 Thank you very much John Peter. Good afternoon everyone So I will give you an overview of how civil society is giving an input in the European Union level I'm not the chair, but I'm a member of the civil society forum on drugs. This is actually the major forum or mechanism to involve civil society into decision-making in the European Union level I've been participating in the forum since its beginnings in 2006 and This is now has become an expert group of the European Commission it we have more than 40 members selected by the Commission for three years and we have five people in the core group and We have annual meetings annual plane plenary meetings and we also have joint meetings with Meeting of the governments, you know the European Union member state representatives meet every month in Brussels and this meeting is called the horizontal working party on drugs and Now we established the connection between the two for two for and we have regular meetings with them although this relationship was sometimes quite difficult and The civil society forum on drugs has four working groups So the first working group is on international relations mostly giving an input on the UN debate for example chaired by IDPC and The second group is on the European Union's action plan and drug strategy and this was chaired by me for several years and We have the third working group on civil society involvement in the national level in the European Union And then the fourth working group is working on implementing quality standards for harm reduction and demand reduction Services in the European Union and you should know you see this This is this was the last plenary meeting of the forum in Brussels and this is a really diverse group so divers in terms of geographical Distribution but also in terms of word views and approaches. So we also have you know recovery organizations and not only harm reduction organizations and the CSF D was involved in preparing the current EU action plan on drugs So the European Union has a drug drug strategy, which is for the year 2013 2020 and it had to It has two action plans the the previous one expired in 2016 and in 2017 The EU council adopted the new action plan and also made a mid-term evaluation of the previous Drug strategy and in this process in this whole process civil society forum on drugs was Involved completely and I think that's in itself a big achievement now that civil society participates in Creating the most important documents in the European Union level and I'm happy to report you that our recommendations were Adopted and accepted by the Commission in many cases. So we This this EU action plan on drugs is actually the most progressive one Has ever adopted also in terms of harm reduction. This is the first action plan for example You know mentioning and in favor of innovative harm reduction services such as drug consumption rooms drug checking services and Naloxone distribution also it is specifying different, you know vulnerable groups women prisoners migrants It it also has an action on Measuring the human rights impacts of drug policies It is promoting civil society involvement in the national level into the national level of the policymaking implementing quality standards Of harm reduction and demand reduction and also promotes alternatives to coercive sanctions as you know in the unit Is no consensus on Decriminalization, but there is a consensus on promoting alternatives to coercive sanctions So it's a very very strong and progressive action plan on drugs, but there are Serious shortcomings with this document. So for example, it's not legally binding So you you know many times people ask me like so can you force our government to implement the EU drug strategy? And that's not the case Because it's not a legally binding document. It's more like, you know recommendations are more like a policy document for for member states and There are also problems with the drug coordination in the European Institutions so the drug unit which is coordinated drug policy in the European Union is at the home department of the Commission and Not in the health department and sometimes, you know, there is a kind of lack of proper communication between the house and home I think you have in many of your countries. You have the same lack of coherence in terms of drug policy coordination and The European Commission has a very low budget on drug policy So maybe many of you applied for this easy just grants, you know, it's the Every year the EU has this grant, but it's like two million and sometimes hundreds of NGOs are applying for that very small amount of money and There it's again another problem that although there is an evaluation of the EU action plan on drugs and drug strategies It's not an impact evaluation. It's usually an outcome evaluation. So for example, you know with police like How much how much drugs the police seized but it doesn't Take account like what is the real impact of that seizure on the drug market? The civil society forum drugs prepare the produce the Survey to give an input on to the to the implementation and Evaluation of the current EU action plan on drugs So we were we produced an online questioner and they redistributed it among NGOs and we were we would like to We wanted to you know map the perceptions of NGOs on access to and quality of different services 12 major services including the main harm reduction services opiate substitution treatment NSP drug consumption room now locks on drug checking In a 10 point scale and also not only in among the vulnerable Not not only among the general population, but also in specific groups such as prisoners women Young and aging people migrants ethnic minorities So this report is about which was now published on the website of the civil society forum on drugs You can download that report this is about perceptions of those NGOs civil society organizations who work on the field So as you see most of the respondents were working or providing harm reduction services So this is not to you know replace emcdda report, but it's more supplementing what emcdda reports have and Actually, there is a plan to make this regular report now on behalf of the civil society forum on drugs we got 169 responses from 32 European countries including all member states except Malta and Unfortunately, not from a from not every country. We got a high number of responses So for example like Denmark Greece or Croatia The we had less responses and that's so the Results were findings were not so strong, but from many countries we received several responses from several NGOs and In those countries responses are stronger and this is the This graph shows the mean access and to end quality of service different services in the European Union perceived by Those who are providing the services and advocating for them and as as you can see The Those harm reduction services that the innovative harm reduction services such as OST naloxone drug checking drug consumption room The access to those services is really minimal very low in it in most or most of the countries This is for this this graph shows perceived access to needle and syringe Programs and as you can see in most European countries, this is a really perceived as one of the most Available or accessible services, but in the eastern part of the EU the access to this service is really extremely low and There is a country where actually there is zero access to needle exchange program Bulgaria and This is showing the perceived access to opiate substitution programs This is a access to Naloxone distribution, which is actually completely missing from most most member states and the same situation is with drug checking services In many countries that there are NGOs, you know or community organizations Distributing some kind of rapid tests, you know in parties and festivals, but that's that that's not real drug checking with the proper technical equipment and and with perceived access to drug consumption rooms is the lowest among all services and That doesn't need that doesn't mean that actually we don't need drug consumption rooms because even in the east where there is Absolutely no access. That is a huge huge need for for drug consumption rooms we also asked about how How professionals rate, you know the accessibility of Services among specific groups and as you can see for example harm reduction services are Access to harm reduction services really low in among the prisoners and migrants ethnic My minorities in the EU. So those are those groups where you know, there are the most significant gaps And we can see a very serious divide regional divide in the European Union and we have been talking a lot about that in this conference that in the Eastern part of the EU and also some of the Candidate countries of the EU that is extremely low access to some harm reduction services And I think we can talk about the crisis and sometimes I felt at this conference that this is not really Emphasized enough that we are we are really having an emergency situation in many countries a crisis where Their harm reduction services which were established in the 2000s completely collapsed and this is partly because of change in funding environment also partly changing political Environments and let's say the problematic countries are Those reflected are highlighted on the map for example Lithuania Poland, Slovakia, Hungary Serbia and Romania and Bulgaria and for example here where we are in Romania, we know that Clients served by needle exchange programs in just this year dropped from 7500 to 2,000 people In Bulgaria needle and syringe programs completely stopped. That is no not no needle exchange anymore because of lack of funding In Hungary, we still have on paper many needle and syringe programs and some of them really operate But the two largest programs were shut down actually who which served more than half of needles distributed in the whole country Okay, and and I think it's also important to To show that there is also something common in these countries And that's that this these harm reduction programs are serving the same population people marginalized people living in poverty and Sometimes if you ask for example harm reduction service providers in Slovakia Romania, Hungary, Serbia like how many of your clients are Roma people They will say that nine out of ten and I think this issue is not really not not emphasized enough again because I think this is what we have Here is a population living in deep poverty and excluded completely from society and They are using drugs in such environments. For example, this one is from Sofia or this We made a movie and my organization made a movie in Belgrade but harm reduction program which actually closed down a few years ago and This was one of the house where drug users live in the outskirts of Belgrade and this Picture shows one drug scene in my own kind of my own city, Budapest so We don't really I think in in these cities. We don't really have a drug problem, but we have a poverty problem We have a social exclusion problem racism problem and the segregation problem And I think we don't really address that enough so We need to do that So some conclusions We have a very strong action plan, but a very weak Implementation there is not enough funding and not enough political will to implement the action plan on drugs Or even you know governments made a commitment To implement it, but in many countries that are really serious shortcomings And and it's my experience as a member of the civil society forum It's really really hard to address these issues in the European level in the European fora For example at the HDG level. We very rarely have a meaningful discussion about drug policies It's kind of same similar to the UN where we have a gentlemen club and nobody is naming and shaming countries for their shortcomings Then as I already mentioned that we have outcome evaluations no impact evaluations And for example with new psychoactive substances, you know We make a lot of efforts to ban new substances But does anybody take the efforts to actually evaluate the impact of those? You know measures when you know new substances are taken under a broad under control So what will what effect it will have on the market and nobody is investigating that it's just you know ticking the box new substances banned and Then another problem, especially in the eastern parts we have structural funds development funds in these countries in the new member states But they are very rarely can be used for harm reduction programs and in case when We have for example Lithuania now made available structural funds for harm reduction But at the same time they cut the budget for from the central budget for harm reduction program So it doesn't really help then For example in the European Union and the European Commission made a lot of effort to create You know the early warning system and emergency legislation to bring new substances under control But we don't have a similar system or mechanism to intervene in Cross-border public health crises. So for example when we have outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis We don't have any funds emergency funds to support people working on the ground And I think that's a really, you know one-sided approach Even if the European Union is always proud to have a balanced approach But in terms of money efforts our approach is not balanced at all then another problem that's Innovative harm reduction services actually innovation ends with the Eastern Border of the EU. So there is no innovation at all in our countries like Hungary or Bulgaria Then as I told that is there are huge regional gaps and and this interrupt interruptions of services in the East are Should be addressed in the European level because this are not problem of individual countries We see cross-border patterns here and I think the EU after you know the big big Fund big donors such as Global Fund leaving the region I think the EU must step in and take responsibility for their own countries and give support for harm reduction programs and then finally that The services among vulnerable people are much less accessible than among the general population and My that's my view that drug policies are still used in many countries to discipline the poor people and To you know to segregate them from society and to punish them for for being minorities actually Yeah, thank you very much for your attention. I'm happy to answer your questions Thank you very much for your excellent presentation in which you somehow combined the two main themes of this of this session one is on drug policy and civil society consultation and on the other hand, it's this the state of affairs of harm reduction in in Europe and It's good that you mentioned the word crisis because that that picture with with a map clearly shows that That is a serious rollback in harm reduction in a significant part of Europe Do we have any questions or comments for? Peter Okay, yeah, I will bring to the militia My actually my question I know the situation and thank you for for making it's very clear and Visible but my question to you do believe that a EU action plan could be used For advocacy for funding because because we discussed it several time and I don't know what what you feel because it is The only point we could stay yes You support harm reduction and thanks to your advocacy and civil society for my drugs We could say it in the chapter 24 even for accession But do you believe that we could use the action plan as a background for for advocacy for funding for? Well, I think that one problem is that there is very little awareness in the member states about the existence of EU level You know strategy documents, so I I think that we don't use them enough and now we should use more and that's why I Present I made this presentation to point out that we have this very strong and progressive document And I think this can be an advocacy tool But it depends on us NGOs how we can use it as I mentioned it's not legally binding documents, but Clearly governments made a commitment To scale up these services and what we can see is that for example in the eastern part of the EU? No countries scaled up harm reduction services except maybe Latvia, so and yeah Croatia But but no other no other no other member states, so I I think that we should use it more Thank you final Question for militant militant from drug policy that works out this Europe It doesn't seem very important, but I think it is in a way Why are members of the civil society forum appointed by the European Commission? That's the usual procedure with all expert groups of the Commission so the CSFD is an expert group of the EU Commission and There is an open call so all NGOs can apply and then it's it's the Commission who is selecting them based on Applications so there is like a detailed application and based on their competence experience in the field and Experience in international affairs. It's not the perfect system. It's I sing but But yeah, I don't know how you could improve that Yeah, I mean that's the problem which we face very often on national level where the governmental people are appointing NGO representatives and they can be either from gongos and all these things and very often they Find it as an excuse. I know that it's not in this case But if we are a civil society, we should fight for our own position and our own internal mechanisms to appoint people there and not to Give the accredited to give this opportunity to governmental people. Just it doesn't seem logical to me. Thank you Thank you Just to measure that for example in Hungary We had a system where NGOs elected their representatives themselves to the Governmental body not with this current government, but previous one. So We could do that, but I think it's EU rules, you know here bureaucratic rules Thank you very much We've got a couple of minutes left and I Would like to ask the panelists if you look at the situation in Europe regarding harm reduction in terms of drug policy If we if you look at the global situation It's obvious that we're living in challenging Times on the one hand there are There are more and more countries accepting harm reduction In paper they have some so they have services on the other hand funding is a serious problem in many parts of the world and nowadays also in the big parts of Europe That's one side And on the other there's the big drug policy debate which comes to another let's say There's another big event next year in March. What would you as as as experts? What would you give the audience as a kind of a take-home message? What can The people in the in the room do we're setting homework? Okay, I Would say if there was one thing it would be as a Harm reduction community as we are to we've got to keep speaking up speaking up about bad things because there's plenty of those Speaking up about the good things because there's also plenty of those But keep speaking up. We have to keep having our voice heard at every level of this debate national regional international And obviously that includes the task force Please apply to speak please come to Vienna Please be part of that debate because that debate is happening anyway Whether you're there or not, but at least if you're there you can you can try to steer it and try to influence it So that would be my one piece of homework Speak up Sam, what would you like to? In the hope that it's not too self-promoting although it is I would say read the global state of harm reduction Because there's no way that we as as Advocates or activists or as a movement can know where it is We want to go if we don't know where we are at the moment We have to have a good idea of what the situation is around us and What civil society if we're coming from a perspective of civil society? We need to know what it is that civil society says the actual situation is on the ground where there are gaps between policy and practice So I would set some reading Excellent, thank you very much Ingo with all your experience What would you to ask and tell or tell the the audience to do when they come home on Friday or start working on Monday? Well concerning my experience in Germany it as I already mentioned there is a strong NGO movement and Deutsche AIDS service still how to say leading organization and Getting money from the government, but using this money Really for trainings for advocacy work for some for example. There's a big Had been a big challenge concerning OST treatment in Germany, and they had this there's now a big improvement the law and the NGOs had been very supportive And they are not fighting against for example the medical doctors who are providing OST, but try to cooperate and Help them to change maybe Some attitudes on the other hand, of course I would like that these NGOs should be more involved in this international sphere because I Always try to inform About these meetings in Vienna, and there's a wonderful papers from IDPC, but anyway, it's very difficult to get in Germany even NGOs to be involved It's a lack of language whatever and sometimes I'm not interested what is going on in Vienna and of course It's also my experience. I told you are there discussing 24 hours of One resolutions and I'm proud while we have this paper and nobody interested in this paper But anyway, I'm it is good. You mentioned this new strategy you an action plan Of course we can use this and the NGOs should use these also the international standard so to strengthen the the the capacity and to Yeah, and and to improve the situation of drug-using population. I Think it's can help for example at the German service organization the NGOs are having organizing in 21st of July each day a year a national Remembrance day on on drug-related deaths and they're using it also in now at 50 cities in Germany all over Germany Also to discuss drug policy and and to do to have a loud voice on this and think these kinds of activities are very helpful Of course there are gaps, but we are improving although for example, my my boss is from conservative party of former boss and she went to Lisbon and She was now she came back and said oh Portugal's Portugal model is well quite good. Maybe we can do it in Germany as well I was surprised, but did you do it to convince her? Thank you and the final word of of homework so we've heard Speak up read be engaged. What would you ask the the audience to do? Yeah, my experience is that We it's important to understand that decisions are not made in Vienna and Brussels about drug policies but they are very important indicators of change and I think when we are advocating for like this outcome documented the Angus or EU action plan on drugs We should not mistaken them To the final goal of our advocacy. These are only tools very very important tools But if you don't use them in the national level in the local level Then it's just you know half of the job to have progressive documents such as the action plan on drugs Or we hopefully in 2019 we have we will have something more even more progressive at the UN level But we will not we will see but to have these documents is just Half of the job and then we need to use them in the in the national level in advocacy and in this this regard I would say that a homework could be to leave our comfort zones and Try to mainstream this debate and not only you know preach to the converted and not only you know Speak always to the same people who are already Who are already converted to the cause of harm reduction, but try maybe to broaden your alliances with with like other Fields and we have many social justice movements and what I feel sometimes is that we are fighting in an isolated way Everybody has its own, you know narrow narrow focus and We miss many opportunities to cooperate and and also to to see the bigger picture in Advocacy which is also about you know transparency transparency accountability of decision-making and democracy itself and civil society, so That would be my advice Thank you very much. I Would like to finalize This session. I thought it was a brilliant session of very inspiring with some homework for all of us to read to be engaged to to speak up and speak up to different audiences and Continue doing this work Having that said I would like to have a final round of applause for the for the panel and I Wish you a very fruitful conference and hope to see you Tomorrow and in the evening at the party. See you at the dance floor. Thank you