Do prisoners have human rights? Should there be medical duty in prison? Is prevention of sexual violence relevant? Can we influence the processes that take place in places of punishment?
On October 3, more than 25 human rights activists from different countries of the EECA region, including the UnMode team, took part in an online training.
The team of trainers Cinzia Brentari and Jen Sender (HRI) provided 4 sessions:
1. Introduction to Harm Reduction and Harm Reduction in Prison;
Harm reduction is not only about needle exchange, it is a set of policies, programs and practices aimed at minimizing the negative health, social and legal consequences associated with drug use, drug policy and drug laws. During the session, the experts spoke about the policy and main missions of the Harm Reduction International (HRI) and its role in the Prison Health and Rights of Prisoners Consortium, and also made an important emphasis: one of the most effective tools for harm reduction is the strategy reducing the number of prisoners.
2. Harm reduction in prisons: why and how?
Sometimes the language of statistics can be eloquent: during the session, the trainers presented the risks associated with drug use and risky behavior, as well as the epidemiology of prison health. We also talked about what services can be provided in the context of international experience and reviewed the 15 main UN activities for infection prevention in prisons. This session helped participants better understand the public health perspective on harm reduction, and also showed the benefits that can be leveraged when communicating with health authorities. Also we discussed the issue of medical debt in places of punishment.
3. Human rights in prison;
What are the human rights associated with harm reduction in prisons? The experts presented the normative framework for rights to basic preventive health services and determinants of health and highlighted the relationship between this right and freedom from abuse. Participants also discussed the obvious gap between standards and their implementation.
4. Prison monitoring tool for harm reduction in prisons;
In this session, the trainers presented a prisoner rights monitoring tool designed to provide informed, more consistent and sustainable monitoring of issues related to HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and harm reduction in prisons. Experts are sure that it can help prevent the occurrence of situations and conditions that provoke a violence towards convicts.
The experts also spoke about the progress of the study and discussed a number of problems that they found in the process of working on the monitoring tool.
Participants also raised the question of what roles this monitoring tool can play for local and national organizations.
Aidana, UnMode:
“There are people in our team who have been working in the field of harm reduction for more than 15 years and are quite skeptical about the effectiveness of harm reduction programs. While the idea of harm reduction was and still is a great, its implementation in many countries has turned into a simple provision of health and social services. And we do not work in the service sector, we protect human rights and not only the right to health.
However, I am sure that it is important for us to attend such events, even if it seems to us that we already know everything and nothing “new” will be told to us. It is important for us not only to attend, but also to actively participate in such events. It is important for us to tell the big international players about the “new things” that are happening on earth. It is important for us to learn to be persuasive and persistent, to learn not only to criticize, but also to offer. We talked a lot this time too, many thanks to the UnMode team”.
Lyudmila, UnMode:
“The training consisted of 4 parts, three of which presented information that was familiar to me. Nevertheless, I consider this meeting useful for me, as it became possible to set tasks for future work on the project by raising important issues on the agenda. HRI have extensive experience and influence at the international level in protecting the rights of people who use drugs. Their capabilities and experience, plus our experience and expertise, can certainly be useful both for the future work of the project and for the protection of the rights of prisoners in the countries”.
The UnMode team would like to thank the trainers and partners from HRI and EPLN for the actual information, time, patience and the opportunity to receive a feedback during the training.
The webinar was held as part of the work of the Prison Health and Rights Consortium, which includes Harm Reduction International (HRI), UnMode – community Movement for Access to Justice (UnMode), European Prison Litigation Network (EPLN), European Federation for Prison Health ” Health Without Barriers”.