The Global Commission on HIV & the Law, established in June 2010, will work with the World AIDS Campaign to reach out to civil society working on the HIV response and related issues to engage in dialogue on the need for rights-based law and policy in the context of HIV. This is a first public call to make brief submissions on issues of priority that civil society feels the Commission should address.
Anya Sarang, the director of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation addressed the delegates at the first plenary session of the XVIII International AIDS Conference, on 19 July 2010, in Vienna, Austria. During her speech, Anya criticised Russia's drug policy and called for a drug policy based on human rights and harm reduction.
The NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS Program Coordinating Board (PCB), which represents the perspectives of civil society, is currently recruiting new members. The deadline for applications is 16 August 2010, 18:00 Geneva Time.
The Centro de Investigación 'Drogas y Derechos Humanos' (CIDDH) has developed a webpage in which it intends to provide a virtual analytical, graphical and cartographic tour of the various locations involving cocaine trafficing in the Andes Region.
The 2010 Report on Drug Addictions, presented a few weeks ago to the Italian Parliament by Mr Berlusconi's Drug Czar Carlo Giovanardi, contains data that have triggered hot debates, and ironical comments from professionals working in the drugs field.
The Transnational Institute (TNI) and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), two organizations with decades of experience on drug policy in the region, are launching a new website to provide up-to-date analysis of trends in drug policy reform and videos that show the human face of drug laws’ collateral damage.
The NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) decided to focus its report and consultation around civil society experiences of stigma and discrimination. This video presents excerpts from the presentation of the UNAIDS PCB NGO Delegation, followed by a slide show from the NGO Delegation and Observers at the UNAIDS PCB in June 2010.
This campaign focuses on spreading awareness to both reform harm reduction policies around the world and reduce the stigma surrounding drug substitution therapy. The campaign features two superheroes, Methadone Man and Buprenorphine Babe, who work together to help injecting drug users in distress and promote substitution therapy on a global scale.
IDPC is proud to announce that its Drug Policy Guide to national policy makers is now available in Russian. The Guide is now available on our website in English, Spanish and Russian, and will soon be available in French.
Michel Kazatchkine, the Executive Director of the Global Fund, encourages all who will be attending the International AIDS Conference in Vienna to attend the Human Rights March and Rally on the 20th July 2010, calling the event a ''great opportunity to unite everyone involved in the fight against AIDS at a defining moment in the history of the response.”
On 23rd June, the Bombay High Court admitted a petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 31 A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) that prescribes a mandatory death sentence for certain drug offences upon subsequent conviction.