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Round Table on Multi-Agency cooperation in implementing drug policy

The event took place on 12 December 2008 in the press-centre of the house of the Trade Unions of Ukraine. The Round Table was moderated by Mr Edoardo Spacca, UEPLAC legal advisor of freedom, security and justice and Mr Volodymyr Vovk, first deputy director of the State Social Service for Family, Children and Youth.

This activity aimed to provide EU experts’ opinion on multi-agency cooperation in the implementation of drug demand reduction and harm reduction interventions within the Ukrainian drug policy and HIV prevention and treatment strategy.

Currently, 3 ministries in Ukraine are in charge of implementation of different aspects of drug policy, ie, Ministry of Interior (law enforcement and supply reduction), Ministry of Health (drug treatment, in particular Substitution Treatment and Anti-Retroviral Treatment for HIV positive people), and Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport (harm reduction measures, eg, needle exchange programmes, education and information, etc). Within this frame operational cooperation between services of the different ministries is crucial to ensure the correct delivery of the interventions provided.

The different institutional and geographic origins of speakers invited by UEPLAC, in particular Spain and Kyrgystan allowed for a balanced representation of both the interests and cultural values of the institutions involved in the delivery of drug policy, as well as a varied geographical spread, in order to highlight that effective interventions can be realistically provided and delivered in very different cultural context.

The representatives from the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Health, the State Department for the Execution of Punishment, the Ministry of Justice and representatives of the Coordination bureau for EU Integration international organisations in Kiev as well as Civil Society took part in the proceedings of the Round Table.

Agenda

Materials:

• EU, Ukraine and Harm Reduction, Edoardo Spacca Legal Advisor on FSJ
• Harm Reduction Services and Interventions in Catalonia: Current Status and Lessons Learned, Xavier Majó Roca Programme on Substance Abuse Health Department of the Government of Catalonia
• The role of police in harm reduction: experiences from Kyrgyzstan, Aleksandr Zelichenko, police colonel, PhD, Chief of the Center of Police Reform

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