Transcript Diapositiva 1 - ICARA - International Confederation of ATOD

International Confederation of ATOD Research
Associations (ICARA)
ICARA Annual Meeting
Budapest, August 30-31, 2015
Diana Rossi
Intercambios Civil Association
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Intercambios research activities
Intercambios Civil Association is an Argentinean non
governmental organization that has developed research
activities for 20 years related to 3 key issues:
- Research conducted with drug users about vulnerabilities and
risk for blood borne and sexual transmitted infections.
- Studies of treatment services and of the accessibility of drug
users.
- Analysis of drug control policy in Argentina and in other
countries of Latin America.
Intercambios research activities
 The Intercambios team integrates knowledge from various disciplines
of social sciences to study legal and illegal drugs.
 Interdisciplinary work
and networking with other teams and
institutions, has been a constant that enriched the analysis and the
scope of the studies, such as the work with:
- The Research Consortium on Drugs and the Law (CEDD),
- Different teams from universities in Latin America and Asia
connected with Intercambios through the International Federation of
Catholic Universities (IFCU),
- Researchers from the National Development & Research Institutes or
the Washington Office on Latin America in the USA,
- Researchers from the Transnational Institute in the Netherlands.
Some context about Latin America
- Latin America is at the forefront of a growing global movement
to decriminalize drug use.
- Civil society organizations in Latin America have played an
increasingly important role in drug policy reform at both
regional and national levels. The fifth Latin American
Conference on Drug Policy and the first Central American
Conference on Drug Policy took place in September 2014 in
Costa Rica, organized by the Asociación Costarricense para el
Estudio e Intervención en Drogas (ACEID) and the consortium
CONFEDROGAS, which is composed of six civil society
organizations committed to significant change in drug policy.
Ref.: Stone, K. (2014) The Global State of Harm Reduction 2014. Harm Reduction International.
Different groups needing input from
researchers in Latin America
Regional organizations of Latin American
and Caribbean governments as UNASUR,
MERCOSUR or CELAC.
Local
region.
and national governments from the
Some important Milestones on
Drug Policy Debate
In October 2012, the Latin American Network of People Who Use
Drugs (LANPUD) was formed.
In 2013, the 10th Hemispheric Forum of Civil Society and Social
Actors held a special session with the Committee on InterAmerican Summits Management and Civil Society
Participation in the Organization of American States (OAS),
and produced recommendations.
In two successive declarations, the Declaration of Antigua adopted
in June 2013, and the Declaration of Guatemala agreed in
September 2014, OAS has also called for balanced drug policy
that is respectful of health and human rights.
Ref.: Stone, K. (2014) The Global State of Harm Reduction 2014. Harm Reduction International.
Some important Milestones on
Drug Policy Debate
In November 2013, an open letter signed by 52 Latin American civil society
organizations was handed to ministers at the Fourth Meeting of Ministers of
Public Security of the Americas.
Seventeen civil society organizations in the region also requested a hearing at a
meeting of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in
March 2014 to analyze the serious impact of current policies on human rights.
The International Federation of Catholic Universities policy brief Drug Policy in
Latin America and Asia: Towards the Construction of Responses Focused on
Human Rights was signed by academics from Catholic universities in Bolivia,
Brazil, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Philippines and Thailand,
together with Intercambios Civil Association.
Ref.: Stone, K. (2014) The Global State of Harm Reduction 2014. Harm Reduction International.
Listing these milestones shows how much has the focus on drug policy and
human rights been discussed in Latin American scenarios.
We need collaboration from ICARA to improve research on drug related
problems: A member of Mexico’s Federal Investigative Agency arrests a
woman on suspicion of drug possession during an antinarcotics operation in
Guadalajara, Mexico.
Ref.: Héctor Guerrero / Reuters In: Rossi, D.; Harris, S.; Vitarelli-Batista, M. (2009) “The impacts of the Drug War
in Latin America and the Caribbean” In: Open Society Institute – International Harm Reduction Development
Program. At what cost? HIV and human rights consequences of the global “war on drugs”. New York, p. 111.
We need collaboration from ICARA to improve research on drug
related problems: violence and militarization in a Buenos Aires
province neighborhood
Ref.: María Eugenia Cerutti In: Pol L., Tordini X. El impacto de las políticas de drogas en los
derechos humanos. La experiencia del continente americano. Centro de Estudios Legales
y Sociales – CELS y otros, 2015, p. 8.
We need collaboration from ICARA to improve research on drug related
problems: An airplane fumigates coca and poppy plantations in Colombia.
The pesticides used have been implicated in health defects and damage to
food crops.
Ref.: J.B. Russell/Panos In: Rossi, D.; Harris, S.; Vitarelli-Batista, M. (2009) “The
impacts of the Drug War in Latin America and the Caribbean” In: Open Society
Institute – International Harm Reduction Development Program. At what cost? HIV
and human rights consequences of the global “war on drugs”. New York, p. 117.
Research infrastructure in Latin America
 The most valuable contribution from Latin
American settings are the quality of research
teams and the persistence of their work in many
adverse situations including the lack or diminish
of the needed funds to develop research activities.
 Even with the difficulties, internal and external
crisis, or the harmful impact of neoliberal policies,
when the State moved away and neglected key
public health spaces, many of these teams have
managed to survive and continue their networking.
¡Muchas gracias!
www.intercambios.org.ar