The 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs was a watershed moment in drug policy. It brought about a rare opportunity to reconsider the global paradigm on drugs and to chart a new direction. The report of International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC) “The UNGASS decade in review: gaps, achievements and paths for reform” examines the progress that has been made as a result of the 2016 UNGASS, to determine the role of the global drug control regime in shaping such change.
The last chapter “Civil society engagement” highlights realities in relation to shrinking civic space that are also very relevant for the region of Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia:
- “Closed” or “repressed” civic spaces in the countries.
- Factors undermining meaningful civil society engagement in the area of drug policy and harm reduction, such as “war on drugs” paradigm and the securitisation of drug policy, populism and the rise of the far-right, foreign agent laws and other anti-civil society legislation, inadequate civil society engagement in policy making.
- Despite the set-backs, some documented progress: improved civil society involvement in national policy making, expanding civil society space at the UN, innovation and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.