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Tuesday 21 April 2009 – DAY TWO –
Daily Update
– 5
'We haven't got to grips with increasing the amount of
resources for harm reduction,'
Professor Gerry Stimson
told delegates at a session looking at harm reduction
donors. Coverage of harm reduction services was still poor,
he said, with 74 countries not providing harm reduction
measures and 95 per cent of injecting drug users (IDUs) in
lower income and developing countries having no access to
harm reduction services. Finding out what is currently being
spent was difficult, he added, with 'back of an envelope
calculations' putting the figure at around £200m on harm
reduction in developing nations.
Viewed proportionately, 10 per cent of all new HIV cases
were attributable to injecting drug use, so 10 per cent of Aids
spend should be directed to interventions, said Prof Stimson.
'We need more donors and better distribution,' he added.
'Our aspirations have been too modest.'
Anne Bergenstrom, coordinator of the UN task force on
HIV among drug users, reported on a study that estimated
the resources required to provide harm reduction services in
South East Asia – a simple equation formulated by multiplying
the cost of supplying resources by the population requiring
them and targeting 80 per cent coverage. The preliminary
findings showed a cost of $7bn by 2015 to provide this. Ms
Bergenstrom pointed out that this was only preliminarily
research based on limited data, and stressed that China
contributed 60 per cent of resource requirements and cost.
The essential need to find funding to support harm
reduction was emphasised by Openkumar Oinam, a former
IDU from Manipur in north east India. Mr Oinam told
delegates of appalling situations of drug users being treated
punitively, including being shot in the leg. 'We are not experts
in economics, but we want to talk about realities' he said.
Coverage needs cash
SEVENTY FILMS
had been submitted for
this year's conference film festival, pro-
gramme specialist (HIV/AIDS) at UNESCO,
Gary Reid, told the opening session. Thirty
seven films were being shown, from 21
countries or regions – among them, for the
first time, the Caribbean, Pacific Islands,
Georgia and Macau – and including two very
high calibre feature length documentaries.
'We're very excited at the expansion of films
from throughout the world,' he told
delegates. Screenings and presentations will
take place on the third floor in Bangkok
Panorama 1. See the film festival
programme for full details.
IHRA film show
launched
Human rights abuses are being committed in the name of drug
dependence treatment, says
Roxanne Saucier
of the International
Harm Reduction Development Program (IHRD)
Flogging, chaining, isolation without medication, forced labour for 19 hours a
day, psychiatric experimentation without informed consent – these are just some
of the methods that countries employ to ‘treat’ drug users. These measures,
common in many countries in Asia and the former Soviet Union, are not based
on any evidence of effectiveness and violate fundamental human rights, including
the right to health and the right to be free from torture, cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment and punishment.
A recent Human Rights Watch report described the conditions in the
‘reeducation through labour camps’ (RELC) in China: ‘IDUs consistently reported
that they were required to work long hours, from 7am until as late as 2am, seven
days per week, and said that if they did not finish their work they were punished.
Punishments could range from having food withheld, to not being allowed to
sleep, to being beaten.’
In many cases, people are forced into such abusive settings against their
will. Whether through mass roundups to ‘beautify the streets’ before public
holidays, police corruption, allegations by vigilante community members or
the result of a single positive urine test, it is not uncommon for people to be
mandated to treatment without a medical assessment, a transparent judicial
process, or the possibility of appeal. Sentences may last months or even
years, without clear criteria for release.
One former detainee in Vietnam described the process of arrest in a recent
focus group: ‘If you’ve tested positive before, and now the police haven’t filled
their arrest quota and they see you wandering on the street, they’ll just get out
of their car and pick you up, no need to ask, no need for anything. Your file will
be made in the camp…I know some people who have never been an addict
but were arrested and brought to the camp because they were wandering
around at night, drinking… It was obvious that their tests were negative.’
To find out more attend
Compulsory drug dependence treatment centres:
costs, rights and evidence
at 11.00am, where speakers will describe the
situation in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Treatment or torture?