Opening doors: IDPC’s on-going work with UN agencies in Geneva and Vienna

At the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) meeting in December 2012, there was a crescendo of concern expressed by civil society about the lack of meaningful participation and leadership from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). UNODC is the designated lead within the “UNAIDS Family” in terms of HIV among prisoners and people who inject drugs – meaning that they receive a share of the budget. By holding them to account in front of their UNAIDS colleagues and the country missions, IDPC, INPUD, HRI, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and others groups were able to have their voices heard – a tactic that was reverted to after several years of unsuccessful advocacy and outreach to UNODC itself.

As a result, UNODC acknowledged the problems and committed to a renewed engagement with a core group of civil society networks including IDPC. At the most recent PCB (in June), we were pleased to acknowledge the initial progress that has been made. Two civil society engagement events have taken place (in February 2013 and June 2013), a 15-point joint work plan has been agreed between UNODC and the leading civil society networks, new guidelines on overdose have been released, and civil society have been invited to contribute to key consultations. Of course, it is still early days and many issues have yet to be resolved, but there are promising opportunities.

I joined IDPC earlier this year to help take forward this advocacy work with UNODC in Vienna, with the PCB and allies in Geneva, and with friendly country missions in both cities. This built on my previous experience in global advocacy, including three years as the INPUD representative on the PCB and two years as an NGO representative on the UK delegation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. I am liaising with our partners around the world, as well as with diplomats based in Geneva and Vienna, to ensure that the health and human rights language so often used in Geneva also gets used when discussing drug policy in Vienna.

As part of this new programme of engagement, the leading civil society networks are continuing to push for a fully funded and independent UN Reference Group on HIV and Injecting Drug Use. The Reference Group has a key role to validate and gather data about the HIV epidemic among people who inject drugs. This has become especially important after this year’s World Drugs Report published misleading data and a poorly informed commentary – wrongly implying that HIV rates among people who inject drugs and rates of injecting have declined.

Much work is still to be done but, after years of frustration, it is clear that an improved working relationship between civil society and the UNODC HIV section is emerging.