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Fourteen Caribbean Red Cross National Societies have agreed to take the innovative framework for dialogue and co-operation from the Rome Consensus to promote and implement a humanitarian approach to drug policy.
The Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy aims to bring policy to the forefront of social concerns; acknowledging the suffering caused by drug use and current drug policies to more than 200 million drug users globally; their families and communities and advocating for a comprehensive public health, harm reduction and humanitarian approach to the drug problem. The Rome Consensus is spearheaded by the Italian Red Cross under the leadership of its president Dr Massimo Barra and is supported by the Senlis Council, an international security and development think tank.
In December, the Rome Consensus organised a meeting in St George’s Grenada for the Caribbean region, at which Red Cross Socieities were invited to discuss and engage on the Rome Consensus, and sign on to promote and implement a humanitarian approach to drug policy. Red Cross Societies present at the meeting included Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
To date the Rome Consensus has been signed by 98 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies globally.
The global illegal drug market at wholesale level totals a value of US$322 billion, reflecting the reality that illegal and legal drugs expenditure is higher than global expenditure for food in the same period of time.
Europe and North America have traditionally been the biggest consumers of illegal drugs, as the majority of users are from those regions, but growth is increasingly higher in other regions of the world.
In the Caribbean region it has been found that smuggling and consumption are crumbling and addiction is alarmingly on the rise.
The Consensus recognizes and reinforces the Red Cross Red Crescent’s unique auxiliary role in encouraging policy makers nationally and internationally to adopt and innovative and humanitarian approach to this key public health issue.
The Consensus also consolidates civil society’s advisory role in drug policy planning and initiatives to relieve the suffering of the most vulnerable sectors of society.
The Rome Consensus is a unique opportunity to establish a new commitment to a humanitarian drug policy based on reason and compassion that generates action, free from ideology, force, stigmatization and discrimination.
The Caribbean Red Cross Societoes present at the meeting agreed to the following Declaration:
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THE ROME CONSENSUS FOR A HUMANITARIAN DRUG POLICY
2007 Caribbean Declaration
The participants of the Caribbean Regional Meeting of the Rome Consensus for a Humanitarian Drug Policy, 6-9 December 2007, organised in St Georges by the Grenada Red Cross and the Senlis Council:
- Reaffirming the commitment of the Rome Consensus Declaration for a Humanitarian Drug Policy adopted in 2005 and 2007 in Rome and in 2007 in Manila, to raise the profile of drug policy to the forefront of social concerns,
- Remembering the commitment of the Interamerican Red Cross Conference held in Guayaquil-Ecuador in 2007 concerning the promotion of respect, tolerance and harm reduction, and reducing stigma and discrimination,
- Being fully aware that current drugs and drug policies have caused a worldwide man-made catastrophe, affecting more than 200 million people today, and the need for a new humanitarian, public health and socially-based drug policy with the objective of responding to the challenges posed by widespread drug use and production,
- Realizing that this is the opportunity to establish in the Caribbean a new commitment to a humanitarian drug policy based on reason, evidence and compassion that generates action, free from ideology, stigmatization and discrimination,
- Recognizing that Red Cross Red Crescent mandate to help vulnerable populations extends to drug users,
- Encouraging our Red Cross National Societies to develop and implement activities that will help to relieve suffering, reduce HIV risk and provide care and support to drug users as part of our humanitarian portfolio,
- Integrating and encouraging young people in their Red Cross National Societies to play a leading advocacy role in all stages of drug program design, implementation and monitoring,
- Recognizing that diversity and cultural sensitivities are issues to be considered from country to country in the region,
- Utilising the trusted position that the Red Cross National Societies hold within our countries to advocate our governments to support a humanitarian drug policy at the regional and global level,
- Considering the need to strengthen the collaboration with the governments based on the auxiliary role of the Red Cross National Societies, with the purpose to develop a humanitarian drug policy in each country,
- And committing themselves to promote the Rome Consensus in the region according to their resources.
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