News and Announcements

Why Harm Reduction Is Crucial to the Fight Against HIV

01 December 2017

This article was first published by Open Society Foundations. The original may be found here . Earlier this fall, an international team of researchers sounded a grim warning about the state of the global HIV epidemic among people who inject drugs. In two long-awaited research papers published in the Lancet, they laid out the evidence that not… Read more

HRI calls for human rights of people who use drugs and 10 by 20 at UNAIDS PCB

28 June 2017

This statement was delivered by HRI’s Campaigns and Advocacy Manager, Olga Szubert, at the 40th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board in Geneva. The statement was delivered under agenda point four: Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework (UBRAF). UNAIDS/PCB 40th Meeting Agenda item 4: Unified Budget, Results and… Read more

WHO Forum on Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours statement on behalf of HRI, IDPC and INPUD

26 June 2017

The World Health Organization (WHO) Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse organized, for the first time, the global Forum on alcohol, drugs and addictive behaviours (FADAB) with the primary goal of enhancing public health actions in these areas by strengthening partnerships and collaboration among public health oriented organizations,… Read more

Comprehensive Actions Against the Death Penalty for Drug Offences

20 June 2017

There is a clear, longstanding and worldwide trend towards the restriction or abolition of the death penalty. Yet, the number of countries expanding the application of the death penalty to include drug offences has increased. Indeed, between 1979 and 2015, the number of countries prescribing the death penalty for drugs increased from around 10 to… Read more

Harm Reduction International launches new report on harm reduction funding in the European Union

05 May 2017

On April 25th, HRI launched our new report ‘Harm Reduction Investment in the European Union’ at the Leopold Hotel in Brussels. Despite Europe being home to several countries with a long history of harm reduction implementation, our report highlights funding crises in several EU states that are crippling harm reduction services. The launch… Read more

Harm Reduction Investment in the European Union: Current funding, challenges and successes

24 April 2017

Europe is the birthplace of harm reduction, and the region where the successes of this approach in averting epidemics can be most plainly seen. It includes harm reduction champion countries, that have long invested in their national harm reduction programmes and implement a wide array of interventions. However, austerity, international donor… Read more

HRI's Intervention at the Sixtieth Session of the Committee on Narcotic Drugs

15 March 2017

The following intervention was made by Harm Reduction International at the Sixtieth Session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna. "Thank you to the Chair for the opportunity to make this intervention on behalf of Harm Reduction International. Paragraph 1 of the UNGASS outcomes document commits to minimising the adverse health and… Read more

HRI at the Sixtieth session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs

10 March 2017

Harm Reduction International is participating in the 60 th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which takes place in Vienna from 13 th to 17 th March 2017. Read our full CND briefing. This is the first full CND meeting since the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on drugs (UNGASS) in June 2016. There, member… Read more

Harm Reduction Works! Sharing research on resourcing harm reduction in Europe with local and national stakeholders

18 January 2017

Harm Reduction International is calling for a redirection of funding from drug enforcement to harm reduction. But in order to identify how much funding is needed for harm reduction in any one… Read more

UN agencies must use CND to push for post-UNGASS harm reduction targets

07 October 2016

Harm Reduction International is urging governments and UN agencies attending the upcoming intersessional meetings at CND, called to discuss the implementation of the UNGASS on Drugs outcome document, to push for targets which will turn the outcomes into real progress on harm reduction and the human rights of people who use drugs. Our short… Read more