Regional Dialogue on Drug Policy and HIV

Regional Dialogue on Drug Policy and HIVThe UNODC Regional Office for Eastern Africa hosted a regional dialogue on drug policy and HIV in November; a meeting  attended by high level representatives of drug control agencies from Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Uganda and Zambia. Also present and contributing to the rich discussions were delegates from  Civil Society Organizations, namely IDPC, KANCO, KENPUD, Omari Project, Reachout Centre Trust, as well as other UNAIDS co-sponsors, including UNDP and WHO.

The objective of the dialogues was to foster a dynamic discussion among key stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa in the context of the run-up to the UN General Assembly Special Sessions on Drugs and to the High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, to be held in New York in 2016.

The participants discussed the progress in implementation of the document of 2009 "Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem", while presenting and discussing achievements and challenges in countering the world drug problem, in the framework of the three international drug control conventions and other relevant UN instruments.

The UNODC Regional Representative, Mr. Jose Vila Del Castillo, in the opening address highlighted the need for a serious fast-tracking of national HIV responses and specific and tailored HIV responses in the new development agenda. In spite of the international commitments and support towards HIV, unsafe injecting drug use continues to drive the HIV epidemics in many countries around the world. 

The Regional Dialogue on Drug Policy and HIV is an initial step to facilitate the broader consultation with UN entities, international and regional organizations and non-governmental organizations under the resolution 57/5 and 69/200 entitled "Special session of the General Assembly on the world drug problem to be held in 2016", and resolution 69/201 entitled "International cooperation against the world drug problem".  

All participants were overviewing the current situation and key issues, identifying and learning from country level good practice, and resetting the drug control system to focus on health and human rights.

The upcoming Special Session of the General Assembly represents an important milestone in achieving the goals set held set in the policy document of 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action, which defined action to be taken by Member States as well as goals to be achieved by 2019. This contains a commitment to eliminate or reduce 'significantly' and 'measurably' the world drug problem.