Preparation of the 3rd COPOLAD II Annual Conference in Bulgaria (19-20 June 2018)
Following the line of activities initiated during the first phase of the Programme, the 3rd COPOLAD II Annual Conference aims at facilitating new progress in this area and addresses in this occasion Women and drugs policy: Progress and challenges in the implementation of the gender approach and the empowerment of women as a cross-cutting matter. More than 100 high-level representatives at the institutions in charge of drugs policies from 40 CELAC and EU countries, as well as officials of multilateral institutions and bi-regional networks participating as collaborating agencies of COPOLAD II are already registered. The conference aims at updating the latest available knowledge in this area, as well as to facilitate the exchange of success stories and lessons learned in the cross-cutting incorporation of the gender approach in ongoing policies.
Progress on the report on Gender and empowerment of women in drugs policies
During 2018 the drafting of the Report is progressing under the leadership of the Gender Secretariat of the National Drug Board (JND) of Uruguay, with the voluntary and active involvement of 24 countries from the CELAC region and 2 from the EU.
The purpose of the report is to present in a solid and updated way -considering the situation and the available evidence- how to mainstream, comprehensively, the gender perspective in all areas of drugs policy, including: prevention; treatment; harm reduction; rehabilitation; social integration, as well as in the framework of the judicial and penal systems, and in the field of alternative development. It is hoped that the final document will be responding to the question: What does it mean the cross-cutting consideration of the gender approach and, within it, the empowerment of women, in drug policies?
After the initial bibliographic review, and the assessment of results from a survey completed by countries, the progress of the report is continuing, and among other consultations, the inputs and outcomes from the 3rd COPOLAD II Annual Conference will be considered along the next phases foreseen for the drafting of the final document.
Promotion and enlargement of the Mechanism’s E-room at the COPOLAD website
Since its creation in 2011, the e-room of COPOLAD has performed several functions: informative, to help users to access all-important Mechanism-related information and documentation; and a cooperative, to facilitate and optimize the communication among all members (professionals working at National Agencies, members of the Mechanism’s Technical Committee and delegates from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs). Apart from that, and responding to new requests from participants at COPOLAD I, five thematic forums were added, serving as a communication platform for several working groups (e.g., the consensus process of quality criteria in DDR; evaluation of national strategies; management of seized assets; control of drug precursors, etc.). We wish to remind that in this second phase of COPOLAD, we continue supporting the tasks and works of the Mechanism through the e-room. All documents of the Mechanism, since its constitution to the present, are available at http://copolad.eu/en/herramientas/e-room