Transcript Arresting HIV: The Importance of Law Enforcement and

Dr Nicholas Thomson
Nossal Institute for Global Health
6th HAARP Consultation and Coordination Forum, Siem Reap, April 2012
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What does this mean in the context of harm
reduction?
How do we actually do it?
What are some of the factors that “enhance
the enabling environment”?
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We understand the importance of an enabling
legal and policy environments in the context of
drug use and HIV……….(HAARP’s Legal and
Policy Review)
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The same discussion is being had for all HIV
prevention among Key Affected Populations
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UNESCAP High level meeting, Universal Access,
UNDP Global Commission on the Law and HIV
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National and Global Policy Debates and Civil
Society issues based movements
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What else are critical components of the
enabling environment?
Best practice, evidenced-based
comprehensive programs ultimately funded
by the state
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It’s the intersection of law enforcement and
HIV programs and the people they work with
that ultimately dictates how “enabling” the
enabling environment is
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We haven’t been able to influence law
enforcement agencies : why not?
How can we work with police to reinvigorate
their ability to become significantly better
harm reduction program supporters and
indeed public health actors?
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Multiple (and substantiated) reports of rights
violations
Really, really high rates of lifetime history of
arrest, incarceration, re-arrest and further
incarceration of drug users and sex workers
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Action orientated; reactive rather than
proactive
Achievement measured according to
arrests=promotion
Extension of conservative state approaches
Discouraging of innovation and creativity
Police see a “war on drugs” as their national
security duty
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How many of us have tried working with
police on a regular and ongoing manner?
How many of us have really tried to
understand the operational culture of
policing?
How do we create an enabling environment
where the police are fully engaged in their
role in HIV prevention?
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We have started a series of research projects
to understand the dynamics of the enabling
environment
UNESCAP Best Practice
Law Enforcement and Harm Reduction
Research Network
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Examined enabling environments across the
Asia Pacific
Case studies included if actions taken by
either civil society, government or police (in
isolation or separately) had contributed to a
“BETTER ENABLING ENVIRONMENT”
Measured by: decreasing prevalence of HIV
risk behaviour, uptake in service delivery
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Community mobilisation in AVAHAN projects in India
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Efforts to enhance communication between police
and drug user networks in Indonesia
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Significant engagement between the Blue Diamond
Society in Nepal with the police
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Sex worker led interventions with police in Thailand
(SWING) and Fiji
Human rights policing efforts in Indonesia
Harm reduction training curriculum in Cambodia,
Malaysia and Yunnan
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Less brutality experienced by sex workers in Fiji
leading to increase condom use
Female sex workers reform police practices in
southern India
Workplace policies on HIV in the police
department in Nagaland
But how can we scale up LE and HIV program
partnerships?
And how can we monitor the implementation and
success?
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1) The Importance of LEADERSHIP
Leadership from both police and civil society
We need people who can meet regularly and
represent the views of their organisations.
Respectful and collaborative leadership
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2) Importance of growing of Civil Society
Networks
Case examples highlight that building civil
society networks and their ability to
collectively represent themselves made
significant impacts on police practices
towards them
The role of paralegal services, rights
documentation etc
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3) The importance of police operational,
educational and cultural reform
Development of harm reduction and HIV
prevention curriculum (role of police)
Without police reform progress difficult
Police need to feel supported in their reform
efforts
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4) The Importance of formal and informal
communication channels between police and
civil society and HIV programs
National and local task forces
Key actors from both sectors knowing each
other
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5) Addressing Structural Drivers
Violence, intimidation
Employment and education
Policy and practices
Scaled up programs
Program design that specifically prioritises a
Law Enforcement Advocacy and Partnership
plan
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6) The need for monitoring and evaluation of
the enabling environment
What are the variable of interest?
Decrease incidence of police harassment
Increase in service uptake
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The role of harm reduction programs on
policing practices
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Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia
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What have we found????
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The involvement of law enforcement is critical to the
success of harm reduction programs at all levels –
regional, national and local.
There is a pressing need for law enforcement agencies
and authorities to share ownership of harm reduction.
Police must be engaged early by harm reduction
programs; not as a subsidiary but as a core partner.
There need to be multi-sectoral structures among all
key agencies involved at all levels, so that working
relationships can be established and maintained.
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Have a long history going back to original
design of Asia HIV/AIDS Regional Project
(ARHP)
Police trainings
Sustained involvement: Takes time
Working with Yunnan Police Academy (almost
15 year relationship
HAARP cross border work pioneering Law
Enforcement and Public Health cooperation
cross border…………We need to document
lessons!!
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“We heard about the program from our
bosses but we were never approached by
anyone running the program to inform us
about how it would work”
Program design, police liaison officers?
Law Enforcement & Harm Reduction Network
(LEAHRN)
www.leahrn.org
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Special Edition of the International Harm Reduction
journal and dissemination events in Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam
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Policing and Public Health, LEPH 2012: The First
International Conference on the Intersection of Law
Enforcement and Public Health, Melbourne November
11-14, 2012 "Working Together, sharing
success"www.Policing-and-Public-Health.com
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For more information on our growing Law
Enforcement and Public Health Program
Email: [email protected]