Expert Seminar on Drugs, Law enforcement and public health and social services in South Eastern Europe, Sofia – Bulgaria, June 6th 2014
The expert seminar on “Drugs, Law enforcement public health and social services in South eastern Europe”, organized by Diogenis Association and co-hosted by the Center for the Study of Democracy, took place in Sofia Bulgaria, on June 6th 2014.
The seminar was funded by the European Commission and the Open Society Foundations. The objective of this seminar was to exchange best practices regarding cooperation among authorities, law enforcement agencies, public services and civil society organisations offering treatment and harm reduction services. Participants included policy makers, police officers, professionals from the area of drug dependencies, representatives of NGOs (in particular, ones founded by drug-users), and field experts. The seminar primarily focused upon a discussion on innovative methods of cooperation between the police and social service agencies, aspiring to achieve evidence-based, successful, and effective prevention, especially of HIV and other infectious diseases among injecting drug-users, sex workers, and other vulnerable social groups. Its goals included the articulation of tangible recommendations on
effective cooperation and joint programmes, as well as the development and implementation of best relevant practices in the South-Eastern European countries.
The seminar hosted experts and professionals from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia. The program included presentations regarding police practices in Frankfurt and Cyprus, and briefings by NGOs regarding accumulated experience in their homelands on the interaction between police authorities and service-provision agencies.