ‘Equality: Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights’, and is aimed at ´

addressing and finding solutions for deep-rooted forms of discrimination that have affected the most vulnerable people in societies

´. As such, it presents a crucial opportunity for UNODC to align itself with other UN entities in calling for the end of policies that perpetuate inequality and discrimination, while highlighting its commitment to the promotion of human rights, in line with the UN system Common Positions.

It is in this context that we urge you to issue a strong statement on International Human Rights Day, calling on states to change the drug laws, policies and practices that violate health and human rights, and entrench inequality. To be credible, such a statement should explicitly acknowledge the disproportionate impact of drug laws and drug control on people marginalised on the basis of their gender, race, ethnicity, and economic status, and urge Member States to:

Abolish the death penalty in all circumstances. Imposing capital punishment for drug offences has been found to be contrary to international human rights law by the Human Rights Committee, and the Human Rights Council.

Put an immediate end to extrajudicial killings committed in the name of drug control, as has been repeatedly called for by the Human Rights Council and UN human rights experts.

Permanently close compulsory drug detention centres, including those that masquerade as ‘rehabilitation’, and implement voluntary, evidence-informed, and rights-based health and social services, as recently called for by sixteen UN agencies, including UNODC.

Stress the urgent need to provide accessible, affordable, and adequately funded harm reduction services in community and closed settings, to fulfil the right to health and the right to life of people who use drugs, as demanded by several UN human rights bodies and experts. This is also central to UNODC’s core role as lead UNAIDS co-sponsor regarding prisons and HIV amongst people who use drugs.

Take immediate measures to address prison overcrowding, as already recommended by UNODC and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, by promoting alternatives to incarceration, and ensuring proportionate sentencing for all drug offences, including by taking into account mitigating factors – in line with the basic principle that prisons should only be used as a last resort in all circumstances.

Ensure that people who use drugs are not subject to arbitrary detention, torture, or ill-treatment – whether in state custody or public or private drug services. While under detention, people with a drug dependence or health problems associated with their drug use must be offered evidence-based treatment, harm reduction and other drug services on a strictly voluntary basis.

Promote the end of all punishment for drug use, and drug possession and cultivation for personal use, as permitted within the three drug control conventions. Such policy shifts will help to end the stigma, criminalisation, and exclusion faced by people who use drugs, and to facilitate access to health and social services, as called for by the UN system Common Position, UNAIDS, and UN human rights bodies.

Make sure that drug policies incorporate a gender-sensitive perspective. This should be done by tailoring drug services to the specific needs of women, and by ensuring that criminal laws take into account the circumstances of women involved in drug offences, as most of them come from backgrounds of poverty, marginalisation, and oppression.

Clearly outline the ways in which UNODC will work to achieve these changes, and the measures being taken to ensure that human rights are effectively embedded as a core strand for all of the Office’s work.

As the lead UN agency in drug-related matters, UNODC has the responsibility to promote drug policies that respect, protect, and fulfil human rights, in a way that is consistent with the standards developed by the UN system, and in line with the commitments set in the UN system Common Positions on drugs and on incarceration. A strong statement in the forthcoming International Human Rights Day would be an important and welcome step to signal UNODC’s unequivocal commitment.

We look forward to discussing these concerns and recommendations with you.

NGOs urge UNODC's Executive Director to mark Human Rights Day with a call to reform drug policies that entrench inequality

Fom October 1-3, 2015 a regional meeting of NGOs, policy makers and scientists/researchers from the countries of Southeast Europe, was organized by Diogenis Association in Belgrade, to discuss the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS, April 2016) and its significance for Southeast Europe. The meeting closed with the formulation of some conclusions relevant for the situation in the SEE countries.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

The UNGASS 2016 and its significance for SEE: Statement of NGOs in South East Europe

The Albanian NGO Aksion Plus (which we greatly thank for all the hospitality), in collaboration with YODA and Drug Policy Dialogue in South East Europe network, organised a meeting in Tirana, Albania from 8th to 10th August, in order to discuss issues related to harm reduction across Europe.

Healthy Options Project Skopje, Macedonia

Students’ Drug Policy Initiative, Poland

together with Dimitar Karagegov, YODA’s individual member from Bulgaria

Participants discussed the current drug and drug policy situation in their countries, running projects and plans for future collaboration both at the international and national level. The most important subjects raised were: party-working and harm reduction for recreational drugs and alcohol users; barriers in providing harm reduction services to underaged people; advocacy at the domestic level; plans for advocacy campaigns at the international level – European Union and United Nations in particular.

Youth Organisations for Drug Action (YODA) members meet in Tirana, Albania

More than 80 social organizations from various regions of the world condemned the enforced disappearance of 43 Mexican students in the context of that country’s “War on Drugs” and failed security policies, which only serve to spawn more violence and institutional corruption. We urge the Mexican State to investigate the disappearances and punish these crimes.

The consequences of the ‘War on Drugs’ in Mexico: executions and enforced disappearances of students

For a month now, 43 Mexican students—ages 17 to 25, from the teacher training college Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa—have been missing after a series of violent episodes that allegedly involved, among others, Iguala’s municipal police in the state of Guerrero, Mexico.

These tragic events, in which 6 people were killed and 20 injured, once again reveal the social cost of the so-called War on Drugs in Mexico and its failed security policy. Both have resulted in more violence, grave human rights violations committed by the security forces themselves, and increasing levels of state corruption.

On September 26th, about 80 students from the Escuela Normal in Ayotzinapa were held up by local police while travelling in three buses. Without notice, police blocked the road and opened fire indiscriminately, killing and wounding 26 people. The surviving students witnessed how municipal police made their classmates get into cars. However, they were never taken before any judicial authority.

Various Mexican State forces have been looking for the missing 43 students, discovering clandestine graves with unidentified corpses in the vicinity of Iguala. Victims’ relatives are waiting for the result of tests by independent experts to identify the bodies. However, as additional clandestine graves are found, more questions emerge in this already dramatic scenario regarding the quantity of bodies surreptitiously buried in that area of the country.

It is essential that a paradigm shift be effected in drug and security policies to avoid similar cases of institutional violence and corruption in the future.

Social organizations elsewhere echo the demand of victims’ relatives and Mexican human rights groups that a search-and-rescue mission be carried out for the 43 students. We also urge the Mexican State to investigate and punish these crimes, as well as determine all the political responsibilities involved.

‘They took them alive, we want them back alive!’

Abogadas y Abogados del Noroeste Argentino en Derechos Humanos y Estudios Sociales- ANDHES, Argentina

Abogadas y Abogados para la Justicia y los Derechos Humanos, Mexico

AIDS Foundation East-West- AFEW, The Netherlands

Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos- APDH, Argentina

Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos- ASILEGAL, Mexico

Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia – ACIJ, Argentina

Asociación de Reporteros Gráficos de la Republica Argentina- ARGRA, Argentina

Asociación Lucha por la Identidad Travesti – Transexual- ALITT, Argentina

Asociación para la Prevención de la Tortura- APT

Asociación para la Unidad de Nuestra América- AUNA, Argentina

Asociación Para Una Vida Mejor de Personas Infectadas/Afectadas por el VIH-Sida en Honduras- APUVIMEH, Honduras

Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos- APRODEH, Peru

Associação Juízes para a Democracia- AJD, Brazil

Brazilian Harm Reduction Network- REDUC, Brazil

Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir- CDD, Argentina

Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, Spain

Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan, Mexico

Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Venezuela

Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, AC, Mexico

Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J.”- CSMM, Ecuador

Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales- CELS, Argentina

Centro de Investigación Drogas y Derechos Humanos- CIDDH, Peru

Centro de Políticas Públicas y Derechos Humanos, Peru

Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos- Promsex, Peru

Centro Nicaragüense de Derechos Humanos, Nicaragua

Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional- CEJIL

Colectiva Mujer y Salud de República Dominicana, Dominican Republic

Comisión de Justicia y Paz de Colombia, Colombia

Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos- CEDHU, Ecuador

Comisión Mexicana para la Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos- CMDPDH, Mexico

Comité de América y Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres- CLADEM

Comité de Familiares de las Víctimas- COFAVIC, Venezuela

Coordinadora de Trabajo Carcelario (Rosario - Santa Fe), Argentina

Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Peru

Defensa de Niñas y Niños Internacional- DNI, Costa Rica

Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción, A.C.

Documenta, análisis y acción para la justicia social, Mexico

Drug Policy Project, Institute for Policy Studies, United States

Due Process of Law Foundation- DPLF, United States

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights- EIPR, Egypt

Equipo de Reflexión, Invetigación y Comunicación de la Compañía de Jesús, Honduras.

Escuela de Derechos Humanos de la Defensoria del Pueblo, Venezuela

Fundación Memoria Histórica y Social, Argentina

Fundar Centro de Análisis e Investigación, Mexico

Grupo Interdisciplinario por los Derechos Humanos- GIDH, Colombia

Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas- IBASE, Brazil

Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala –ICCPG, Guatemala

Instituto de Estudios Legales y Sociales- IELSUR, Uruguay

Instituto de Género, Derecho y Desarrollo- INSGENAR, Argentina

International Drug Policy Consortium- IDPC

Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Línea fundadora, Argentina

Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres, Nicaragua

Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad, Mexico

Oficina Jurídica para la Mujer de Cochabamba – OJM, Bolivia

Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo- PIDHDD Regional

Programa de Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos de la Facultad de derecho y Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina

Sinergia, Asociación Venezolana de Organizaciones de Sociedad Civil, Venezuela

Students for Sensible Drug Policy, United States

Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos – UDEFEGUA, Guatemala

Washington Office on Latin America- WOLA, United States

Instituto Lationamericano de Seguridad y Democracia- ILSED

One month after 43 Mexican students disappeared

On 20 September 2013 a seminar on policy and practice of cannabis in Albania has been organized by the Association Diogenis, Drug Policy Dialogue in Southeast Europe, and the Albanian NGO Aksion Plus. The aim of the meeting was to bring together policy makers, experts and representatives of relevant institutions and non-governmental organizations in order to exchange information and experiences on the current situation, national legislation in Albania, law enforcement and its impact on production marketing and distribution of cannabis, prevention programmes and related issues in the everyday practice.

The presentations and the discussion resulted in several recommendations to improve the situation, promote opportunities for cooperation between authorities, civil society and international organizations. The seminar was a successful collaboration between the Association Diogenis and NGO Aksion Plus in Albania. The UNODC Regional Office in Tirana, supported the organization of the seminar and participated actively in the discussions. The report refers to the presentations and the discussion of the following topics: cannabis trafficking routes in Southeast Europe, the Albanian legislation on cannabis, the illicit production and trafficking and the sanctions for possession and use, cannabis / toxicological aspects , health disorders, abuse of substances and emergency treatment, education, awareness and demand reduction of drugs and other dangerous substances and recent developments in international policy on cannabis.

Cannabis policy, Albania September 2013

The Drug Policy Network in South Eastern Europe publishes this quarterly newsletter in order to facilitate more regular communication between the network organisations and in general inform those who are interested in developments related to the activities of NGOs active in the field of Drugs. The Newsletter is prepared and published by the Diogenis Association, Drug Policy Dialogue in South East Europe.

This newsletter focuses on drug policy developments and harm reduction services in Montenegro, as well as in prisons- health care and in the documentation of human rights violations of drug users within the justice system in Montenegro. It also explores OST treatment in Albania and Aksion Plus intervention with IDUs, the the methadone maintenance therapy in Albania and the Global Fund in the country for two years

Regarding to Romania, it focuses on the Development of local answers to emerging HIV threat among legal high users.

February 2013 newsletter of Drug Policy Network south east Europe

Last year the Albanian Parliament approved the NATIONAL DRUGS STRATEGY 2012-2016. The mission of the strategy is to protect public safety, the life and health of individuals and communities through minimizing the risks and other damages deriving from drugs via a national coordinated action. The Albanian state recognizes and accepts the serious nature of this issue, both at the national level and at the international one.

Fight against drugs remains one of the key priorities of the Albanian state, as drugs pose a high risk to our citizens and has a potential impairing impact on Albania’s integration process in the EU.

Also, this strategy accepts the fact that the fight against drugs can be successful only in case we coordinate efforts of the government, civil society and international partners.

The total number of the adults (15-64 years of age) in Albania having tried illicit drugs in their lives is estimated to be between 40 000 and 60 000 individuals. The number of problematic drug users (addicted users and the ones having serious problems from the drug use) in the country varies from 4800 in 8600 individuals.

For the first time it is accepted that the demand reduction component has remained fragmented and covered by insufficient funding, while reduction of drug supply and the law enforcement issues are an integral part of the priorities of the Albanian government. For this reason, it is indispensable to ensure the same importance to the drug demand reduction, so as it gets the same priority as the drug supply reduction.

Another important element which is strongly highlighted in the Strategy is related to the Social re-integration of drug users in the society by:

Encouragement of private entities and of businesses for raising social service funds for improving such services and supporting this category of people.

Coordination and cooperation through public and non-public bodies offering social services through periodical meetings, working meetings, etc.

Encouragement of local government structures and of municipalities, in particular, to provide financial support for this category of beneficiaries, depending on their sources.

Albanian Parliament approves National Drug Strategy 

During its annual meeting in Vienna in March 2012, the Drug Policy Network in South East Europe decided to publish a quarterly Newsletter for a more regular communication between the Network organisations.

The Newsletter was prepared and published by Diogenis, Drug Policy Dialogue in South East Europe, in collaboration with the members of the South East Europe Drug Policy Network. Each newsletter focuses on two or three countries in the region, for which updates are provided on issues related to drug policy reform, criminal justice, social and health programmes and human rights.

The first edition of the Newsletter provides updates on drug policy developments in Albania and Greece.

http://www.diogenis.info/index.php?menu_id=3c34fe9e-8120-11e0-822c-1c0ce76237ea&language=en

Newsletter No. 1 of the South East Europe Drug Policy Network

The 6th Adtiatic Drug Addiction Treatment Conference and the 8th SEEA Net (South Eastern European and Adriatic Addiction Treatment Network) Symposium on Addictive Behaviours, took place on 21st to 23rd June 2012 in Tirana, Albania. The conference was organised in collaboration with Aksion Plus.

The conference was a very important and useful meeting that was attended by professionals, care providers and policy makers from across South East Europe.

The main conference topics were treatment of young drug users, patients with comorbidity and cooperation with existent drug prevention and treatment services, medical, social and other services and NGOs in the region, treatment of Hepatitis C, different praxis through the region, and treatment in custodial settings.

The SEEA Conference was officially oppened by the Chair of the Parliament of Albania, Mrs. Jozefina Topalli, representatives from the Pompidou Group, EMCDDA and other prominent personalities.

For more info please visit the SEEANet website.

Aksion Plus

Region

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