Twenty National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
From: “the Senlis Council” 14 March 2006 News Release-49TH SESSION OF THE COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS
… from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to present a historic Agreement for a new humanitarian drug policy to the delegates of the Drug Commission of the United Nations
Signatories have undertaken to develop responses to drug problems in their countries on seven key points
Director of The Senlis Council to participate in Red Cross Panel on public health policies at Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
A historic agreement advocating a new humanitarian approach to international drug policy, signed by twenty national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, will be presented today at a discussion panel on the occasion of the 49th Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. The panel, which will be chaired by Dr Massimo Barra, President of the Italian Red Cross, will present the historic text which was signed by the leaders of twenty Central Asian and European Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in December 2005 in Rome for a more compassionate and public health oriented response to the drug issue in their countries.
The Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy provides a foundation on which these Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will be able to build to provide a responsible and effective response to the drug problem within their work, especially in light of the HIV/AIDS crisis that threatens these regions, in large part due to the lack of an effective drug policy. HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases are transmitted by drug users through sharing needles and other drug paraphernalia. Simple measures, such as clean needle exchange programmes or substitution treatments can prevent this. “It is important for the Red Cross and Red Crescent to advocate a public health-based and humanitarian approach as key elements of drug policy – these provide the best way of achieving the goals of the Red Cross and Red Crescent to alleviate suffering, reach vulnerable people and address the global HIV/AIDS crisis,” said Dr Massimo Barra.
“Drug users are among the most vulnerable people in society and it is our duty to help them. Because of the link it provides 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.” The Consensus was signed at a meeting in December in Rome jointly hosted by the Italian Red Cross and The Senlis Council international drug policy think tank. “Drug policy is a vital issue in any society and it must be given the place it deserves,” said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of The Senlis Council. “I am very proud that The Senlis Council was part of this historic agreement in which 20 National Societies had the courage to sign an agreement which they knew is of vital importance to the future health of their country.”
The Council said that this type of action is not only commendable, it is vital given the HIV epidemic looming over many of these countries. 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 have recently agreed to cooperate on vital issues relating to current international drug policy and its effects on the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. At the Panel Discussion, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies will also present a position report on harm reduction related to injecting drug use, in which 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. 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.