Pompidou Group

Pompidou Group participates in the 64th Session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND)

As each year, the Pompidou Group is preparing to participate actively in this year’s session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (from 12 to 16 April 2021), the UN's primary policy-making body on drug-related matters. On this occasion, a statement will be delivered by the Pompidou Group's President, João Castel-Branco Goulão, under the motto "Human rights at the heart of drug policies". It will focus on the presentation of the Group’s main 50th anniversary events, and on the Group’s main activities.

The Pompidou Group is organising one and co-sponsoring 5 side events :

• “Placing human rights at the heart of drug policies – the Pompidou Group’s 50th anniversary" (organised by the Council of Europe with the support of Portugal and Poland on 12 April from 13:10 to 14:00);
• “Prevention in everyone's pocket: discover the possibilities on-line“ (organised by Lithuania with the support of Japan, Norway and the Council of Europe on 13 April from 13:10 to 14:00);
• “Education: a gateway to social reintegration” (organised by Greece with the support of the Council of Europe on 13 April from 14:10 to15:00);
• “Promoting Attitudes and Actions that Reduce Stigmatisation of Drug Use and Drug Addiction” (organised by Malta with the support of Canada and the Council of Europe on 14 April from 13:10 to14:00);
• “Human Rights in Action: Implementing the International Guidelines on Human Rights & Drug Policy“ (organised by the Office of the High-Commissioner for Human Rights with the support of Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Malta, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Uruguay, and the Council of Europe, the International Center on Drug Policy, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organization on 14 April from 13:10 to 14:00);
• “Promoting evidence-based drug policies and interventions enshrined in human rights in Europe” (organised by the Association Proyecto Hombre with support of Portugal and Spain, and the Council of Europe, the European Union and the European Union Civil Society Forum on Drugs on 15 April from 09:00 to 09:50).

The language of all side events will be English. 

For further information and the detailed agenda of the CND side events please consult : Session 64 of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (unodc.org)

Covid-19 and people who use drugs

This publication from March 2021 presents experiences and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic by frontline workers and people who use drugs. It builds on practice examples from 21 countries submitted on the Pompidou Group’s Save Lives - Protect People platform.

The interviews, articles and reports in the publication showcase valuable experiences and approaches to fight the pandemic across countries, seen through the eyes of experts, frontline workers delivering services under challenging conditions of a COVID-19 outbreak and the people who benefit from those services.

This makes the publication a valuable source of information for drug treatment and harm reduction professionals, researchers and policy makers for understanding the impact of the pandemic on this often underserved and marginalised group, the daily fight of health and social workers and the support they need to overcome the unprecedented crisis linked to the pandemic.