HOW TO LEARN TOLERANCE: LAW ENFORCEMENT AND HARM REDUCTION IN PRACTICE - ALEKSANDR ZELICHENKO, PHD DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC FUND CENTRAL ASIAN DRUG ...

How to learn tolerance: Law enforcement
and Harm Reduction in practice.

Aleksandr Zelichenko, PhD
Director of Public Fund
Central Asian Drug Policy Center,
LEAHN Regional Coordinator,
Police Colonel (ret.)

Background
• The Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia is
  situated on a drug trafficking route.
  According to official estimations the
  number of drug users is not more than
  8.000 (probably an underestimation), but
  other experts put it much higher, to 80-100
  thousand.
• A more realistic number is the estimation
  made by the UNODC, which is 20-30.000
  people who use illicit drugs in the whole
  country. As most of them use drugs
  intravenously, this means that the country
  faces a danger of severe HIV epidemic.

• Kyrgyzstan has been the first in the region
  to introduce science and evidence based
  harm reduction strategies, like needle and
  syringe exchange programs and
  methadone maintenance therapy;
  methadone and sterile syringes are even
  available for prisoners.

Effective cooperation is result of
effective education
• In last few years Kyrgyzstan accumulated
  good practical experience in cooperation of
  police, governmental, non-governmental
  organizations and local communities in HR
  activities and HIV/AIDS prevention
• This became possible in result of the long-
  term educational campaign against police
  “illiteracy” in Harm Reduction and HIV/AIDS
  problem, which started in 1998 and still in
  developing

First steps

• Initially we focused the education process
  on the units in most probable direct contact
  with HIV/AIDS problem – district police,
  police inspection for juvenile offenders,
  patrol forces, road police...

• The next step – the educational institutions
  of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Interior started to
  develop and implement the special training
  programs.
• A good example is 36-hours training
  course on HIV/AIDS, other common
  infections (e.g. tuberculosis, hepatitis С)
  and ways of invasion prevention, included
  into the curriculum of Bishkek Police
  Academy since 2004.

Building up knowledge

• The Medical Department of MIA also joined the
  process of police staff educating and actively
  distribute knowledge about HIV/AIDS, other sexual
  transmitted diseases, ways of prevention.
• They scheduled the special site visits to the police
  stations to give lectures and seminars, using video
  materials, poster presentations, and other teaching
  aids.
• All these lessons are included into the service
  training plan; the curriculum and timetable are
  approved by the chief of the city or regional police
  station.

• In the year 2005 the police newspapers
  started to publish the corresponding
  materials in Russian and Kyrgyz
  languages.
• Almost each weekly issue included digests
  of the international Mass-Media on the
  problem and articles by specialists in
  infectious diseases, science of laws and
  police practice aimed to address needs in
  police education.

Scaling-up police training in HIV/AIDS

• In 2005 we started a project aimed on the
  developing the training course in the Police
  Academy of MIA. The course is not limited by the
  general, basic principles of HIV prevention, although
  this is the large component of the program.
• The ultimate goal of the course is to teach the police
  community in new approaches, to develop the
  tolerant attitude towards drug-users, HIV – infected
  people and sex-workers.

Scaling-up police training in HIV/AIDS

 In the framework
 of the project a
 textbook, “Legal
 Basis of Harm
 Reduction Theory
 and Practice” was
 published in March
 2009 by the group
 of experts.

“Legal Basis of Harm Reduction Theory
 and Practice”
• The group of the textbook authors involved
  the law-enforcement officials, experts,
  representatives of drug- and HIV-service
  NGOs, and (for the first time ever)
  representatives of drug-users’ community.

“Legal Basis of Harm Reduction Theory
and Practice”
• Soon after the appearance, the textbook was
  presented in the Kyrgyz Ministry of Internal Affairs.
• Two members of the working group – one
  representative of drug- and HIV-servicing NGO
  and one former injecting drugs user - were
  awarded with the special jubilee medal “80th
  Anniversary of Kyrgyz Police Service”.
• This award was accepted as plain recognition and
  clear proof of the rapprochement of positions of
  police and civil society.

• On June 27, 2005 the Kyrgyz Parliament
  adopted, and on August 13 the President
  signed the Law "On HIV/AIDS in
  Kyrgyzstan". The normative act had passed
  through a competent international expertise
  and was recognized fully correspondent to
  the time and situation. I would like to
  mention that the Law reliably protects the
  rights of those who are infected with HIV
  and PLWHA.

• The situation demanded to address the training
  process to the specific nature of police personnel.
  Law enforcement, as you know, usually responsive
  to orders. The idea was raised to develop “the
  Instruction for Police Forces for HIV/AIDS
  prevention in vulnerable groups of population”, and
  to approve it by the special order of the Ministry of
  Interior, so the Instruction should be a subject for
  mandatory implementation.

Instruction for Police Forces for HIV/AIDS
prevention in vulnerable groups of
population
    Second edition
    of the Instruction
    had been
    published in
    2008.

• In 2009 number of workshops focused on
  above-mentioned “Instruction” were carried
  out in 18 town/regional police stations.
• The group of instructors and facilitators
  were formed from specially trained police
  instructors, representatives of NGOs and
  drug-addicted people, commercial sex
  workers and people leaving with HIV/AIDS.
• For the first time ever, these diverse
  groups directly addressed a police
  audience

• By the end of 2009 this experience had been
  extended on the all territory of the country.
• In 2010 the Instruction was incorporated as an
  integral part of the in-service training for each
  police station.
• Now, to reflect the current situation and new
  developments, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry
  of Internal Affairs, the State Penitentiary Service,
  and the State Drug Control Service of Kyrgyz
  Republic issued a Joint Order and Instruction
  «Improvement of HIV prevention at work with
  vulnerable groups of population» .