Cooperation Programme between
Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union
on Drugs Policies

Javier Sagredo, director of the Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the EU on drug policies, presented its latest phase (COPALAD III) at a high-level political dialogue meeting held by the EU-CELAC Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on Drugs. This third phase, which is set to last four years, will focus on sustainable development, human rights, public health, gender equality and citizen safety.

After four and a half years, the European programme of bi-regional cooperation between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean on drugs policies finish its second phase. 45 countries from CELAC and the EU regions, and more than 200 participants, wanted to join this closing meeting, which is also the farewell of the Director of the Programme for almost 10 years, Teresa Salvador-Llivina.

This manual has been developed towards the goal of to promote and facilitate the establishment of Early Warning Systems (EWSs) and agreements for information exchange between National Drug Councils, National Drug Observatories and other key institutions in CELAC Member States, to facilitate the flow of information to effectively confront new threats related to the drug phenomenon.

High-level representatives of CELAC in the field of drugs, together with the Diplomatic Missions of these countries to the EU, assess the work of COPOLAD and its link with the EU-CELAC Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on Drugs. The EU-CELAC Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on Drugs is a unique platform for dialogue between the two regions, further strengthened after a decade of collaboration with the COPOLAD programme.

The study is conducted with the participation of Peru, Paraguay and Guatemala, with the aim of facilitating a general review of existing institutional capacities in the field of Alternative Development at the national level. It introduces an overview of the current institutional capacities of the landscape of organised actors that are currently implementing Alternative Development approaches in their countries. The purpose of the study is to identify key organisational and institutional lessons learned, drawing on the experience of Peru as a leading country with extensive experience in implementing Alternative Development. These lessons can provide guidance to Guatemala and Paraguay in strengthening their capacities to adopt this approach, still relatively novel in those countries.

COPOLAD II brings together 130 drug demand reduction experts from 40 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union in Panama. Together with them, experts from PAHO/WHO, CICAD/OAS, UNODC, Plan Colombo, CARICOM and EMCDDA, among other key organizations in the sector, present at this historic conference.

80 participants from CELAC and EU countries, together with supranational entities and bi-regional networks, gathered by COPOLAD in Buenos Aires. The Argentine Republic hosts the fourth edition of the series of annual meetings organized by COPOLAD in relation to the prevention and control of chemical precursors destined for the manufacture of illegal drugs, following its experience and significant participation in the activities developed within the framework of the programme.

The Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies, COPOLAD II, led by Spain, is promoting the implementation in the CELAC region of a new "OneStep@ATime" tool for planning in the field of drug policies. The Bahamas is hosting the second edition of this series of workshops, this time aimed at fourteen countries of the English-speaking Caribbean. Step@Step" has increased the possibilities to develop more effective and evidence-based drug demand reduction programmes.

More than 150 high-level representatives from more than 30 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union will participate in the high-level conference organized by COPOLAD, EL PACcTO and EUROSOCIAL+ to be held in Montevideo on 19 and 20 September 2019.

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