Rolling out the training for Law Enforcement officials on HIV services for people who inject drugs in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan

UNODC continues its work on raising awareness of law enforcement officials, in particular, police officers, on their role in public health, including HIV prevention, treatment and care, and creating partnerships with civil society organizations providing services to key populations, such as people living with HIV and injecting drug users.

In Kazakhstan, in accordance with the plan on adaptation of UNODC Training Manual for law enforcement officials on HIV services forpeople who inject drugs ( http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/hiv-aids/new/publications_drugs.html) to the national context and its integration into the curricula of law enforcement educational establishments, the trainings have been rolled out to the national level. In 2016, UNODC conducted the training for the instructors of the Training Centres of the Ministry of Interior of Kazakhstan, police officers from the provincial counternarcotics departments and representatives of civil society organizations in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, Interagency Counternarcotics Training Centre of the Almaty Academy of MOI RK, the Kazakhstan Union of People Living with HIV and the Republic AIDS Centre. The training served as a platform for provision of theoretical information and discussion of practical, real life problems that police officers working at the community level and NGOs providing services to vulnerable groups are facing every day. The trainees developed the plan on development of partnership and cooperation between police and NGO that can be considered as a first step towards developing police referral schemes, and updated the plan on UNODC Training Manual adaptation and integration into the curriculum of law enforcement academies and institutions.

At present, the training manual is being translated into Kazakh, and the Kazakh version will help piloting the trainings at the MOI's Training Centres throughout the country early next year. The participants of the June training have already started passing their knowledge to the students of their Training Centres. On October 11 there was a Roundtable "Life without HIV" for 30 newly recruited police officers covering the HIV related situation in Kazakhstan, and individual and public safety.

 

UNODC training manual for LE officials on HIV services for people who inject drugs is of a high professional level and is very rich in terms of theoretical and practical knowledge. The language of the publication is easy to understand to everyone . Undoubtedly, the manual contributes to HIV prevention in Kazakhstan and in the whole world." - Ms. Natalya Ganibayeva, senior instructor of the Astana Training Centre of MOI RK.

 

A training workshop was organized for law enforcement education facilities in Tajikistan. The participants from the Drug Control Agency, National University, and Academy of the Ministry of Interior increased their knowledge on HIV prevention among people who use drugs and shared experience on using UNODC Toolkit for Law Enforcement Officers.