OpenLobby.EU
Explore

Dianova International

OID

Dianova International es una ONG que se dedica a dar soporte a una red de organizaciones que operan en 4 continentes ayudando a las personas más vulnerables a través de la implementación de programas socio-sanitarios y promoviendo el progreso social ante foros y organismos internacionales donde se debaten las políticas sociales.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Revision of the mandate of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

16 Jul 2020

I am writing on behalf of Dianova International, an international NGO based in 19 countries in 4 continents. We work in the fields of health and social care. In the field of drugs we have been providing treatment and prevention service for almost four decades. We work at the grassroots and advocacy level. Dianova heavily relies on the EMCDDA’s work. As stated already in the external evaluation of EMCDDA, the agency produces very useful quality information and guidance. The neutrality of EMCDDA is key in ensuring the promotion of evidence-based policies and, is a characteristic that should be preserved. Regarding the policy options foreseen in the inception impact assessment, we would like to point out that whatever the option is finally chosen, it should ensure that the agency respects the balanced mandate between drug demand and drug supply reduction. While there are other agencies working on aspects of drug supply reduction, there is no other European agency covering drug demand aspects. As civil society working in the provision of drug-related services heavily rely on EMCDDA’s data on drug demand aspects and would like to reiterate the need to count with this data and information. This is one of the reasons why we would NOT support the policy option 2 of dismantling the agency and merge it with another agency. Another aspect to take into consideration is that, if the EMCDDA sees its mandate expanded, this should come with the necessary budgetary support. Furthermore, the new mandate should not jeopardize the work and capacities that the agency is currently doing well. For the above mentioned reasons, Dianova would reinforce either policy options 3 (develop an enhanced Agency) or policy option 4 (develop an agency into an operational agency). Thank you for providing us the possibility to participate in this consultation. Kind regards, Lucía Goberna
Read full response

Response to EU Drugs Agenda and Action Plan

13 Jul 2020

I represent Dianova International (transparency register number 607887719353-18) an NGO working in the field of health and social sectors in 19 countries. We have been providing treatment and prevention of addictions services for almost four decades. Dianova works at the grassroots and advocacy level. We appreciate very much the opportunity to participate in this consultation. We have been following drug policy developments at the international and European level and based on that we would like to point the following aspects of the proposed “EU Drugs Agenda”: - The EU has been a champion internationally, especially at the CND-level of the balance approach. We do not see this key principle reflected in the proposed EU Drugs Agenda, which is certainly worrying. - The proposed text misses key aspects of drug demand reduction field. For instance, it should have an explicit reference to all drug-related interventions from prevention, treatment, harm reduction to rehabilitation, social reintegration and recovery. Moreover, for the development of the new EU Agenda a revision of the language used would be highly recommended. For example, we believe terms such as “prevention issues” are not very precise in drug policy documents. - We would expect the next Agenda to follow UNGASS’s 2016 holistic approach and/or structure, and therefore include key aspects such as human rights, vulnerable populations, access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, etc. - Hopefully the next UE Agenda will have explicit links to key international documents such UNGASS 2016 not as a mere example but as guiding documents and will include as well references and principles from the UN System Common Position on Drugs. - As a member of the Civil Society Forum on Drugs of the EU, we have been following the drafting process thoroughly and we must admit that it is baffling that we have yet not have access to the evaluation of the previous Drugs Strategy to base our comments to this consultation on its results. And even more so, taking into account that we participated in the evaluation process. The EU is a strong defendant of civil society participation, fact that we have always recognized and highly appreciated. In coherence with that, the principle of meaningful participation of civil society organizations should be fully put in practice in processes like the elaboration of the new EU Agenda. - The Agenda needs to adapt to the new reality and given the impact of COVID in the provision of services and the drug consumption pattern, we would expect the new Agenda to build on learnings stemming from this experience with the support of EMCDDA which is currently leading the research and gathering information at the EU level. We acknowledge the difficulties of drafting an EU Drugs Agenda and encourage the European Commission drafting team in this process. The EU is a key player at the European level but also internationally. Therefore it is even more important to count with a strong, prominent, wide and inclusive EU Drugs Agenda that allows the EU as whole, the Member States and stakeholders to develop and implement better drug policies. We hope our comments can be taken into consideration for the drafting of the “EU Drugs Agenda”. I remain at your disposal for any questions or comments. Sincerely yours, Lucía Goberna
Read full response