Twenty-eight members of the management of special unit of the fourth territorial office of the Drug Control Department in Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad and Cherkasy oblasts for the first time ever took part in a one-day workshop “National Police, Harm Reduction and Human Rights” recently held in Vinnytsia with support of Alliance for Public Health (Alliance), Law Enforcement and HIV Network (LEAHN), and local, CBO “Independence Center”.
Pavlo Skala, Alliance Associate Director: Policy and Partnership and representative of the international Law Enforcement and HIV Network in Ukraine, rationalized the priorities in protection of human rights of people who use drugs – clients of harm reduction and opioid substitution treatment (OST) programs – based on case studies as well as his own practical and professional experience, presented to law enforcers considerable national and international experience in implementation of such programs, and new regulatory documents, which substantially deregulate the procedures of medical narcotic drugs turnover, in particular for the OST needs. Special attention was given to safety measures which should be observed by policemen to prevent HIV, viral hepatitis C and other socially dangerous diseases.
Roman Panasiuk, Head of the local office of the the Drug Control Department, was present at the workshop and took an active part in the training together with his subordinates.
The participants actively discussed challenges in the access to prevention services and OST with Irina Veretko, drug treatment doctor, and Oksana Oryshchuk, head of CBO “Independence Center”.
The knowledge obtained at the workshop is important for law enforcers not only in terms of general re-orientation away from the repressive approaches to drug dependence in compliance with the new state strategy in drug policy, but also in the context of re-qualification which is to be held in the nearest weeks.
Alliance in cooperation with local partners already held similar workshops for law enforcers in Kyiv, Lviv, and Kharkiv. Alliance is ready to support local initiatives to conduct such training events for re-qualified law enforcers in other regions of Ukraine.
Contact person: Natalia Kravchenko (044 490 54 85, ext. 235, kravchenko@aph.org.ua)