Da: “The Senlis Council” For Release 16 December 2005
Red Cross/Red Crescent Delegations with International Drug Policy Think Tank
Meeting Announces Commitment to Raise the Profile of HIV/AIDS Epidemic and Drug Use in Region “The link between sharing needles and HIV infection must be addressed by governments,” says new President of the Italian Red Cross Think tank appeals to international community for a pragmatic and humanitarian approach to drug use
Delegations from over 20 Eastern European, Russian and Central Asian Red Cross / Red Crescent Societies met today at a summit meeting in Rome jointly hosted by the Italian Red Cross and The Senlis Council, an international drug policy think tank, to announce future actions on issues related to health and drug policy. HIV/AIDS infection rates are the fastest growing in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the sharing of drug injecting equipment accounts for a very high number of new transmissions. According to a recent joint World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) report, HIV infection rates have reach 1.6 million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The survey also notes that 75% of infections reported between 2000 and 2004 occurred in people under 30 years of age. In Russia, 80% of all registered HIV infections have been in injecting drug users. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and The Senlis Council will cooperate on vital issues relating to current international drug policy and its effects on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Dr Massimo Barra, elected President of the Italian Red Cross last Sunday and current Chairman of the Development Commission of the International Federation, urged a rapid change in the world’s approach to drug users if an international health disaster is to be avoided.
“Too many governments are not addressing the direct link between the sharing of needles for injecting drugs and the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C,” said Dr-Barra. “We are failing drug users and the communities in which they live. We are facing one of the biggest epidemics of all time; the sharing of contaminated needles continues to fuel the transmission of the world’s deadliest virus. Yet simple and inexpensive measures like clean needle exchange or substitution programmes do work in reducing the drug-HIV/AIDS link.” Dr Barra added that because of the link between communities and governments, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have a unique duty to bridge the gap between public health measures and drug use.
Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of The Senlis Council added that it is every government’s responsibility to accept that there is an urgent need for pragmatic, health-oriented drug policies. “Resistance to scientific evidence is hindering progress,” said Reinert. “Simple policy measures such as needle exchange could avoid a global AIDS pandemic, but these are not being implemented for purely ideological reasons. Our principle motivation should be to reduce suffering and save lives.” Reinert and Dr Barra both underline that like any member of the society; drug users have a right to health. Stronger commitment should be made at the local, national as well as international level to apply the core humanitarian principle of the right to health. In a 2003 report on harm reduction related to injecting drug use, the IFRC calls on the international community to be “guided by the Light of Science, not by the darkness of ignorance and fear.”
The report states the need for a more humanitarian treatment of drug users, advocating a wide range of prevention programmes, including access to sterile injecting equipment. “The Senlis Coundl is playing an important role in advocating for a more humanitarian drug policy,” said Dr Barra. Dr Barra also stressed the importance of this new alliance, stating that “it is crucial to unify forces because the priority of both the IFRC and The Senlis Council is to help the vulnerable, regardless of circumstances and without judgement. Drug users are among the most vulnerable people in society.” In 2008, the United Nations and policy makers around the world will review current international drug policy. This will be an opportunity to make new choices and to base the international drug control system on new humanitarian principles. The new collaboration between the IFRC and The Senlis Council is an example of Civil Society working towards the achievement of this goal in 2008.
While the two signatory parties to the agreement remain independent in their reciprocal fields of action, with the Red Cross following its core principles of impartiality and neutrality, exchange of expertise and joint action on an international level are seen as an important step in fulfilling their aims.